14 Voices

Meet and Mingle

I've never been great at making friends or talking to people. I've always kept to myself, because anyone who has gotten close, has only hurt me in some way.

It started as a defense mechanism. Avoid everyone and stay invisible. Don't talk to people or risk severe consequences. Steer clear of people and I won't have to worry about pain later.

So as I sit at the long table with sixty nine other ladies talking and laughing around me. I realize that I don't have to completely socialize to get this job done.

I can simply blend into the background of the selected and listen. Which just so happens to be my forte.

Yes, it won't always be so simple. But for now, I'll observe.

Luckily each girl has name tags that tell me who they are, so I can keep track of names and who says what.

With my astounding memory, I can easily tuck information away.

I feel sad and dissapointed in so many of these women. I can already tell that half of these ladies will be gone very quickly.

"I'm going for Prince Taylor Jr. I don't care for any of the others unless he chooses someone else, then I'll just go for Prince Taylor Sr. That way I can still try and get Jr." A tall black haired girl spoke.

Why was she already staking claim? It hardly seems fair for the Taylor Princes. The way she looked at the girls around her made it seem almost like a predator marking their territory. It's creepy and gave me shivers of disgust.

To make matters worse, all of the girls around her looked scared of disagreeing or disobeying her. Who is this lady? I look at her tag and see it says Jade Williams.

Of course. Her dad was the old kings royal ambassador. But he had lost his high standing title when King Bubles had died. It was claimed that he had died to drug madness. And when doing the biopsy, they had found the drug Jh-14 in his system.

They don't know if it was given to him like poison or if he took it on his own free will. But everyone Gifted fears the Jh-14.

It slowly drains your powers, essentially leaving you human. But worse. It has side effects of causing insanity and aggression. It's highly addictive and you'll do everything to get more even if it's hurting people that you love to get it.

But worse of it all, it kills you slow and excruciatingly.

Jades dad had been suspected of the poisoning. But when there was no leads to prove it, he was released.

So, right here, is his daughter. A vile girl who thinks she automatically deserves what she wants. Who has several others putting their heads down in submission and fear.

So I did what anyone would do. I spoke up in the Princes defense.
I can only hope that the Princes won't throw me out later.

"You don't deserve any of the Princes then. This Selection is the Princes finding a wife who suits them and their personality. We are here to be unbiased and compliant. It's not us who chooses who we want or prefer. It's them doing the choosing." My words come out loud and menacingly.

Her gaze snaps over to me. Through my rant I could see her face getting red in anger and embarrassment. But I couldn't care less. We would be lucky if one or two of the Princes chose one of us. We should be thanking them for this opportunity.

But instead these girls seemed to forget that this isn't about us. This isnt set up for us. It's for them.

We have thirty damn days here. Everyday two or more girls will be sent home. Each round of standards getting more and more difficult and none of us know what the Princeswill even be looking for in a partner.