Dusk

Chapter Eleven

When I wake up, Alexandra's already waiting for me.

"Put this on," she tells me, handing me a robe. "Strip off everything, undergarments included. We have a lot to do today."

I sit up in bed, yawning. My skin is sticky with sweat. Sluggishly, I stand and begin to undress, my clothing slipping off of me like an unneeded layer of skin. Alexandra gives me a clinical glance once I'm naked and puts the robe on me and secures it around my waist. We promptly exit my room and walk down the hallway. I move slower than I normally would- whatever they gave me yesterday has zapped me of all energy. I vaguely remember passing out in the conference room, but that's the extent of my memory.

"What exactly are we doing today?" I ask. Alexandra looks back at me and counts off the things on her fingers.

"Scrubbing and lightening for your skin, a perm for your hair, manicure, pedicure, hair removal... I'm also taking you to visit the Outer Ring."

The corners of my mouth move upwards. "Really?"

"Really. Tonight you'll be meeting with Idris, by the way, so please don't act like you did yesterday."

I shake my head, trying to rid myself of the memory. "I won't, so don't worry. I'm not in an arguing mood today."

Alexandra sighs. I push myself to walk a bit faster, and put a hand on her shoulder. She stops moving.

"I'm not angry with you, Deva," she murmurs, answering the question I was about to ask. "I just... I took a lot of flak for what happened last night. I'm really tired. You'll have to excuse me."

I move away from her, withdrawing my hand, guilt weighing me down. "Sure. No problem."

We continue walking, but we're both silent now, apart from our breaths and footsteps. There's no one around. It must be early- the facility is completely quiet. I keep my eyes forward, staring down the blank white hallway. What did Idris do and say to make this bright, cheery girl so dull?

We head down the hallway until we reach the end of it. A nondescript, grey door stands in front of us, and as we near it, it opens.

The room behind the door leaves me breathless. I don't know where to look. In the middle, there's a white pedestal, just high enough to step up on. To the right, the wall is lined with shelving. There are colourful cosmetics there, as well as bottles of what appear to be hair product. A black, comfortable-looking chair sits just in front of the shelves. I look to the left- there's storage there, easily twenty white cabinets full of who knows what, and a large tub. Four people dressed in simple white clothing look up at our entrance. One of them smiles.

"Wow." My eyes flit around the room, my mouth hanging open in awe. "I mean... wow."

"I didn't know that you could be so inarticulate," Alexandra says, but her tone isn't as desolate as before. "Take off the robe and stand on the pedestal, Deva."

I'm a little wary of all of these people seeing me naked, but I do as I'm told. I leave the robe with Alexandra and step up onto the pedestal, trying to look anywhere but at the others. They crowd around the pedestal, examining me closely.

"Minimal body hair," one mutters to himself. "Yellow undertones."

"Interesting bone structure." Notes another.

A third person agrees with the second, nodding her head enthusiastically. "Quite broad shoulders for a female. She has lean muscle mass."

"Weight and height, please." Says the first man.

"Subject's weight is one-hundred and sixty pounds. Subject's height is one-hundred and eighty-three centimetres, rounded up from one-hundred and eighty-two point eighty-eight centimetres. Subject's weight corresponds to subject's height ideally."