Wings

x|| chapter 2 ||x

I wake up in the morning to a knock on my door. I slip out of bed and open the metal door to see Christa. She is wearing a floral dress that goes down to her knees and a pair of white sandals. She has her brown hair in a milk maid braid. I blink a couple times, confused about her apparel. She just smiles at me and invites herself in.

"What are you doing? The Ceremony is in less than an hour and you're still in bed," She says to me with a concerned look on her face, " You need to get dressed!"

I groan as I remember about moving.

" Christa, can't a girl sleep?" I say.

" Definently not!'', She responds, " Today is mouving and you're not missing it. Well, you technically can't because they'll-"

I don't let her finish, " I know what'll happen! Just give me a minute." I can't stand when she babbles.

I usher her out of my room and before I close the door, she hands me a brown package that was laying outside.

Of course,I think, my outfit

The package contains a pair of black, glossy heels, and a white dress with black lace along the collar and bottom. I quickly get dressed and put my hair in a milk maid braid just like Christa. I look at myself in the mirror one last time, noticing that a couple pieces of hair are falling out of my braid. I tuck them back in as I walk out of my room.

***

I get to the ceremonial room where they hold mouving every year. We have 10 minutes till the ceremony starts so I go to find my assigned seat on the girls' side.

There are white chairs everywhere. In the middle of the room is a white platform, with two black shelving units. I can't tell whats inside each shelf, but from where I am standing it looks like pieces of notebook paper. That can't be right.

Christa sits down right before the ceremony starts, and gives me a nervous smile.

" Ladies and Gentlemen," the announcer says impatiently," Will you please quite down? Today I am here to give you something you have been waiting so very long for. Inside each shelf is an envelope." She takes a moment to look around.

" Inside each envelope contains the names of each pairing . I will open each envelope and call the names written inside. When your name gets called, you are to meet your pair in the center next to me and go to your new living unit immediately." She stops to take a breath, "I just want to say good luck to you all. Why don't we begin then?'' she says with an eerie smile.

They call us up two at a time, in our pairs. Everyone is noticeably anxious. I look around the boys section every few minutes, to see if anyone had scars on their back, but they were hidden by their tuxedo jackets.

Christa gets called first, as we go in alphabetical order based on the girl's last name. I squeeze her hand as a sign of good luck. She glances at me as she walks up to the platform. She gets paired with a boy named Philip. He is tall and skinny and looks perfect for Christa. I never understood how they made the decisions for the pairs. They always pair the perfect people together. Will the do that for me?

They call up a girl named Juliana, who suddenly starts to scream and run to the other side of the room to a boy I had passed by just this morning. They kiss each other and try to run for the door. The girl, Juliana, gets grabbed by the guard as her screams get louder. All she is saying is, " No!", or " I wont love any one but you Jace!". It gets worse.

The guards get her to the stage to meet her pair who is embarrassed to be paired with a girl he knows will never love him. Juliana starts to get violent, hitting and biting the guard, who shows no sign of pain. POW! The room goes silent. Juliana falls to the ground, limp, unmoving. The guards pick her up again and drag her out the door, all while her pair is still standing there. What will happen to him? I close my eyes as everyone starts to whisper about what just happened. Several minutes pass by.

" Um, why don't we just continue on? Something like this won't ruin this spectacular day right?" The announcer says. We all agree silently.

Soon enough, I hear my name get called, "Eleonora Rose Goodworth and Marco Thomas Peterson." I freeze, drawing a blank, then stand up to see him. Sharp jaw line, tall and mysterious, gorgeous unnatural grey eyes that test my sharp blue ones. I walk to the platform, and meet him. I shyly smile as a guard comes up between us, " Follow me."

We do as he says and walk out the door to the left. As we walk to our new living unit, I think about Christa. How is Philip? Is he better looking up close? Does he have a good personality?

I zone out, thinking. I don't notice the guard' s hand reaching up close to my back. As he touches my back where my wings should be I yelp at the burning sensation that just spread through my back. He quickly takes his hand off of my back when he realizes what he just did. Marco looks at me, like he understands. Is he who I hope he is?

When we reach our living unit, the guard unlocks the door with a silver key. Marco softly says, " Ladies first." I give him a small smile and walk in, onto dark brown wood floors. The walls are bare, with no windows. The light source comes from the bright lights up high on the ceiling. There are two faded blue couches with a clear glass coffee table off to the right, and a gorgeous dining table with grande chairs to the left. I walk into the dining room to notice it connected to the kitchen, which has every cooking appliance necessary. I walk into the kitchen, to see Marco looking into the pantry.

"Woah", he says amazed as he walks into the pantry which is stocked with food.

I add,"No more cafeteria food?" He laughs at me and motions for me to come down the hall with him.

I follow the sound of his footsteps down the dark hallway, stretching my hands out so that I don't bump into anything. He finds a room and turns on the light, a dull green bathroom. He looks at me intently.

"What happened earlier with the guard—", he stops and takes a step towards me, invading my personal space, " Can I—er—look at your back?"

With those words I can fell heat rising in my cheeks, I look away," I'm not sure you need to look at me to know I have wings. The guard made it pretty obvious by touching my back, knowing that I those fresh cuts."

He sighed with relief and added," I thought there was no one like me, with wings that is." I smiled at him, he smiled back at me, " Do you mind if we talk more about this later? I need to find my room and shower."

I nodded and walked out. As he flips on a light to illuminate the long dark hall, I walked to the doorway of the closest room to me, and looked inside. My name was posted onto the open wooden door. There's a queen sized bed on the wall to the left, with nightstands on either side. My luggage was neatly sitting on the ground along with my guitar. I look at my desk, to see a window.

What?! A real window?, I thought as I got up to open up the curtains, I haven't seen the real world in so long!

I open up the curtains and my excitement went down the drain. They made it look believable, but it was obviously fake. The same plastered beach wall paper that they have in the cafeteria windows. I should have known.