Detached [h.s au]

Chapter 2: The Bonding

I'm sitting in the back seat of my parents' car, absently staring out the window. After the longest three hours of my life, we are finally on our way to the City Hall where everything is going to change. I'm surprisingly calm, I was expecting breathing problems followed by a minor heart attack.

Maybe mum slipped something into my food to keep me calm. I snort at the thought.

"We're here," my father informs me, pulling me out of my thoughts. I open the door and step out of the car, slamming the door behind me. My gaze is glued on the enourmous, baronial building in front of me. The area around the City Hall is impressive as the building itself. There's a huge rectangular lawn in front of it with a fountain in the middle, surrounded by red cement paths leading toward the entrance.

After I walk inside, I will be leaving it with a different person and a different identity.

"Elizabeth, come." My mother flicks her head, gesturing me to follow them. I slowly start walking behind them, my eyes constantly trailing around me, taking in my surroundings. Dozens of girls in grey dresses and boys in grey suits are slowly making their way inside the City Hall, followed by their parents. I will soon be bonded with one of those boys.

"Do not show any fear, Elizabeth. Keep your head up at all times, show them your confidence."

Dad's words echo in my head as we slowly head toward the entrance. I'm still calm, not letting my usually present anxiety claw its way into my mind. After climbing a set of stairs, we step inside the cool building, a shiver running down my spine as I suddenly feel so small.  There is a wide double stairway sprawled right at the centre of the lobby, its steps covered with a red carpet. There is a maze of corridors in front of me and I imagine the floor above us is identical. I think I could spend all day here and not be able to see everything.  I notice my parents are already a few metres ahead of me so I quicken my pace to catch them. My footsteps on the worn marble floor echo along with the footsteps of others headed in the same direction.

I slowly start climbing the stairs behind my parents, careful not to lose them in the crowd. One girl rudely pushes me away and climbs in front of me in a quick pace, making me shoot her a glare before focusing on the building again. Once we reach the top, we start strolling down the wide corridor decorated with paintings of apparently important historical figures I've never heard of. Or I simply didn't pay enough attention in history classes, half of what they've been teaching us is probably wrong.

At the end of the corridor is a room with doors wide open and I watch as everyone slowly enters inside so I conclude it's where The Bonding will be held. Once we reach it, my jaw almost drops. There are hundreds of simple grey seats spread across the room on two sides, with a pathway being in the middle, leading toward a mahogany table with a microphone on top of it. There are big leather seats nested in half-circle, surrounding the table.

"Elizabeth, we have to leave now. We will be up there, watching everything from the auditorium," dad says.

"I know you will do great. Be brave, honey," my mum says, her blue eyes brimming with tears. She pulls me into a hug, locking her arms around me and I do the same.

"Natalie, let her breathe," dad says jokingly after a few moments and mum pulls away, wiping the tears off her face.

Now my dad has his arms wrapped around me, tighter than ever before. He plants a kiss on the top of my head and pinches my cheek.

"We will see each other again after the ceremony, right?" I mutter, suddenly feeling uncertain.

"Of course, Betsy," dad assures me, giving me an encouraging smile. "Now go, and remember, we are watching you. You're not alone."