The Violinist

The Violinist

Chapter Two

After being led home and put safely into my bed, I can’t sleep. I witnessed an auction before, and it got quite messy. Some people would sell themselves to save their family. Most of the bidders were rich, but some poor people were among the crowd, waiting for a small chance for their piece of luck. They rarely get that lucky.

Around nine AM, my father gets home. I didn’t sleep the whole night, so I faint and sleep for another six hours. When I finally wake up, my father is grinning like a fool, and I notice it’s much warmer than the shack I’m used to. I look around, and I notice I was right.

This isn’t our shack.

Instead, it’s a hard-floored room five times as big as the whole shack. It lacks a lot of furniture, other than the bed and a large mirror. A huge window looks out over the city, and two doors are in the room. One is a double door and the other is a plain, tan door. I open the plain one first and look out to a circle shaped room leading to a small hallway. The double doors are my walk-in closet, full with, boring, white clothing.  I take a glance at the mirror and notice I’m already wearing a short, white night gown, not the old shirt and pants I fell asleep in yesterday.

“I recommend you change. We are having our first inspection today. The bathroom is the first door to the left in your hallway,” he states, beaming. He leaves me in my room and I follow him a moment later, finding my way to the bathroom. I find plush, white towels stacked neatly on a small table near the bath tub. Or the first time in my life, I had a bath. Not a cold bath, but a warm bath.

The soaps and shampoos make my skin soft and glowing, and my hair glisten. The moment I get out of the shower, some machines quickly dry and dress me up. A computer monitor is in front of me, telling me to choose what hairstyle I want to wear today. I see other options and I pick a braided bun. I look more presentable than I ever had in my life.

I leave the bathroom and walk down the hallway. A lighting system tells me were to go by flashing the lights in the direction I’m supposed to go. I end up in a large room, many times bigger than my own. But all there is is a plain white couch facing a white chair with a glass coffee table in between them. A silver vase holds a white lily.

I walk towards the couch to find my family sitting there. The moment I sit down, I get ready to talk with my family. But instead, I freeze and cannot move. My happy expression turns into a dull, lifeless one. A door that I did not previously notice opens and a woman comes in.

She was tall, quite tall. Her blue eyes shine and look over each of us quickly. Her hair looks exactly like mine: glistening dark hair in a braided bun.

“Stand up,” she commands, and we all stand up. We are unfrozen and my father smiles at her.

“Hello ma’am, it is nice to meet-,“ he is cut off when a white tape seals his mouth.

“Only speak when you are spoken to. Rule number four,” she says strictly. I do not want to receive the same treatment, so I do not talk, but Litsbia does.

“Bu-,“ she barely gets anything out before the same white tape closes their mouths.

“Rule number four, only speak when you are spoken to and rule number eighteen, no buts against the S.T,” she states in the same manner. She hands out a plain, white book to each of us.

“These are the rules. If you do not follow them, you will be punished. Read this by tomorrow.”

“Now, looks. The only one here presentable is Mauray and Golensa; the rest, I recommend to visit the doctor for surgical perfection. Red hair is not allowed.” As soon as she finishes talking, Litsbia and my father’s hair falls to the ground. Litsbia starts crying silently and the woman slaps her.