I shut my eyes and grab the arm my mother is holding out for me. I clench it hard as she leads me to the living room, where my surprise gift awaits for me. I chuckle of excitement. Coming from a rather big family, this is the first gift I have ever received.
- Open them, squeals my little baby brother James.
I open my eyes and all I see is a golden light. I blink a couple of times to adjust to the blinding light, until I realize it is coming from a dress. A sparkly, gold, beautiful long dress. Beside it is a pair of pumps, the same golden tone as the fluttery dress. My dress. My Purpose ceremony dress. Tears start to fill my eyes. Tears of gratefulness realizing that my family saved their money for a long time to buy me this breath-taking dress, and will probably only eat bread and butter for months after this. Tears of sadness realizing that today might be the last time I see my family. I look around the room.
While it's rare to have as big a family as ours, it's even more rare to fin an only child, in any family. I guess the Atomic War kind of took care of that. I don't know which, but I know that one of our reproduction genes has been altered by the radiation and that most people are no longer capable of having only one child. That sort of explains my family situation.
My older triplet sisters are staring at me with that same innocent bright smile of theirs, my twin brother Jayson gives me one of his cocky side smiles we share and my triplet baby brothers just look like they've all got a hanger stuck in their mouth. My mother and father look emotionally at me, wrapped in each other's arms. My shoulders start to shake and Jayson gives me a huge hug. Just by the way his cheek feels on mine, I can tell he's just as upset as I am.
He received his suit yesterday, because he was born at 11:59 and I was born at 12:01. So technically, our birthdays aren't the same day. It's an elegant black suit, almost as elegant as my brother himself. We share the same long redish brown hair, the same over-dose of freckles and the same green eyes. But while I drown myself into the average pretty girl shape, my brother stands out in a crowd. With his lion hair hanging on the middle of his neck, a stray bit of hair always in the way, Jayson makes all the heads turn. His class and confidence is quite noticeable. But as different as our characters are, we're the closest twins I know. I honestly don't know what I would do without him.
Those are my thoughts as I loosen my grip on his shoulder and slowly back away. My hand in his, we direct ourselves toward our common room to put on our formal wear, maybe for the last time. My heart squeezes as I lock myself in the bathroom with my dress and a white bag my mother handed me. Once I put it on, the shiny fabric runs like water on my body and I can't contain a little gasp of surprise when I see myself in the mirror. I am not the most sexy girl and I'm about average body size. So when I find myself looking like a greek goddess in my bathroom mirror, I can't help but smile of incredulity and give my dress a few spins. Just by watching the dress swirl and judging by the way it feels like I have nothing on me, I know it's Alogara fabric. One of the most precious and valuable. Feeling a little dizzy, I open the white bag and feel my insides drop.
Okay, a beautiful and way too expensive dress I can take. But diamond earrings, that's a little too much. My family might actually starve itself after buying this. They have to give it back. I slide it back into the bag and come out of the bathroom. Jayson is finishing tucking in his golden shirt. I smile. My parents really thought of everything. I help my brother tighten his tie and take his hand as we go back into the living room.
As soon as we walk in, my mother shrieks and starts crying. Says we are so beautiful it's almost too much for her. When she finishes combing my hair, I have to agree with her. With my long curls hanging at the middle of my waist and the smoky eye makeup my mother put on me, I really do look stunning. So does Jayson. I bite my lip and hand the white bag over to my mom.
- I can't take it. You have to take it back mom..
She puts her hand on mine and pushes the bag towards me.
- We didn't buy it. It was my gift for my Purpose ceremony. I wanted you to have it with you. In case..
She doesn't finish her sentence but I know exactly what she means. In case a rich Official sees me and asks me to be a part of the Seeking program. In case I find my Purpose. In case one of the million things that could happen tonight does happen and I never see my family again. Just in case.
I slide my small feet into my shiny pumps and start my goodbyes. First my sisters. Shelsea, then Zoe and Maïa. I then hug my three little brothers. Kyle, James and Evan all come together to give me one big group hug. Then my dad. Emotional, but better at hiding it than my mom. I whisper in my father's ear to take care of her. He nods and says how proud he is. He tells me he loves me, then turns to Jayson. I face my mom. Hot tears are running down her cheeks and I softly brush them off. Without a word, I give her the longest hug I've ever given anyone. She tells me how much she loves me and I do the same. When Jayson is done, we walk down together to the Town Hall. All of the other 17 years old kids are there too. That must be at the very least 1000 people. We're a quite numerous City.
Kay City is one of the smallest City and yet one of the most over-crowded. Its population is mostly Workers. FactoryWorkers, to be precise. Our City has the most Factories. 3 of them. A Factory is where all the medicine is produced. God knows we need medicine. Especially since the Atomic War flooded the world with huge waves of radiation that killed more than 90% of the Earth population. The 10% left were all subject to highly unstable malformation and diseases. Since then, our City has been the Factory one. Because all of our medicine is tested in some outdoor Testing facility somewhere outside the City Wall, no one really knows what they test it on. Sure enough, it works. Otherwise, we'd all be dead.
