Refinement: A War of Europe

Chapter Fourty-Two: West: The Topez

 Eloise~ West (England)

"Day Thirty-Three in East.

Lieutenant Tyler perished in battle by the following:

Lieutenant Tyler approached East'sGeneral, with direct orders from the General to take him out. He followed orders, but the General was too quick. The General stabbed Lieutenant Tyler in the stomach. Lieutenant Tyler, with his final wish to enjoy orders, deployed the hidden bomb. Killing him, The East's general, and 200 other East soldiers, inculding just one of our own. Soldier Lillian.

~~~

I propelled myself up, gasping for air that the nightmare had deprived me of. But it wasn't a nightmare. It was true. The General had killed my father, and my father followed the orders, but outsmarted them all. His smarts were what killed him.

I slid out of bed, running the words of the file that I had read last night, over and over. The thought of it made my skin crawl with guilt, and odiousness.

Today I was to dress to look nice, not drabby soldier clothing. My family would be there. I bit my tongue as I walked to my stylist. All of England was going to be here. I remember going to every ceremony. I remember watching people in their fancy clothes smile as they recieved their stone. Most of them always smiled. Whether they became a soldier or not, they were alive. I wish I could say the same for me.

"Oh, you're back. Here, put this on." She shoved a long flowy beige dress into my arms. I slipped it on. The dress had a cluster of black and silver jewls at my waist, and the soft material draped from them. My neck and chest were bare, the sleeves hanging off of my shoulders. She braided my hair the same way she did at the last ceremony, except this time she added some small white flowers to the side of my head. She talked while she added my makeup.

"You will walk up on the stage, and stand in alphabetical order as you did before. Except this time you will look happy. The General will give certain students awards for how well they did in certain aspects, and then he will go and sit down. Then the soldier you were assigned for Agglutination will present you with a necklace. This necklace will have the stone of their choice on it. And that stone will be on a board behind the audience's heads, so that you will know what position you have immediately. After that, you are allowed to have lunch with your family, and then you will start your job immediately.

"Wait, um, if you get the diamond (for the soldier), what are they doing after the lunch?"

"They are going to Russia to get some information." She said carelessly as she applied some gold eyeliner to my eye. I gritted my teeth as she added red lipstick. "You are free to go. Grayson will come get you guys when the ceremony starts. Everyone is in the training room."

It feels weird to walk in a dress. The soft fabric rubbed my waxed legs, and the breeze coming in from the broken elevator traveled up and around my legs. It was hard to remember anything before Refinement. When they call it that, they really mean it. They take these crummy, wimpy kids, and shaped them. They totally changed their point of view, their life, and their body. I looked at my body and didn't see Eloise Grace Tyler. I saw Soldier 013.

"ELOISE!" Arielle rushed to me, her short pink dress trailing behind her. I pulled her into a rough hug, and she laughed. I knew if I made any sound that I would cry, so I just buried my face into the crook of the neck of my best friend. My best friend that I haven't seen, or talked to in the last four days. She looked changed too, her muscles bulged in places that they didn't before, and her face was solemn behind her toothy grin. She was wearing a pink dress that flared out of the waist into billows of sheer bouncy pink fabric. It landed just above her knees. She looked gorgeous.