Dead Ringer *Watty 2016*

Transformation

Larkin wasn't sure how to react to the drastic change, as the train raced ahead her mind feel back to her friends.  They arrived at a large sky scraper in the center of Cian city just after dark.  "No one should notice you because of dusk but we can never be too careful," the attendant said.

"Shouldn't they be coming home from work right now?"  Lark asked looking out the window at the empty streets, confused.

The attendant laughed, "They are all in their homes preparing for the evening's parties. Cian's don't work," he then pulled out a large hat and sunglasses "Put these on."

Larkin eyed them skeptically, "In the middle of the night?  That screams 'look at me I'm in disguise."

The attendant shot her a glare and she knew better than to continue arguing with him so she slipped the poor disguise on.  Then she prepared to exit the train.  It came to a halt and the doors flew open.  "All ashore that's going ashore." The attendant called and then he pushed her onto the platform, following closely behind.

He grabbed her arm and dragged her into the building rather forcefully.  Once they were inside Larkin pulled her arm away.  "Stop touching me," she said shoving him.

He rolled his eyes, "you just touched me." He said referring to her shoving him and then he led her to the elevator.

As soon as the elevator doors closed there was a sharp voice behind them, "Ahem."  Larkin jumped which elicited a laugh from the attendant.  "Now don't laugh at our guest Archer."  The woman in the back of the elevator said.

Larkin turned and looked at the woman and immediately regretted it.  Her crisp, ear piercing voice was the most pleasant thing about her.  She stood three feet taller than Larkin and was nearly ducked not to hit her head on the top of the elevator.  Her eyes were black as was her hair but her skin was white, as if she was already a corpse.  Larkin's eyes darted from the attendant, who now looked friendly by comparison, to the stranger in fear.  "You've scared her," the attendant, who was apparently called Archer.

"She should be scared this is a scary situation that your... Cian has put us in," the stranger said but the conversation sounded cryptic to Larkin.

Archer fell silent and the stranger turned to Larkin.  "Now once we step out of this elevator we will begin your transformation.  In these next few seconds prepare yourself and say goodbye to your identity Larkin is no more."

Her voice and expression were cold and just as Larkin took a deep breath to digest what she had said she when the elevator dinged and the doors opened.  Four attendants grabbed Larkin, two on each arm and they pulled her with them.  She was struggling to keep up with them and could feel herself being pulled along.  They threw her onto a long, black bench covered in soft leather.  She looked up the see that Archer had followed them.

"The hair," one attendant said.

"The tattoos," another said.

"The eyes," a third said.

"No," Larkin interrupted sitting bolt upright on the table in a panic.

"This won't work if we don't change the eyes."  The first attendant responded but Archer stepped forward.

"Leave them it fits the story," Archer said gruffly and the other four nodded continuing on with what they were doing.

Larkin began to feel cold wipes rub against her skin all along the neck, preparing for the tattoo and she couldn't help but cringe at the idea of moving in being plunged into her skin.  Her whole life she had been prepared for parts of her being ripped away but no one had thought to prepare her to be forced to be an entirely different person, one she was not even sure she liked.

She felt heat as the needle pierced her skin, accompanied by cool as the ink pooled and swirled beneath it.  "Don't worry these don't feel anything like the still ones."  An attendant said and she wasn't sure what that meant but she nodded.  The needle did not slow down as the tattoo was finished, filling her neck and arm.

Larkin squeezed her eyes shut to fight tears, more from her identity crisis than from any pain.  "I'm getting a chance at a full life," she kept reminding herself but something was constantly nagging her.

"Sit up," the first attendant commanded and Lark pulled herself into a sitting position on the bench.  The second attendant began pulling her long blonde hair out of the low pony tail she always wore it in and laid it around her back, brushing through it lightly.  She began cutting her hair.  Larkin enjoyed the feeling of someone's fingers moving through her hair and began to wonder if Cian's were used to this kind of thing.  Her eyes drifted closed in a more relaxed way, no longer threatened by tears.

Then she began hearing the clipping of the scissors and the gradual lightening of her head as more and more hair fell to the ground.  Next the fourth attendant began applying a thick goo to her hair, a white color around the edges and pastel pinks and purples near the base of the head.  This allowed the colors to fade into one another.  Finally the second attendant pulled a basin of water behind the chair and lowered Larkin's head into it with a lever to wash the color out.

Hours later after minor cosmetic changes the four attendants walked Larkin back to the elevator where Archer had wondered off to talk to the stranger.  When Larkin stepped out the stranger looked pleased but Archer looked sad.  "You look just like her."  Archer said.

"That was the point wasn't it," Lark answered more in an attempt to be sassy than in genuine confusion.

"Yes Coraleigh it was," the stranger said and Lark had to hide her discomfort.  "Now step onto the elevator we will go one floor up and begin your education."

The woman's voice still gave Larkin chills but she willingly stepped into the elevator because that's what she believed Coraleigh would do.