My Selection

Blue Paper?

I close my eyes and let my fingers dance to the beat of the music then my body starts to sway side to side. That's when my body slows down and I do the last notes. I look at my families beaming faces and feel butterflies in my stomach. 

"How did I do"? 

"You did wonderful sweetie". The rest of the family nods agreeing to my mother's comment. I see her eyes sparkle with unshed tears. 

"Ahh, mom don't cry". 

"You've grown up so much sweetie that I'm just so happy for you". 

I nod and carefully dab the corners of her eyes with a tissue. She smiles and gets up, "Thank you Karly, well I need to get back to work". 

With that being said she gets her paper and continues to write a song. I look to my right and see my father and sister taking photographs. Then look down to where I'd been sitting seconds ago. In my place is a black piano you could see some scratches from years of usage. Giving a final glance around the house and making sure nothing's out of place I leave shutting the door quietly, not wanting to distract my family. I walk around and see people in caste eight asking for money, then I see gardeners. I breathe in the smell of freshly cut lawn and smile. Oh how I loved that smell. I look around walking aimlessly. Not realizing where I'm going but my feet obviously knew there way to their destination. I was not as oblivious as people would think I could see that all the teenage girls were looking in the mail. I would see another great majority holding a blue paper. The girls that did not have the blue paper would look over the girl shoulders to see what it said. 

A group of girls that did have the blue paper look and see me empty handed. They look at each other and laugh at me. I shrug them off obviously they are from the higher castes. I didn't care if I wasn't invited to a party because I had better things to do. I keep walking then I notice where my feet had been leading me all this time. I stood in front of a pale blue house and a used to be white door. I knock and wait looking around to consume some time while I wait for the door to open. I look around and see that nothing has changed since Madilyn's  sister moved out. That's when I hear the familiar noise a high creak then the door fully opens to reveal a tall, thin women, with limp brown hair.

"How are you doing Karly," she asks and I can see kindness in her eyes. 

"I'm doing good Mrs.Spencer", I finish off with a smile.

"Are you here to find Madilyn?", she asks me already knowing my answer before I even let the words slip out of my mouth.

I nod and she frowns a bit before responding.

"You just missed her she had to go to work". I nod and say my good byes before walking back towards my house. I decided to switch my route and end up in front of a run down building. I enter and my stomach growls when I smell the hamburgers and french fries. I order a hamburger and some french fries before sitting down to wait for my number to be called out. That's when I see the the short, thin, brunette cleaning a table. I immediately recognize her but as I was going to walk towards her my number gets called. I hurry to pick up my food and jog to the brunette.

"Hey, madi". I call out to her using the nickname that at first she despised but later grew accustomed to it. She looks up and throws me a quick smile before continuing her work at hand. Then when she speaks up.

"What are you doing here kar"? 

"I went to look for you at your hous but didn't find you, and then I got hungry so I decided to get food right here". I finish off with a funny smile. Knowing that she won't look up.

"Well I can't do much talking right now because, as you can see, I'm working". 

She says whole switching tables. I nod and leave deciding that I wanted to take a walk around the park before heading home. I walk and see some gardeners mowing the lawn, people taking a walk with their dogs. I look up and see the sky has darken quite a lot. So I head home I immediately spot my house a neutral color with s bright red door and the noise of people talking inside. I can immediately distinguish my families voices apart from each other. 

I open the door and my family immediately quiets down, all staring at me. After a minute of uncomfortable silence they stop staring at me and continue to do what they had been doing before I arrived. I help my mother set the table up then we sit and wait for the food. My mother comes and places the plate of food in front of us. We seat and start talking to each other about how our day went. That's when I notice it. Sitting on the counter shining bright with the light hitting it. But the color was unmistakable it was blue. My breathing slightly stops at the sight of it. My mother follows my sight and frowns a bit.

"I didn't want to talk about it right now but since you've seen it I guess we should", she gets up and walks to the counter and walks slowly to me then hands it to me. I take in my hands curiosity winning the best in me. I take it and look at it. 

"No". 

I say without  giving a reason to my sudden answer. My father looks confused and he gently takes the paper from my hands and I let him. He reads it and I wait watching how his eyebrows raise slightly and how his lips form a frown. I can see it in his eyes when he looks at me . That he doesn't want me to go. He'd rather have me stay here where he would now what's going on with my life. But one look at my mother's face I can tell that she won't stop until she gets what she wants. 

"Why not Karly"? 

"I just don't want to enter a competition where 35 girls try to win over a prince that I have no feelings towards". 

I finish with a scowl on my face. I look at my sister and see that she is oblivious at what is happening around her. My father looks uncomfortable and I honestly feel bad for putting him in such situation. 

"But you know we need the money more than ever". 

I sign and she smiles a bit knowing that she hit a soft spot in me. 

"Don't do it for yourself do it for us please". 

She pouts and I give a sigh. She knows that I am going to enter because of the look in my face. 

"Thank you Karly oh you don't know how much this means for us sweetheart"! 

A smile appears on my face knowing that I made her happy by my decision. 

"But I won't be staying there long". 

She smiles and nods not caring that I won't be there long. But is happy that I atleast accepted that I'm going to enter. I get up and excuse myself feeling tired to the busy day. I change to some comfortable close and decide to sit by the window staring at the dark starry night. I open my window a close my eyes feeling the wind blow my hair out of my face. I breathe in feeling so alive at this moment. That nothing could get better than this right now.  I force my eyes to open and walk to the light switch and turn it off. Then go back to where I previously was. I sit and feel calm at the way the stars and moon lights up my room.

With that thought in my head I walk to my bed and close my eyes. Before my mind drifts off to oblivion one last thought comes to my head. Oh how I wish I would wake up and see that this is all a dream right now. I close my eyes becoming oblivious to the things around me that are happening at this very moment.