Learning To Let Go

Maybe This Time I'll Be Lucky

All around us were towering skyscrapers, a vast difference from the old and rundown houses we lived in back in District Twelve. On some buildings, digital screens advertised the latest fashion accessories, home appliances and foods. We followed President Slane to one of the tallest buildings near us. It was tall and made entirely out of glass.

“Natural lighting,” President Slane explained as he led us through huge swinging doors made of glass. The lobby was amazingly big. There were twelve counters, each obviously representing one station for each of the twelve Districts. Slane led us to Counter Twelve and handed us over to the clerk at the counter. She eyed the large group of us and gestured for us to go to one counter each, where there were already eleven other clerks waiting for us

I shuffled to Counter Eight and stared at the clerk there. Her hair was dyed a shocking pink, and on her face, were multiple piercings. Her finger nails were painted jet red, and had to be at least two inches long. She gave me a small smile and said, “You’re Isabella Black, right?” I nodded my head as her fingers flew across the keyboard. “A hundred and seventy centimetres in height and thirty-nine kilos,” she mumbled, glancing at a monitor on the right.

“Umm… How did you know all that?” I asked, looking at her curiously. She simply pointed to the floor on which I was standing and continued typing. For the first time, I looked down and noticed that I was standing on what must be a high-tech body check up machine. The little LED display it had was now flashing O¯, my blood type. A few moments later, the clerk looked up at me, smiled, and said, “All done dearie. Your room’s on Level Six.” “Thanks,” I said, before rushing over to the elevators.

I slipped into one and banged the button to the sixth floor. The doors immediately closed, and there was a whooshing sound as the elevator sped upwards. Before I knew it, the door opened to the sixth floor. I found a door labelled with my name on it and pushed it open.

“Wow,” I whispered, standing there looking at my room for the next week. There was a huge, plush bed right smack in the middle, and the toilet was off to the right. One wall was entirely made of glass, giving me a picturesque view of the Capitol. I wandered round to the toilet and was amazed by the shower itself. There had to be at least a hundred different kinds of buttons, each for a different programme. Some were labelled with different soaps while others were to adjust the temperature of the water or the intensity of the water. I walked back out of the toilet of flopped onto my bed staring at the ceiling.

Just then, there was a knock on my door. Before I could say anything, the door flew open and Rene came running in, dragging Jacob along with her. The sight of him made me blush, and I moved over to make space for the both of them. He sat next to me, and wrapped his arm me and I placed my head on his shoulder.

“Aww… You two are too cute!” Rene said, smiling cheekily. I grabbed a pillow and threw it at her, just as the door opened for the second time. Jacob and I immediately sprang apart, an identical guilty look on our face.

“There you three are. Come on, time to meet your stylists,” Rochelle said. We trooped out behind her, me leaving the room last. Just before I closed the door, I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing for a superb stylist.