Compassion (A Selection Story)

> 9 <

Leanne had left me standing there in the hallway, blank and unable to be snapped out of my realization. I was the one who was mean. Leanne had never really talked to me before, and I chose to snub her away as if she'd done something to me. She'd done nothing except be born as a Two. It wasn't her fault that I hated her. It was the palace, the royalty, the Selection that did this to me. I fled from my poor, starving family, for nothing other than freedom. She has a purpose, being here, to win.

I don't even know what my purpose is anymore. I don't want to leave and become a Three. You want Toby, the voice in my head nags at me.

Shut up. I shake my head and head over to the staircase, ascending it quickly, and reaching my room even faster. My maids are nowhere to be found, so I crawl into bed, fancy black dress and all, and fall asleep.

When I open my eyes, I am confused as to why the room is so dark. Rolling over, I look at the clock perched on the bedside table, and sigh when I see it displays the time as 5:30. I sit up, knowing that I won't fall back asleep, and pad into the bathroom to remove my makeup. It's dark and smeared and makes me look extremely tired, also taking ten wipes to remove. I splash my face with water to wake myself up a little, and then decide to take my bath now. My headache in full force now, I hear a muffled noise ring in my ears, but ignore it.

After settling into the warm water, I feel better and less groggy than when I woke up, but a pounding headache isn't receding. I tilt my head back, resting my neck on the edge of the tub, but quickly stop since it's not helping. Sighing again, I get out and dry off, walking over to my closet to find something to wear. I glance over at Cassie, who is a sleeping lump on a small couch in the corner, and smile. She can sleep through anything.

Pulling on a soft, dark blue dress, I walk over to my balcony doors to try fresh air as relief from my headache. When I pull open the door a faint trace of a familiar smell tickles my nose, but I can't place it.

Then I am nearly knocked over as the wall of heat slams into me. My eyes try to adjust and get rid of the grey, but that's all there is. Smoke is everywhere, pouring from the treetops and curling up around the balconies. I stumble backward and fall, pulling on Cassie's arm as I go, trying to wake her up.

Instead, what I thought was Cassie's arm was actually a throw pillow, and the couch is abandoned. There's no time to think now, and I run out to the balcony to see what is happening. Tears well in my eyes when the smoke reaches me again, thick clouds of it piling into my room, and I see that the very tops of flames are barely visible, just at the bottom of the balcony. No wonder my feet are so warm.

I thank my lucky stars- which haven't been fulfilling their duties lately- that the castle is not made of much flammable material. Covering my mouth and nose with the thick fabric at the neckline of my dress, I venture back through excessively heated room, blindly searching for my doorknob.

The good news: I found the door. The bad news: The doorknob is too hot to touch, and I can't see a thing to find something to serve as a heat protectant. Tripping, stumbling, and coughing, I stumble back out to the balcony, where the smoke is more dispersed, and the air is clearer. I hear coughing, briefly wondering if it was me, and hear it again. The sound comes from my right, and I figure that I might have a better chance if I'm with someone else. Trusting my life to my hazy memories of the balconies, I climb over the railing while gritting my teeth through the scalding pain in my hands and bare feet, since now I am much closer to the fire, and the air is hot and thick with blinding smoke.

Pressing my foot against the wall and sliding it down, I find the ledge that appeared in my memory. Carefully inching my way along, the acrid tang in the smoke burning my lungs, I make it to the next balcony. Climbing over, I blindly fumble around to find the maker of the sounds. My arm goes through an extremely heated patch, and I realize that the chairs on this balcony are on fire- and I just hit my hand on one.