Today is my sister's changing. There is Changing one every 5 years and it is supposed to mature the children. Obviously, us children who live in the poor sectors are already mature. My sister was the mother figure in my life as our own died hours after birthing me, I was supposed to die too. Every day we wake up and go to school or work, we study or work till our backs are stiff, our hands are cramped, and our skin several shades darker covered in dirt. This is my last year of school and soon I will have to find a job. I know many who get along by selling their bodies and living off their lust-earned money.
I refuse to succumb to those needs, yet they are richer than I. My sister was allowed to buy herself a fancy dress to wear to the ball. The rest of us poor people will be at the ball dressed in "nice" rags. Right now my sister sits in front of me and I braid her rough thick hair into a bun. "Are you going to go away?" I ask her quietly. "Where would I go? It's not like I can leave you here all alone," she says. I tuck away all the runaway strands of my sister's hair and admire my work. If I lived in sectors one, two, or three I could have had a job as a hairdresser, but I live in Sector fifteen, where the only jobs you can get are Miners, midwives, or poachers. I may have to be a midwife to survive, women can't be miners and being a poacher is dangerous work. Harper stood up and looked at herself in our small mirror on the wall. "It's beautiful," she said and smiled at her reflection. Before, there was no reason to look nice unless you were a street side whore, and now that Harper looks pretty I can't wait for my changing.
YOU ARE READING
The Changing
FantasyCedar Curtis witnessed her first Changing. It was her sister's, but later Cedar has a feeling that Harper isn't Harper anymore, the Changers did something to her and it's up to Cedar to find out what, but only if she has enough time, Harper is growi...
