The Playground (Book #1)

six

The next day drifts by like a summer breeze and before I know it, the evening has fallen and it is time for Phase 1: Outer Perfection. Haldis instructs to meet with our head designers at once and I run down to Florin's office as fast as my legs can take me. When I burst through the door, my mouth hangs open. The dress in front of me was absolutely beautiful. The prettiest cream color with a touch of lavender accents. The dress was classicly simple, without anything super flashy or irritating to the eye. It was light, airy, comforting like an orchid; yet breathtaking, making your heart skip a beat with just one look at it. "Oh, Florin!" I beamed as I saw the round old man appear in the view. "Isn't it perfect?" He says with a smile. "Thank you," I say my voice barely resonating. I reach out to touch the smooth fabric, in awe of his work. "Let's get you into this dress." Florin says. I nod vigorously. The guilty feeling of being spoiled rotten at this facility has completely gone away. I want to wear it more than anything in the world. It is something made for me, something all mine and for just a moment I let myself relish in the selfish nature of it all. After the dolls help me into my dress, they lead me out the room, into the elevator, and to the basement where the makeup and hair is being done for all the testers. My team of dolls gets right to work on making my face look anew. A creamy substance in a small metal compact, lipstick, as Florin tells me, runs through my lips making them a light nude. My eyes are coated in sparkles of tiny stars. They elongate my eyelashes, add pink to my cheeks, and brown around my temples. Rhinestones create constellations on my body and pearls decorate my wrists. "What a jewel you are, young lady" I hear a designer from across the room say to me as one of the dolls place the finishing touch of a small tiara on my now perfectly straight hair. "A pure jewel." I smile uncomfortably as a few hateful eyes dart my way. When they finally let me see myself in the mirror, I cannot recognize the face that greets me. I'm no longer Laelia. I'm a distorted version of her. I notice Raveena then, shinning in a golden dress as she watches me from behind, her team of glamorous working on hard on her look. Her eyes are filled with the most hate. While someone helps put on my silver shoes, I watch the rummage of other dolls beautifying their clients. I see reds, I see blues, blacks, and golds. Glitters, perfumes, ribbons, and scarves. Wigs, and extensions, bow-ties, and hats. Corsets are being pulled, hair is being curled, and makeup is being applied. It is all so drastically chaotic. "It feels good, doesn't it?" Haldis appears out of the chaos walking slowly towards me; a smirk on her face."All the razzle and dazzle. All the frilly dresses. All the stares. It's intoxicating."  She pulls a loose hair of mine away from my face. "There, now you're perfect." Her words are flattering but her tone is patronizing and demeaning. It's odd though because I don't think I am what she means to offend.  "Come on, Laelia it's about to start." With that she disappears back into the sea of bodies, holding her gloved arm close to her body. "You ready Laelia?" Florin says with a grin. I nod. "The shows about to start!" He leads away from our station and the rest of my team follows suit. One of the dolls helps hold the train of my dress, another adds perfume to my collarbone, and another straightens my tiara.  "Now Laelia," Florin explains. "The way this all works is, you each go up one by one through this rose shaped hatch that shoots up and into the stage above." He points to it at the front of the room. ". "Don't worry, it's perfectly safe and only about a minute long process.  Then you'll walk down the catwalk nice and steady and you'll give a short little speech about yourself. Then walk down." "A speech?" I blurt out panicked. "No, no, not really a speech." Florin insists. "It's more like a small blurb about yourself to let the judges get to know you a bit better. Just say where you're from, what you're all about. It's a formal but informal sort of thing. Nothing to fret about." And oh how could I not possibly fret?  But of course, I don't say those things. I just smile and nod, and hope no one can read my mind. "Okay then. I believe you're the 27th in line to go. It shouldn't be long from now. As you'll see, Phase 1 goes by rather quickly." Breath, Laelia. I tell myself. Just breath. Florin is right, it is a quick process and before I know it contestant number 26 is being sent down and a computer voice says "calling number 27" I'm frozen in my seat, my legs shaking. "Easy does it, Laelia," Florin tells me. It's time now." I look over at the empty hatch. I walk up slowly, my hands shaking. I let my body walk itself towards the hatch my dress trailing behind. I walk inside and let the doors shut and immediately I'm being cast up in the sky. And then I hear it, my name being boomed from a large speaker. "Laelia Roseblade" The hatch comes to a lurched halt and slowly the petals begin to unravel themselves. The auditorium is filled with sinless and dolls and they are clapping up a violent storm. There are lights shining on me from all directions. There is a banner at the back that writes the motto of our nation, "What better place to be, than in The Enchantments hands, which set us free" I gulp. The catwalk illuminates and I realize that that is my cue to begin to walk. I take my first tentative step out of the hatch, my heels make a sharp clicking sound. I pray that I can walk in these preposterous things. Unreasonably, I curse Florin under my breath for not letting me learn how beforehand. I take another step, and then another, and before I know it I'm making my way through the stage. When I get to the end, I can see the judges. I count ten of them, and they stare at me with beady and sharp eyes. They do not seem at all impressed. I give my broadest smile I can manage as a small microphone appears from beneath me. I clear my throat. My mind searches in all directions for something to say, but I can't quite figure out to start. C'mon Laelia. I say to myself. I feel as though all of them are waiting for me to break. I imagine my mother in the audience, arms folded with her lips pressed together in disgust. Somehow this snaps the words into place. I lift my chin up, smile and start. "Good evening." I begin. "I am most honored to be here tonight, alongside my fellow testers who all eager to prove ourselves in our perfection." I take a breath. "I come from a humble place. A place of very little money but a lot of hope which I like to think of as a flower. The hope that The Dolls had when they implemented this education. The hope that humans could be rebuilt to live in this world perfectly and successfully. And tonight, I wear this hope to inspire my testers to keep pushing on. Thank you" Clapping vibrates through the room and I give a small and awkward curtsy before click-clicking my way back to the hatch. When I undo the lock, outside stands Florin and my team with beaming smiles. "Very good!" They tell me. "Very, very good!" I let myself breath. Mother doesn't know it yet, but I've got my mind on the prize. I'm coming home.