The Selected

The Visitor

I stare at my picture on the TV screen and realize I'm not dreaming when I see that the entire room has gone silent. Even Erik has managed to keep his big mouth shut... well, more like half open in awe just like everyone else.

Anna is the one to break the silence when she says, "I guess you'd better start working on your formal accent for real right?".

I give Anna a quick glance before running up to my room, tears welling in my eyes. It seems that Anna snapped everyone out of their daze because I can hear mine and Anna's mom screaming excitedly, and Erik talking about how he's going to move into my room once I leave. Like hell he is.

I hear a knock on my door and Anna opens it before I even have time to tell her to come in. She moves swiftly over to my bed, sits beside me and grabs my hand. We sit in silence for a while and she ignores the few tears that spill down my face. I don't want to leave my home. I don't want to leave my parents, or Anna, or even Erik for that matter.

"Soo... does this mean instead of being a pain in my ass, you're gonna be a Royal pain in my ass?", Anna says while still staring at the wall ahead of us. 

I begin to laugh and she joins in but I'm at that point of hysteria where I just can't stop laughing. So we continue to laugh for several minutes until my laugh turns back into sobs. I allow myself just 5 more seconds to be weak before pulling myself back together and turning to face Anna.

"Ann, I don't know... I mean... I'm gonna..", I stumble over my words, but Anna just replies,

"I'm gonna miss you too Car". After that we just hold hands and sit in silence until Anna's mom tells her its time to go. Anna stands, gives me a quick hug and then hurries out the door promising that she'll come by tomorrow before I get sent off. 

About twenty minutes later I hear our front door opening and closing, and realize dad must be home from work. As a musician he often scores many late night gigs so his late arrival isn't really news. Sometimes dad even lets me go with him to these fancy parties for twos and threes, so that I get a chance to play the piano and sing outside of the house.

Too worn out to face anyone else tonight I decide to go to bed, in hopes that I can finally wake up from this terrible nightmare.

**

I wake to the screaming of my name coming from somewhere down stairs. I quickly slip on some pants and a sweater because unlike normal people who sleep in pajamas, I prefer to sleep in my underwear. Then I head downstairs and take in the scene around me.

Dad's keys are gone so he's probably out working on new songs with his "band", mom has the biggest smile on her face, Erik is watch cartoons, and oh ya, some random guys is standing in my kitchen. I cautiously walk over to him and polite say "hello", before turning to my mom and eyeing her questionably.

"Hello, I'm Tyler Ryder and I'm just here to fill you in on the selection, and ask you a few simple questions", the man says. He sounds more like a voice recorder than a real person though. I wonder how many times he's rehearsed this little meeting.

Tyler asked me questions for about ten minutes before asking me his last one...

"You umm... you are a virgin, right?"... This was probably the first time Tyler sounded awkward. I consider saying no because maybe if I wasn't one they wouldn't let me be apart of this stupid competition, but saying it in front of my mom would be weird. And let's get real... who would believe me? One look at me proves I am definitely still a virgin.

"umm, yes... I'm still a virgin", I reply slightly annoyed.

"Perfect", Tyler says while clasping his hands together, "If you will just sign this form to confirm your statement then we can move onto the rules".

"Great...", I mumble to myself while signing the contract.

Tyler lists many rules such as, "you may not have any other relationships than with the prince", and "you must do whatever the prince asks of you". I'm not quiet sure what that last one really means, but I can guess it means if he asks me to kiss him or something then I have to do it. Yeah, that's never gonna happen. But to make this meeting end as quickly as possible I just smile, nod and pray Tyler doen't notice I'm not listening to a word he's saying.

Before I know it Tyler is gone and everything goes back to being remotely normal... Except for the fact that the phone is ringing off the hook, Erik is actually being nice to me, and I have to be ready to leave my home by tomorrow morning for who knows how long.