The cross was small and was in the centre of the room. The door closed, and I didn’t need to turn around to see that the boy had gone.
“Name?” Said a loud voice, a large microphone stood perched on the far end of the room on a table.
“Cecily. Cecily Matthews.”
“Book of preference?”
“Uh, Great Expectations. By, uh, Charles Dickens.” I replied. God, I hope I’m doing this right.
“Preferred colour?” The voice was clearly a womans, sharp and feminine.
“Mauve.” I replied, before thinking. No! That was definitely not what I was meant to say. Mauve, her mother said, was a depressing colour. Should have said yellow or something brighter.
“Interesting. Recite something? A poem, or something of the manner? A passage you know by heart or something from the top of your head?”
“A poem?” I asked. I had read many poems, only the ones allowed to be read by The Crowd, some books were off limits and destroyed.
“Yes, a poem.” She said, her voice dripping with annoyance and boredom.
I clutched at the large necklace, that I have always worn. The last thing my grandpa gave to me. I closed my eyes. I kept my hand at my throat, fiddling with the necklace between my fingers.
“Through my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.” My voice came out louder than I thought it would. My voice was loud and melodious as I recited the poem. “It’s a poem by Sarah Williams.”
“Never heard of that poem. It’s lovely.”
“Thank you.” I whispered my voice low.
“We shall proceed to the last test. A assessment that will put your stamina and brainpower to the test.” A loud bang made me flinch. The wall in front of me rose. In a literal sense. The wall completely went up, disappearing into the roof. A woman in a red long dress approached me. Her hair was almost white, she flicked her hair and walked to me. She was very pretty, and looked alot like a heroine. She was slim and tall. “Cecily.” I couldn’t quite place her accent, but from the way she elongated the c’s and the y I could see she had one. She grabbed my hand, her grip strong. “All you have to do is have this drink. You will have your test. The drink will make you hallucinate exactly what we want you to hallucinate. It’s an easy procedure. Just gulp it down, don’t taste it. Trust me.” She winked. She was beautiful, she looked just like a heroine out of the fictional world. “I’m Caeline Black. I’m going to monitor your test.” She offered me a drink in a see through cup. The liquid was a slightly off pink, leaning more to a mauve colour. “Hurry, darling.” She urged me on. She smiled at me, revealing perfect white teeth. I closed my eyes and took a swig of it, emptying the contents into my mouth, it tasted foul in my mouth, I wanted to spit it out, but I managed to drink it as fast as I could. Everything was blurry, Caeline Black was barely a wavering red dot in front of me. Then my legs gave way.
It was dark, my eyes adjusted to the dimness. I was in front of a table with five items on it, a knife, bone, parasol, pen and a torch. I had to choose. Without thinking, I fumbled for the knife, I was surprised at how light it was in my hands. The table disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
I was now in a chair with my hands tied, I knew my left hand had the knife in it. I realised how I could have used the light, to burn away the thin rope, and maybe the parasol to prise the rope apart, giving me more space to wriggle about. I sawed the knife forward ignoring the pain in my wrist as the knife pricked at it. I sawed faster and faster, not taking my time. This was such a strange test. God, my wrist hurt a little. I hurried, sawing back and forth faster and faster. Not worrying about the pain.. The rope gave way and I was released.
I was in the woods. A wolf stood in front of me and a little girl a little to my left. The girl was clearly afraid, she whimpered loudly. The wolf had its eyes on her, I had barely any time for my decision. Do I flee or do I save the girl? Without the pleasure of a warning, the rabid black wolf lunged at the girl. Without a second thought I put myself in front of the girl. Closing my eyes. Oh good god.
“Cecily? Cecily?” Caeline shook me awake. “You did well, darling. Hurry out.” She waved me away and returned back to the wall. I looked down my wrist. Nothing. My wrist was fine, as if nothing had happened. A hallucination. Just a hallucination.
“Sugar? Have some of that drink on the way out.” Her voice was sweet and sharp. She disappeared quickly.
The boy I had met on the way in stood at the exit, looking at me. He had a green drink in a small cup. I studied the drink. Will it make me hallucinate again? I wonder.
“It doesn’t make you hallucinate. If that’s what you are marvelling about. Just makes you forget about the test. They don’t want citizens to tell others about what happened. That’s all.” He said soothingly. “I’m James, by the way.” He had elegant cheekbones, a full mouth, and long thick eyelashes. Even the curve of his throat was perfect. He looked like every fictional character I could conjure up in my head.
“Cecily. But you already knew that.” He grinned at my response. I gulped down the drink.
“All better?” He, Alex, I reminded myself, whispered.
“What happened?” I asked, dumfound.
“It made you forget.”
“Oh.” He opened up the door and we both left the room. A whisp of blonde hair passed by.
“Cece. Finally. I’ve been looking for you all day.” It was Isabel; her dress was blue and fluffy, fanning around her hips. She was shorter than me, but so much prettier. She was always cute and innocent as a child, but had grown up to look regal and majestic. She linked her arm with mine and pulled me with her.
“Bye, James.” I said turning around.
“Bye, Cecily.” He whispered his voice barely clear. Isabel clung to me, smiling brightly and breezily. Her hair was in ringlets half up half down. The next time, I turned around to try catch a glimpse of the blonde boy, he was gone.
