I clench my teeth together and glance at Dana and Piper’s holograms. The names are already gone. Who did they choose? Me? Each other? What if I have more than one vote against me? What if everyone else voted for me too? Will I be taken away? Ellen can’t take a child out of every group of roommates, can she? There would be barely anyone left.
Ellen speaks into the microphone, “Good job everybody. Now it’s time for your next instincts. We’ll be seeing how your instincts react to situations of fear.”
Fear? What will they do to stimulate that? Will we be force to betray someone again? So far, no one’s been dragged away. That must still be to come. When? Next?
“For this test, you need to go outside in the hall where the Officials are waiting. Please wait along the walls where your number is.”
We file calmly out of the hall, although I’m sure each girl already battles fear. Officials dot the walls, others in a compact line to block off both sides of the hall. We’re trapped in a long rectangle. Holographic numbers float along the wall, a little higher than our heads. I find my own and stand beneath it. Dana stands to my right, Piper and Kate to my left.
Dana tries to catch my eye, but I avoid it. I can’t look at her, knowing that I betrayed her.
Ellen strides out into the hall, “There’s only one requirement for this Test. You must stay exactly where you are and continue the lady-like etiquette of silence and stillness.”
I shift from foot to foot. It can’t be that hard, can it? All I have to do is stand here. What can be so terrifying that could make me leave?
I can’t be that easy. Nothing in this Gratitude Ceremony has been easy. There’s always been tiny catches, little traps.
What will be the trap of this test?
Ellen turns to address the Officials, “Okay. Bring it out.”
Chills fly over my skin as she says ‘it’.
Two Officials drag a young girl over. The Officials hold tightly to her arms and wrists and she thrashes back and forth. There’s a black bag positioned over her head, blocking her face from view. I can’t tell which year she is, but she seems to be slightly smaller than most of us, probably a twelve or thirteen year. She wears the standard Complex uniform, gray skirt and long sleeved shirt, but a stain streaks across it.
Who is she? Why is she here? What’s supposed to be so terrifying about a thirteen year? Will Ellen do something to her? Why does she have the black bag around her head? So she can’t see us? So we can’t see her?
The Officials whip the bag of the girl’s face and hurriedly back away. I bite down hard on the inside of my cheek not to cry out. Blood dribbles from the inside of my cheek but I barely notice it. The girls face is a translucent white, paler than anyone should ever be. Tied around her mouth is a thin black cloth, a muffled sound escaping her mouth.
Then her eyes. Her eyes. They’re blank, just that same pale, pale white. No pupil. No iris. Just. White.
A girl further down the hall whimpers.
The pale girl, no. She’s not a girl. I don’t know what she is, but she’s not human. Just a…a pale, translucent…thing.
The colorless girl blinks around, staring at all of us. She stumbles around in a confused circle. I shiver as her eyes pass over me.
She stumbles forward, closer to the girls’ lines along the opposite side of the hall, further away from me. She leaps forward, wrapping her fingers around a girl’s shoulder. I glance at her number. 872.
YOU ARE READING
986 (Complex Series, #1)
Science Fiction-first book in Complex series- In the Complex, where everyone is emotionless perfection, a young girl discovers through forbidden friendships the frightening truth behind her seemingly flawless world. (the lovely cover was created by @clarkethevirus)
