The ballroom
1386 Words
I woke up to the sound of Jennie's voice, feeling she was pushing my shoulders.
“Hannah, wake up! We need to go inside the ballroom any minute now, I can’t carry you wearing heels!” I opened my eyes and looked around. All the girls were inside this room, everyone was wearing the same white summerdress and white pumps, all looking so angelic. Everyone's hair perfectly in place and every face painted with the best make-up. Everyone looked so pretty! It almost made it creepy at the same time.
“Oh my gosh Jennie!” I cried out, once I had found my voice again. I got up and hugged my best friend. Thankful that I was seeing her again.
“I was so scared! Are you OK? Did they hurt you?” Jennie laughed and shrugged as she shook her head. “ Basically, yeah, I’m feeling great. The shampoo in this place is amazing for sure” she grinned, while putting a stray of her black hair behind her ear.
“You had that too? What was that?” I asked, eyes wide open.
“Yup” Jennie said, nodding but a smirk on her face.
“By the looks of it, we all went a little zenn after the shower. Maybe it’s for the best? Do you think you can stand and walk?” she asked me as she took my hand and came to stand next to me.
“Yeah, I think so. Did the perfume knock you out as well?” Jennie looked at me with a weird expression on her face.
“Hannah, what perfume? When I was done, they just walked me over here. You were already here sleeping on the sofa.I thought you were just taking a nap or had dozed off.” I tried to wrap my mind around what Jennie was saying. Why did Caroline use perfume on me, to knock me out?
What was happening before she had gone to get the perfume?
“Oh, no!” I whispered, almost crying when the realization hit me,
“My necklace!” I cried as my hands flew around my neck, but as I thought, my necklace was gone. I looked at Jennie feeling so hopeless, feeling my bare neck.
“My mom gave me a necklace, they took it from me!” Jennie's eyebrows raised up high, as she looked at the door located behind us.
“Those sneeky little bitches!” She started to swear a whole line of nasty words, as the mayor opened the door to the ballroom at the other end of the hallway.
“Ladies,” he spoke, again pointing with his arm in the direction we needed to walk in.
“It is almost time. Please follow me inside.”
Jennie sighed deeply and turned around to follow the mayor.
“Let's get this show on the road.” she spoke while looking into my eyes.
“Are you ready?” I looked back at her, trying to hold back my tears over losing my precious necklace.
“Do we have a choice in the matter?” I asked her in a husky voice.
“No sweety, I think we don’t have a choice to be honest, not this time anyway.” Jennie held my hand as we walked inside. The ballroom was filled with a giant table,
Are we going to eat with these monsters?
Around the table were 15 chairs placed, but no table wear or anything else.
What was the meaning of this?
The mayor cleared his throat again, so all the girls turned to face him.
“Ladies, for the last part of the evening, I kindly ask you to all choose a seat at the table and take place. Once everyone is seated, you will be getting a blindfold from one of the makers. It is very important and I repeat, very important, that nobody takes their blindfold off by themselves. Do I make myself clear on that part?” Jennie and I looked at each other at the same time,
What kind of a sick and twisted game is this?
As some girls started to walk towards a chair, Jennie pulled me along, so we had two seats next to each other. She whispered in my ear.
“What the hell? Why can’t we watch? Are those guys that ugly?” My mind was going into overdrive. My mom had warned me not to listen. Now they tell us we also can't look? I sat down as Jennie stepped quickly towards the chair next to me as she sat herself down. The other girls were now all starting to look afraid, eyes wide and looking around, as if they were looking for answers on the walls.
One maker entered again, holding a tray, filled with white blindfolds as she started to hand them out to the girls one by one. Another maker entered and helped everyone by putting their blindfold on correctly, making sure they were fastened hard and well, so they couldn’t drop off at any point, or gave you the chance to peek underneath them. Before the maker got to Jennie, she looked at me and leaned in
“No matter what Hannah, keep talking to me, so I know you’re still here, OK?”
Shit,
how was I supposed to talk to her when I shouldn’t be listening like my mother had asked me to do? I was torn between the choice of doing this alone in silence, or with my best friend talking our way through it. Before Jennie was blindfolded, I made up my mind.
“Ok”, I nodded fast
“ You keep talking too, OK?” I saw Jennie get her blindfold placed on. She looked so stunning sitting there. If those monsters had any good taste in women, or knew what a gorgeous human was supposed to look like, Jennie would be taken within the first minute, and I wasn’t ready to lose my parents and my best friend on the same day.
“Great blindfold lady, nice work” Jennie laughed sarcastically, once the maker had left her side.
“You really can’t see s**t with these!” Now the maker was near me and started to blindfold me. My last vision before going completely dark, was my best friend sitting in the chair next to me. After a couple of minutes, my hearing got much better. With no vision, my other senses were getting more intense. I could hear the makers walking around, a door closing and opening again to my right and someone clearing his throat.
“Ladies,” we heard the voice of the mayor going through the ballroom once again.
“What we expect of you tonight is very simple. When we leave this room, you will stay seated at all times. The men of the Denali pack will enter this room, NO BLINDFOLDS WILL COME OFF AND YOU WILL STAY SEATED! If you are chosen by one of the men, he will personally remove you from this room and remove your blindfold once outside. You will not do it yourself! If someone does remove their blindfold on their own, they will be punished and banned from this community forever, as will their entire family! If the men of the Denali pack leave, and you are still in your seat and therefore not chosen tonight, a maker will come and get you, remove your blindfold, and you can return to your home.”
My breathing was getting harder at this point, coming to terms with the info we had just been giving.
“s**t, what the hell is this freakshow?” I heard Jennie mumble in the seat next to me.
“Did I make myself clear ladies?” the mayor shouted through the ballroom.
“Yes,” most girls answered in response. I just nodded my head.
“ OK then,” the mayor stated.
“ Thank you all once again, for your contribution, we are all grateful for the sacrifices that will be made tonight.” Followed by the sound of him shutting the door behind him and leaving us alone and vulnerable. “Sacrifices?” Jennie asked out loud,
“What the hell does he mean by sacrifices?"
- Writer
