The Chosen

~Chapter 1~

When my mother saw the news on TV, she started screaming like there was a burglar intruded on our small house. At last, her dream to be part of the royalty would finally come true. Not her, but one of her three daughters. 

A few years ago, it had long been decided that Julianna, our eldest sister, would be the one to sign up for "The Choosing" ceremony because she had been, without a doubt, a princess in the making. She was a lovely lady, beautiful inside and out. She was absolutely gorgeous and she was dreaming of becoming a princess someday. But we lost her when there was an attack from the rebels. She was shot straight in her heart. How could anyone survive that? We were totally devastated. Mom was heartbroken. She was grieving every single day for her poor daughter, her princess. 

Julianna was a real lady. And I wasn't. I didn't want to become royalty. I had no plans on signing up. Julienne, my youngest sister, who was about to turn fourteen in the next six months was not eligible for The Choosing.

I hastily went outside our house and gone through the forest with a small lamp in hand. I had found a cave near the falls when I was thirteen and that cave became my sanctuary. Our sanctuary. I hid in the cave, the only place to avoid every stressful situation that was happening right now, trying to come up with a plan on how to stop Mom from making me sign up. Though I had some bargains in mind to sway her, I didn't think she would even let me talk. 

The sun had set. The darkness in the forest was fast approaching. Since Julianna was not around anymore, I replaced her to do her chores in the house. Julienne did the sweeping and cleaning the dusty house every day because Mom would turn into a machine g*n. She would ratatat her mouth when she saw a speck of dirt in our house. Shivering from that thought, I stood up and took the small lamp with me, using it to light my way out of the forest. 

Mom gave me a glare as I enter our kitchen. Uh-oh. Not a good sign. I prepared the food in the dining room with silence. I could not utter a word because Mom would turn into that machine g*n again and nag all night which would haunt us in our dreams. Oftentimes, if I were going to step back from a task, Mom would look at me and if looks could kill, I'd be dead on the spot. Like if I did not accept a waitress job because the owner was harassing me. Or if she wanted me to harvest the ripe fruits in our backyard to be sold in the local market because we could not afford to pay a person from Euni. 

Mom knew what I wanted. She knew what my answer would be. She knew I wouldn't budge.

As if I was hearing her even if I didn't, I already knew what Mom was thinking now. She wanted me to be more agreeable, more compliant. But, unfortunately for my Mom, I got my stubbornness from her and I was always asking myself if she knew? This signing up for The Choosing just added up to our already piled-up worries. 

I heard a loud thud in the kitchen. It's no doubt that Mom was banging whatever utensil her hand carried. I smelled the delicious roasted chicken she took from the oven. I knew why Mom cooked that. I never thought she would go this far to make me sign up for The Choosing. We never ate any delicacies made from chicken nor meat because we were not born rich like those people living in Henndar and in Vale.

Mom set down the roasted chicken at the center of the table and looked at me with a glare. "Would you lose anything if you sign up?" she hissed. "You know Julianna will not be able to sign up anymore. She's gone." Her voice became a whisper as she reminisced about my precious oldest sister. 

I took a deep audible breath, remembering how joyful Julianna would be if she was still here. Everyone in this house knew how much distance Julianna and I had in between. I was Julianna's total opposite. I was no princess. I only wanted to be who I was, what I really wanted, and whom I wanted to be with. Just thinking about signing up felt like I was dying.

The attack of the rebels was becoming rampant as they were invading other territories of Eleta. They even tried to attack the Palace, threatening the Royal family. It was all over the news when they bombed a jewelry shop after they took most of the shop's precious stones, and about fifteen houses were burned in just a day. They even kidnapped several people last year, and they had only considered releasing a person from Ibera because Iberans were the lowest caste in Eleta. Iberans had nothing to give, they couldn't even feed themselves three times a day. 

But considering there was an arousing danger from the rebels, it was not still right for me to sign up for The Choosing and become one of the twenty Chosen Maidens. It just didn't feel right for me, and I knew it was not where my heart belonged. My lips crept a smile as I remembered all the reasons why I wanted to stay as a normal girl from Kent.

"Have you been paying attention to your father lately? He's been sick for over two years now, Julie, and he keeps working for you... for us." She said. "If you have even slight compassion at all, think about how hard it is to your father to feed us all."

I remember Dad coming home late for serving in the Warrens Hotel despite having high blood pressure. Whenever Mom talked about how bad our situation was, I kept on thinking how could I get one more job just to let Dad stop serving in the Warrens. It wasn't wondered though why Dad did not want to leave. He had been serving the Warrens for two decades without an increase in salary and promotion because housekeeping was the only job he knew his whole life. We, from Kent, could only do housekeeping services, no more no less.