Empire

Chapter two

    I am exhausted.
   
    We drove to the airport, flew to Emor, then drove the rest of the way to where I'm staying which is a gigantic building where I have my own room.
   
    I've never been in a vehicle before never mind a plane. And I've never been to Emor, the biggest city I've been to is Berlin and this dwarfs that.
   
    The man brought me to this room and locked the door when he left. I walk to the window and look out at the city. I am at least fourteen stories above ground, but I'm not even in the tallest building here. Someone said they are called skyscrapers.
   
     I lay down slowly on the big soft bed and finally let myself cry. I'm surprised I held it in this long.
   
    I wake up on the floor. Sunlight streams through the window onto my face making me blink. I hear someone knocking on the door.
   
     "I can't open it, it's locked." I say and the knocking goes away.
   
    Ten minutes later I hear a key turning in the lock and the door opens. Three women walk in and the door is closed again. The one who seems to be in charge says "Well she looks promising."
   
    "Yes definitely better than the last one." Says the woman right behind her.
   
    One of the women has very dramatic makeup but the rest of her is plain, she has a simple ponytail and a grey dress. The one in charge has an elaborate dress but no makeup and the third has a complicated hairstyle.
   
    The one with the dress says "Hello, I'm Indigo, this is Magenta," the one with the makeup "and this is Maroon." The the one with her hair done. "And you are Susan I suppose."
   
    "Yes," I say "what are you here for?"
   
    "You don't know? Of course you don't. We're here to get you ready." Says Indigo.
   
    "Ready for what?" I ask.
   
   "You will find out soon." Says Indigo "For a now come with me into the closet."
   
    The closet is almost as big as the room and completely full of clothes.
   
    "You'll need a shower first I think." Maroon says before I can enter the closet.
   
    "What's a shower?" They all laugh as if I've said something funny.
   
    "Come here, I'll show you." Says Magenta.
   
    I follow her into another room with funny white things in it. One of them is a box with glass walls. A wall in the box opens and Magenta reaches in and turns a silver thing and water starts falling from the roof.
   
    "Take off your clothes, and wash up in there." She says and walks out of the room.
   
    I figure there's no point in disobeying, I need answers and I won't get them by not cooperating. And it would be nice to be clean. My body is sweaty and stiff from sitting so long yesterday.
   
    There are some bottles in the shower with flowery smelling liquid. I don't want to touch them, they smell fake.
   
    When I get out there is a soft white dress where I left my clothes. I slip it over my head and open the door. The women are talking and stop when I come in then look me over.
    
    They get me to sit on a chair and then examine me. My stomach growls loudly and I realize that I haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday.
   
    Indigo seems to pity me "Oh dear, have you eaten?" She asks but before I can answer she says "Of course you haven't, I'm sorry Nickel never thinks of those things. I'll send someone to get you food, and while we wait Magenta can start on your face." Then she leaves the room.
   
    "Stay still," says Magenta "I'll make you look gorgeous."
   
    A painful hour later I look completely different. Or at least my face does and I don't think I like it. Indigo comes back with food and I eat gingerly, trying not to smudge any of my makeup. Magenta touches me up and then it's Maroon's turn.
   
    She spends half an hour quietly fixing my hair. When she's finished I'm allowed to look in the mirror before getting dressed. Indigo puts me in a simple brown dress and then they all leave.
   
    I examine myself for a few minutes. Whatever is on my lips is uncomfortable and I feel like rubbing it off. But I don't really want to get in trouble, even though it would be funny.
   
    I sit on the bed and daydream of home until the door opens again. This time it's a man wearing the uniform of a government official.
   
    "Come with me." He says.
   
    I follow, hoping to finally get some answers.
   
    We walk down a hallway and into a small room. The man calls it an elevator and tells me not to worry. I wonder what he means until the door slides shut and the room starts moving up. I lose my footing for a second and grab onto one of the bars along the wall. I hold tight the rest of the way until the door opens again.
   
    I leave the elevator and walk into a large room. There is a small crowd of girls and officials waiting inside. The official who brought me here gestures to a girl across the room and she walks over. He greets her and then leaves.
   
    "Hello, I'm Flair." She says and I can tell by her accent that she is Emorian.
   
    She is very pretty. Her hair is red and wavy and her eyes sparkle green like emeralds.
   
    "I'm Susan." I say "Why am I here?"
   
    I cringe a little, that sounded rude. But I don't really care about small talk right now.
   
    "I'll tell you everything, come sit with me." She says waving towards a small couch.
   
    I join her and she begins "Every year Emor holds a competition of sorts for people from all over the world. Two people each from fourteen countries are chosen to compete. You were chosen, and I got in because I passed a test. We will travel all over the world and do a bunch of different sports and the winner will be famous and maybe even live in Emor. I think that's happened before anyways..."
   
    That's a lot to take in and it takes a bit to process.
   
    "How long have you known you would be competing?" She asks me.
   
    "Twenty four hours." I say.
   
    "That's strange. Everyone is supposed to have a week to prepare." She says sounding confused.
   
    "Why was I chosen?" I ask, still not quite understanding.
   
    "Because you're so pretty obviously. They only choose nice looking people." Says Flair.
   
    I've never thought of myself as especially pretty, I know I look nice but I don't see myself very often. While I'm thinking a man walks in and says that the list will be put up now and then the boys will come in.
   
    Flair gets very excited after the announcement, "Now we'll know which countries are competing!" She says.
   
    She practically runs to the list, I'm curious but definitely not excited. If we're going all over the world this might take awhile. I just want to go home.
   
    The list has fourteen countries with a flag beside each name. Beside each country are row names, I'm guessing those are the contestants.