“Darling, did you see that?! Get Nymphadora!” shrieked a woman lying on a hospital in St. Mungos. In her arms was a tiny newborn child, barely a foot long. A man sitting on a chair next to her bed calmly said, “Honey, relax. You’ve been stressing yourself, we’ll see every-” But before he could finish, his wife cut him off. “Vince, her hair just changed! It was brown about an hour ago, and now it’s blonde?! Get Nymphadora, now!” He sighed, but got up and went outside into the hospital hall.
Moments later, a young girl walked inside the room. Her hair was a shade of purple, her eyes were dark, and twinkling. She had a pale face, in the shape of a heart. When she reached the side of the bed, however, her hair changed color. The peaky purple turned into a shade of bright pink. She smiled as looked down at the newborn child. “What’s her name?” she asked in a voice that any other curious, but happy seven year old would. The woman lying down on the bed smiled, “Evie,” she replied, in a rather drowned out voice. Nymphadora smiled sweetly, and nodded. The woman handed her the child, and she gently took her in her own arms. “Dora,” said the woman, “she’s like you, you know.” And with that, her woman on the bed smiled, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.
The father of the child, who was standing a few feet behind Nymphadora, walked up next to her and said, barely over a whisper, “I think she’s just hallucinating. She’s worn herself out, is all. Giving birth is a pretty exhausting thing you, know.” Nymphadora giggled. She then turned to the tall, dark haired man and said, “But I think she is one. You said it yourself when you were describing her earlier. She had brown hair. Now look, her hair’s blonde.” The man just looked at her, eyebrows raised. After a few seconds he said, “Well, I’m sure we’ll know tomorrow.” Then he took the child into his arms, smiled at Nymphadora, and dismissed her from the room.
Haha as of right now, none.
Recommend some fanfiction here.
AnonymousThank you!! :D
And I have no idea. I’ll keep you updated though :)
“Number 7.”
I got up from my chair and walked over to the lady. I’ve seen her every single day for my entire life, yet I still don’t know her name. For thirteen years, I’ve always called her “the lady with the nails”.
I remember the first time she showed my unit her zkill. She came into our room and told us all to sit on the carpet while she read us a story. After she was done reading, she closed the book and said excitedly, “Yesterday was my unit’s day.” She smiled and held out her hand; her fingernails started changing colors. We awed.
“Oh, you think that’s cool? Check this out.” She shook her hand. Suddenly, her nails started popping out popcorn. We all laughed. “What else can you do?” asked Number 2, her green eyes filled with curiosity and envy. The lady with the nails laughed and said, “Well, I just got it yesterday. I don’t really know all there is to it.” She turned her hand over, admiring her nails. “I wonder what my zkill will be,” said Number 2. The lady with the nails smiled and said, “Well, you’ll all find out someday.”
Today is that day.
The lady with the nails led me into a room I’ve never been in before. The Choosing Room. I’ve only heard tales about this room; none of them seem to be even close to what is actually is. The walls aren’t mirrored, the floor isn’t made of stone, and there’s no talking head in the center of the room. In fact, there isn’t anything peculiar about this room at all. It’s simply a tan painted room with a couple of white armchairs facing each other and a coffee table in between.
“Please, sit,” said the lady with the nails. She gestured towards one of the armchairs. I walked over and sat down. The second I sat down, the color of the armchair changed to amber. The lady with the nails said reassuringly, “Ms. An will come back any second. There’s no need to be nervous.” Nervous? I shouldn’t be nervous. But then I noticed that my hands were shaking. The lady with the nails smiled. “The color of the armchair changes to fit the mood of the person sitting in it. When I first sat in one, it turned amber as well.” I sat there, not saying anything.
Thankfully the silence didn’t last for long. Ms. An, the director, came into the room. She greeted the lady with the nails and dismissed her. Then, I noticed something. Ms. An and the lady with the nails had a very similar physique: they both had small lips, fair skin, bright blue eyes, and even the same styled, shoulder length, dirty blonde hair. They might be related; I’d never know, and neither would they.
Newborns get sent straight to the System. The System is the institution everyone’s sent to until they reach a certain age (thirteen) and get their zkill. After that, they’re moved from the System into the Establishment, where they learn how to use their zkill to help function the Society.
I hope my zkill will be useful. Some of the girls in my unit were having a discussion about different zkills last night. I’m not one to really participate in a conversation, so I just listened. Number 8 and Number 1 were discussing the zkills they’ve read in books. “Imagine being able to smell emotions!” exclaimed Number 1. Number 8 nodded and said, “Rika sure got lucky with that one!” Number 6 joined the conversation. “Speaking of Rika, did you hear? The boy who got the zkill to read animal minds turned out to be her brother! Go figure!”
My flashback was interrupted. “I assume you know how this process works?” Ms. An tapped the coffee table three times with her index finger, and a giant glass bowl came out from under it. My face turned red. I zoned out while lady with the nails was talking about the choosing process at orientation. Thankfully, Number 4 and Number 9 were mentioned something about about talking to an inanimate object at dinner last night. It took a while for me to answer, but I finally said, “I- I have to talk to it. I have to talk to the bowl.” I sounded uncertain, but Ms. An smiled. “Right you are, Number 7.” I looked at the bowl. It was big enough to fit a large watermelon into, the glass shined, and there was nothing in it. I stared at it for a moment. I looked up at Ms. An. She smiled and said, “Go on then.”
