I walk around my new room. Though it is amazing and exceeds all my expectations of a place I call home, I am speechless. Not in a good way though. How could they know about all of this? I think. I know they are from the future and have all this new and improved technology we have but how? How could they see inside my parents. Inside my roots. Do they have my parents? At least their corpses? I don’t know what to say as I clutch both sides of my forehead with both my hands. My palms grow warm and little beads of sweat roll down them. Then a major question hits me. Do people have to be dead for the future people to be able to examine them or even take blood from them? That question leads to many more small questions. Am I even useful for them? Are they trying to take advantage of me? Is Camilla more valuable? Has she requested that I stay alive? Every little or big question swarms around my head like an angry mob of bees. Am I even Bree Suvil?
***
That last question stays absorbed in my head. Am I even Bree Suvil? I think over and over and over again until that’s the only thing imprinted in my mind. I trust fall on my new couch. It’s a lilac purple sofa with the imprints of little plums being picked by women, who later plop them into their baskets. The sofa is made from polyester like any other average sofa. To the left arm side on the lilac sofa there is a mini glass plated table where five chocolates lay next to three small water bottles labeled Fiji on them. Five chocolates. Three water bottles. Five chocolates for the five people who were or are in my family. Three water bottles for the three of them I had lost. Maybe even four considering Camilla’s Grongula mutation mishap. At least that’s what Cathy called it. I’ve noticed that this month of the blasting rays of heat from May are different. There is no Linc. He never appears at my doorway to give me this goofy glare. He doesn’t stop by to chat. Well I guess I deserved it. I practically shooed him away so I guess I got what I wanted then but not now. I just want a decent chat buddy.
***
The next morning Khloe wakes me up. Literally. She splashes water at my face with a large black pale. It fits her personality. A large black hole.
“Come on grouch.” She says. “We’re going to the annual May Maker Meeting!” She jumps up and down in place. Once she notices that I am watching her she stops and smooths down her once straight now ruffled business skirt. She cocks her head to the right side of my new room, signaling I should get changed. Immediately.
“What do I wear?” I ask.
“You wear this.” Khloe says, taking out a ruby red dress with an embroidered blood red rose, pinching the left waist side of the dress. “My sister Kendra let me borrow it for you. Begrudgingly.” Khloe continues.
“Let me guess.” I say. “You stole it from her.”
“Yup!” She said. “Now get ready! We have to get you a mani pedi before we go to the meeting. Which approximately starts at 9:00 am!” I rush into the changing room Khloe shows me and change quickly. Then Khloe drags me to the spa room we were in yesterday. The one with the girl named Celia who Khloe always yelled at. A lady with the mirrored look of Khloe walks in. Khloe has a twin. Gosh. Kill me now.
“Khloe…” The lady starts. “You stole my Ruby Cocher Bouvant dress!” Then the woman’s gaze darts to me.
“Give me that dress back!” She wails.
“Ok.” I say. The woman stops wailing.
“Sorry.” She says. “I thought you were Celia. I applied for a new job here but Khloe always seems to get a grasp of my stuff, giving them to my new boss and stuff. She gets on my nerves a lot.” Then she ties her hair into a high ponytail.
“Who are you anyway?” She asks again.
“She’s Bree Suvil.” Khloe says, beaming.
“Who the what?” The woman asks confused.
“She’s the one Kendra.” Khloe says rolling her eyes.
“Oh…” The woman who’s supposedly Kendra says. “She’s the one. The one Mom’s been blabbering about?”
“Yup.”
“No time to chat sis! She needs a mani pedi ASAP. The famous rose petal design!”
“Got it!” Kendra says as she readies all the materials. She starts by applying a clear coat first. A base. Then she applies a ruby red coat just like my dress on top of the dry clear coat base. Once she does this for every nail she applies another clear coat on every nail except my two index and thumb fingers. Kendra then picks up a mini stylus and starts making two tiny vibrant red roses on both my thumbs left edge. She then connects vines to those roses which are later connected to something brown, supposedly fertilizer. Once she’s done with both my thumbs she starts getting to work on my index fingers. Kendra makes mini curled designs on the left edge of both index fingers and then applies the top coat on for the thumbs as she waits for the index fingers to dry. Once they dry Kendra happily applies the clear coat.
“Voila!” She says. “That is your mani.”
“What about the pedi?” Khloe asks.
“No time.” Kendra says. “It’s 8:55.”
“Who cares Kendra. She only has to be there for after the main meeting which buys us at least thirty more minutes.”
“Fine.” Kendra says grudgingly. Kendra paints my toes a clear coat base then the same vibrant red color before. Then she puts a small little bright red gem on both thumb toes and paints a clear coat top.
“Happy sis?” She asks.
“Happy.” Khloe says as she checks the time. “It’s 9:25! We better hurry! We need to be there in five minutes ASAP!” Khloe turns to her sister. “Any ideas Kendra?”
“I’ll take you in Mom’s golf cart. She won’t mind.” Khloe nods. The three of us rush to the golf cart like maniacs making a quick drive to the meeting. Once Khloe and I enter the meeting room everyone stands up. Except Cathy.
“Where have you been Bree?” Cathy snaps, signaling that the meeting is over. “I told you 9:00 am.”
“Ma’am it’s my fault.” Khloe says, her head down as the men leave.
“I don’t care who’s fault it is.” Cathy snaps again, and right then I can see the resemblance between Cathy and Khloe. “Khloe please leave.”
“But Mom…” Khloe whines.
“That’s Ma’am to you. Whether or not the congressmen are here or not.”
“Yes Ma’am.” Khloe says as she walks away.
“She’s a bad influence.” Cathy smirks. “That’s why she’s my favorite.” Cathy runs a hand through her hair.
“Your lucky this was a test, Bree.” Cathy continues, glaring at me. “Those men work for me. That’s why they left.” She coughs as she continues again. “If they were the real congressmen then they wouldn’t leave and I wouldn’t be able to lecture you. This was a test for Khloe as well and I am so very sad to say you both failed.” Cathy picks up her red lipstick stained coffee cup, swirls it in the air and takes a large chug of it.
“Don’t do this again, Bree. Speak up.” I don’t respond. “Do you hear me, Bree?”
“Yes Ma’am.” I say.
“Good.” Cathy says. “You’re next hidden test will be tomorrow so study hard. Mentally”
***
Studying mentally. Hmmm… I think. I guess I’ll just have to study Cathy.
The guards let me walk around the so called ‘bureau’ of the future. Kendra and Celia collaborated on giving me a special permission slip;
BREE SUVIL
~VIP~
Water
Food
Walking
Blinking
Staring
Observing
I was astonished once they gave me this card. Of course I can blink, stare, eat, drink, and walk. I understand the ‘observing’ part but seriously. I am still a human just like them. Just less genetically modified.
***
Cathy said I should spend some family time around the bureau so now I am walking with Camilla and Chandler with my permission slip strung around my waist.
“You know that family time means talking right?” Chandler asks as I continue to glare at him.
“Well you know some families don’t talk to each other especially if each and every one of them is disfigured.” I snap back. Camilla is basically floating around roaring and banging against her floating cell in her white Grongula form.. With every bang she makes she gets electrocuted. I stopped trying to explain a while ago. Chandler stays quiet and Camilla collapses of too much static electricity contained in her body.
“Tell Cathy we had an hour walk.” I say and march off. I am off to observing Cathy. What type of mental test would she set up for me? She practically thinks I’m as dumb as a dodo. What to do? I ask myself. What to do? The first place I stop is Cathy’s office. Not literally inside though. That would be stupid and she’d think I cut the walk early by fifty five minutes (which I did) to spy on her. Which is the opposite of what I want her to think. I want her to believe that I am a sweet little innocent girl following orders. So, what do I do? I’ll need Linc’s help.
