literature

Resuscitation - Chapter 1

Deviation Actions

Zarinari's avatar
By
Published:
2K Views

Literature Text

Belle Astley sat in the waiting room in the government building in the beautiful downtown section of the city of Delmar. And my, was it beautiful, she sighed staring out the window. Women in big blue dresses with matching floppy hats and curly brown hair walked in groups down the streets, laughing and chatting about whatever women here talked about. Widely ranged colorful flowers bloomed in almost ever windowsill. Men stood outside, smiling and trying to sell their local goods to pedestrians. The weather was perfect, the sun shined brightly and only a few small clouds floated in the sky. In the distance, she could faintly see the ocean between two freshly painted light blue buildings.

She would rather be outside, doing as tourists do and wander the streets and experiencing the sights. But sadly, she was stuck in this stuffy room with bouncy, giggling girls of varying ethnicities. She was probably the only one in the room who had not chosen to come here by choice. Maybe that was why she would rather be outside and free than here waiting for her chains.

Jessica nudged her with her thin, bony elbow, smiling a big happy smile. Belle looked over at her close friend, silently admiring her beauty. Jessie, as Belle liked to call her, was a Rutilian like herself, however they looked liked exact opposites. Jessie had skin like a natural Rutilian; dark, tan, smooth and flawless. Belle had pale white skin, like that of a foreigner in Nygan or Albinida. Jessie's hair was raven black and full, not to mention long enough to touch the back of her knees. Belle preferred her brunette hair short but grew it out before coming here; it barely reached the middle of her back.

"Why are you being such a downer?" Jessica's raven black hair fell down into her eyes as she turned her head to meet Belle's slouch, despite all the fuss Jessica had made earlier trying to pin it back smoothly on her head. Belle put on her best happy smile met Jessie's curious slanted ice blue eyes.

"If they were going to make us wait so long, they could've at least let us look around," Belle sighed, emphasizing her dismay by throwing her arms up to her right, motioning them to the window, and turning her head away from Jessie's gaze to the window beside her. "Outside is much less depressing and could lighten the mood of this whole ordeal we have going on here!"

Jessie laughed at her. "This isn't that bad you know. You said you weren't sure when you were going to marry anyway." Jessie scoffed. "What type of guy would want you if he sees you frolicking around outside anyhow? Probably some low-class guy who doesn't even know how to take baths by himself."

Belle snapped her head around, sticking her lip up in disgust, leaning away from Jessie as if Jessie was the man herself. "That's horrid. I wouldn't even let that type of man give me an offer."

Jessie winked at her in amusement. "That's not what you had said on the ship. I do believe you mentioned something about how you are oh so sure that your father would marry you off to the first man who even presented an offer to you."

Belle playfully nudged her. "I can always abandon my family and join yours. I'm sure if my father ever loses his mind to that extent, your father will give me a roof to sleep under, since you'll be married off and an extra room will be available."

Jessie rolled her eyes. "You might think so since he seems to be so nice to you, but he's killer to live with, the moment you move in, he'll put you back out on the street since there is no reason to keep you."

Belle giggled. "Be nice to that sweet old man. All he ever did to you was take away your dolls when you turned thirteen, and you were much too old to play with them anyway."

Jessie looked at her with feigned shock. "But I loved those dolls!"

Both girls had grown so engrossed in their conversation that they had not noticed the rest of the girls filing out of the room. A young woman in a professionally looking sky blue dress working the desk walked over and tapped them on their shoulders.

"Misses, it was said that the Matches have arrived. Please exit the room through that door, please."

Again, everyone sat down in yet another waiting room, this time one with no windows to look out of. Most of the girls sat quickly powdering their faces or fixing their hair or smoothing their dresses, each wearing a dress of the colors of their home country. It may be the last time they ever have anything to remind them of home, Belle thought. Thinking of this, she decided for laughs she'd do the same, smoothing out the creases in her bright red open-naval silk dress and brushing through tangles in her dark brown hair, adjusting her hairpins to hold her hair correctly. When she finished, she untied and tied a golden ribbon on the front of her dress repeatedly. She had just realized she had lost count of how many times she had done it until Jessie's humored voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Nervous?" Jessie laughed. Belle blushed immediately.

"Not - not at all," Belle looked down to hide behind her hair so Jessie couldn't see her face. "My hands just need something to do…"

"I'm nervous too," Jessie admitted quietly. Belle looked up at her. Jessie sighed. "I've never really dated guys before… Now look at me, signed up for something like this…"

"Jessie…" Belle started.

Jessie smiled and looked back at her. "How does my dress look?"

Belle awkwardly smiled back. "As red as ever. It really brings out your eyes."

Jessie smiled genuinely. "Then I will use my eyes to win over my future husband!"

Belle laughed. "My, if I had eyes like yours, I could confidently win over anyone, just with a glance in their direction like this…" Belle tried her best to make a sexy face by widening her eyes and smiling with a clenched lip.

Jessie burst out laughing at Belle. "What in the world is that?"

Belle winked at her. "That's my 'I'd be even more incredibly amazing if only I had blue eyes' face."

Jessie stuck out her tongue at her. "Then promise me you will never do that again as long as you have brown eyes."

Belle smiled. "I promise."

"Excuse me everyone!" A man fussed as he walked in the room. He waved his hands somewhat frantically, trying desperately to tone down the speech levels in the room of laughing young girls. "Excuse me! Quiet, please!"

The girls earnestly stopped their talking and looked in the man's direction. He was very lanky and skinny with glasses and straight blonde hair that fell over his eyes. He wore the traditional sky blue business attire Marian government officials wore.

"Cute," Jessie whispered. Belle coughed on her laugh.

"Maybe to you," Belle whispered back.

The man quickly cleared his voice when he gathered the room's attention. "Um, well. Let's see… Oh, right! The process we're going to do this… Right," He stuttered nervously, sticking his head into the papers he held. "Um, OK, this is how we're going to do this. We're going to stick everyone into smaller groups according to age so we can get to better know each other…" He turned the paper over. "And then in 15-minute intervals, we are going to switch up so we can continue solely with the other candidates in our age groups," He looked up. "OK, so girls between ages sixteen and eighteen please exit the doors here on my left," he motioned with his hands, "and follow the attendants to the seating area where the other Matches are located."

Belle sighed and whispered to Jessie. "Sixteen to eighteen? Either we're too old or they're too young."

Jessie whispered back, "Too young. No one should be getting married at sixteen or eighteen years old."

Belle scoffed. "No one should be getting married through this kind of set up either."

Jessie rolled her eyes. "We're helping our country by doing this."

Belle whispered quietly, "So they say."

Once about 20 girls left the room, the man stood up from his chair beside the door. "OK everyone, if you're between ages 19 and 25, please exit through the doors now!"

Jessie smiled, "That's nice. We should be next then. I was scared they might be saying this time '19 to 21' and then '23 to 25' first."

Belle nodded. "Yup, 26 is definitely next in line unless they skip us for some reason."

Jessie nudged her. "Be careful with that 'yup' stuff. If you want a good pick, be formal."

Belle rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know."

The man stood up again after the group had made through the door. "Women between 26 and 30, please exit through the doors now!" The rest of the women stood up along with Belle and Jessie and made their way to the door. The man smiled and attempted to walk away toward wherever he was to go next. He tried to walk past the line of crowded women and tripped, falling backwards towards Jessie. Jessie, wide-eyed, quickly grabbed him before he could hit the floor.

"Are you alright?" she said quickly, helping him up.

"I-I'm fine!" He said, readjusting his glasses. "I'm sorry! I just…" He looked up at her face, dead in her eyes, and trailed off. "Wow…"

"Excuse me?" she asked confused.

"UH, I mean, thanks! Not 'wow'!" He laughed loudly but nervously. "Funny how those things mess up in your head when you mean something else, am I right?" He laughed.

"…Are you sure you're fine?"

"Y-Yes, thank you for your help!" he blushed.

Belle rolled her eyes, smiling. She grabbed Jessie's dress, distracting Jessie's worried face away from the obviously uninjured boy and nudged her through the door. "Come Jessie, we're holding up traffic."

"Jessie…" the man murmured.

"Yes?" she immediately answered.

"N-Nothing!"

Belle pulled her out the door into the narrow corridor. She looked back at a dumbstruck Jessie, looking back in the second waiting room's direction.

Jessie looked at her and said quietly, "I don't think he's OK."

Belle smiled and said back to her, "I don't think so either."
Story Summary : 

The Great War ended only a decade before. The countries on the continent of Asteria are still in the process of rebuilding. Once a year, as part of the Final Treaty, countries force their young adults to mingle with the each other in hopes of marriage and mixing of culture, so that another war will never again occur. The project that oversees this is known as Project Resuscitation.

Arrow Bullet Left (Rainbow) - F2U!  Last Chapter  |   Main Page Index   |   Next Chapter  Arrow Bullet (Rainbow) - F2U! 
© 2015 - 2024 Zarinari
Comments6
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
swxt-moon's avatar
jajajaj came to finish the story I loved and left me wanting of more read the secondpart  :3 congratulations :D