Selected
"My name is Ara," I told the beautiful man with the clipboard. He wrote my name down and went to the next person.
I was terrified. Just one minute I was walking home late at night from the drugstore, and the next minute I was flying through the air, then the woods, and then I was in this huge white room.
I pulled my hijab tighter around my head, to hide my hair, and started praying to Allah. I was a good Afghanistan girl, who didn't deserve this. I got up every morning and did what I was supposed to do.
Surely, Allah had made a mistake in punishing the wrong girl. Maybe he meant to take Azita, down the street. She didn't even cover her arms anymore or even bothered to hide her hair.
Just because we lived in America now, doesn't mean we have to abandon our culture. But instead of her being here, I was the one surrounded by other frightened people, and a number of individuals with bright red eyes.
The large door at the back of this white room opened, and in came a very pale, very beautiful man. He walked with a grace that made him look like a god.
He had large red eyes like the others, but his hair was fiery red, and his face was cruel.
"Welcome," He said in an accent I couldn't place. Everybody stilled. We all wanted to know what was going on.
"You have all been selected to join our cause," he said. There was sudden murmuring amongst us.
"I am sure that you are all afraid as to where you are, but if you follow the rules down here, and prove yourself worthy, you will live, and if you are lucky, you may even gain immortality." He said in his strange voice.
I was so frightened I found myself saying, "What are you?" and immediately regretted it, not because the beautiful man looked at me, but because I had spoken. Women should not speak, unless being directly spoken too.
"Vampire," He answered. I tried unsuccessfully to shield myself more with my hijab, but it was pointless. Vampires, they were those demons that Americans were obsessed with. And they existed.
"Good luck," The redheaded man said, and left. The man who was writing down everybody's name down on the clipboard came to the center of the room and said, "Men on left, women on right."
Everybody stood up and followed instructions. I noticed that all of us were around the same age group. The youngest looking around 16 and the oldest looking about 30 years of age. I was nineteen, and my birthday was next month. If I even lived that long.
I was sad. Twenty years was not a long time. I feel like I had barely lived. I had spent my life serving others just to end up here. It was a cruel joke. A female vampire came into the room and started to shuffle us out of the room.
The room we entered next looked like a spa. Another beautiful women entered.
"My name is Beth and this room is the cleansing area. When Adrian, our leader, sees you again, you need to look respectable. Or you die." She said.
All of us girls and women cringed. This women was beautiful though. Short white blond hair that stopped at her neck. She was very tall. Maybe 5'10, and she spoke with an authority that had me thinking that she was second in command.
"You," she said to me, as other female vampires led the girls away to perfect their images for the big reveal. "Take that off of your head," She finished.
"Bu-," I was about to protest. My hijab, was a part of who I was. "Unless you want to die. It's time for you have your own identity, and to stop being unnoticed." She said.
The only time I took off my hijab was when I was going to sleep or taking a shower. I slowly removed the veil, and my hair came tumbling down to my waist. Beth looked impressed. "Much better," She said.
I folded up my hijab and put it close to my heart. Nobody was going to rip my culture from me. Another female vampire came and started to undress me, saying that I needed new clothing, and that I needed to style my hair.
A quick clothing change, and a few snips, my head felt lighter with the layers being added, and my clothes were a lot less constricting.
I looked at myself in the mirror and saw new woman. I didn't look at the myself for long because it embarrassed me. But I could see that the eyeliner made my already large eyes, seem even larger, and that my hair now framed my oval face better.
The shoes they gave me, made me seem taller than my 5'1 frame.
"The men are ready," Said the same guy with the clipboard. "Adrian says he is ready." He concluded.
"Thank you, Whitney," Beth said to clipboard man with the strange colored blondish red hair.
"Ladies, we will all meet in the auditorium, and Adrian is going to tell you why you have been selected." Beth said.
All the ladies got up and looked nervous. We all wanted to know our cause. We followed the red eyes vampires down a long stair case. By now, I was pretty sure we were underground. The amount of stairs that we have taken thus far was ridiculous.
We entered another large room, with chairs. The boys were already waiting, looking clean and cleansed, just like us girls were.
When we were all quiet, Adrian entered the room.
"As of today," He began, "You knew not of the existence of vampires. There are certain laws, that keep us from exposing ourselves, and they are rightly placed. The vampires that impose these laws are called The Volturi."
"They eliminated some of our coven, because they feared that our number had grown too big. The few of us that escaped, want revenge, but we do not have the powers that they have. Hopefully some of you will have that power."
We all gasped. "That's right," Adrian said, "You are here to be part of the army that we have already assembled." One thing was certain in that sentence. We weren't the first to be in this position.
"If you're lucky," He said, "You will become immortal, and be part of the new guard, if not you die, and won't be remembered."
I was trying to process all of this. Vampire enforcers, army, powers? I was almost more confused after he told us the explanation than before.
"Hopefully there are no problems with this arrangement," Adrian said daring anybody to protest.
I almost did, but one of the guys, maybe in his early twenties stood up and said, "I have a problem, why do-," He was interrupted by one of the male vampires standing around. The vampire knocked him to the ground and broke his leg.
The bloodcurdling scream was too much for me, but I did nothing, because I knew if I did, I would be next. The vampire than dragged him out of the room by his broken leg. And the boy screamed all the way to the exit.
What I heard next, I will never forget. An immense amount of growling. The screams turned to moans and then just stopped altogether. The male vampire came back in and wiped the blood from his mouth.
"Anybody else have a problem?" Adrian asked again. Nobody moved a finger. These vampires were strong and fast. I wondered what we smelled like to them.
"Good," Adrian said, "Because after most of you prove yourself worthy of the gift of immortality, and we add more to our numbers after this group, we will take the next step."
This group wasn't going to be the last. I tried to cover myself up more with my hijab, before I remembered that it was tucked away safely.
"The next step," Adrian said menacingly, "Is taking out The Volturi."