Chase

Chapter 2

The twelve thrones started to spin around repeatedly and lowered into the ground. Everyone was grabbing onto their seats except Dario, who was standing in the middle with a malicious grin. Kristian looked like he was being injected with power from the spinning. Astoria looked up at the hole in the floor of the learning center. It was closing up. Then she looked down at the floor. The bright colors emerged from the walls, and everything dropped. The silence was loud. Everyone looked winded. Only eleven of the twelve thrones were full. Every one of us looks at each one of us for 10 seconds.
The floor was almost fully closed, but there was a large figure in the middle of the sight opening.

"Remember, everyone's watching. Mr. Gapar said something about how the Chase project was a waste of time, in his own words, 'This "project" is nonsense. Think about it, they want to have a contest about nobility, and it could destroy the whole city if someone hated wins.' He said it to Ms. Balor, who replied, 'I agree, I just want to live my life without having 20 people always having their eyes on me.' Surprisingly, nothing happened to you. I guess you're valuable to them."
Astoria questioned people's value to the leaders from an early age. Her parents would say, "The better you are, the more you are valued." She never believed that, instead, she always went by something one of her teachers said in a lecture years ago. "If you believe that you are enough for yourself, your value to the leaders decreases. If you are valued by the leaders, they will use and abuse you til you die out."
Dario walked through the opening next to the circular panel with the thrones. He lured the rest of them inside the cave, Astoria was the last one inside. He guided them into a corridor with 11 doors.
"Each of you gets a room, your names are on the door. If any of you are going to have a rave, it ends at 1:00 am".
He walked back into the corridor, and everyone went into their rooms. When Astoria walked in, the room was dark and simple. On the far side of the room, there was a fake window with projections of how the weather was outside. A queen-sized bed with folded sheets, a comforter, and a pair of clothes. Two lounge chairs with a table in between them sat in the corner next to the wide shelving unit. Next to the entrance door, there was a closet for her clothes, and behind the door was another door leading to a small washroom. She put her clothes in the closet and toiletries in the washroom. There were five books in one of the bins. She read the titles and looked at the covers. "These books were taught in English," her mind thought. They were her favorites. She had also brought her books, but she'd probably read the others instead for comfort.
She finished putting the belongings in the shelving unit when there was a knock on the door. She went to open the door, but it opened by itself. Kristian was leaning against the door, wearing the clothes they gave us.
"Dario said we all have to be dressed and down in the entrance now."
"Ok," Astoria said, but Kristian didn't leave. He looked at her.
"You, ok? You look tired. If you don't wanna go, I can probably make a deal will Dario for you to stay here."
"I'm fine. I didn't get much sleep last night, but I'm fine I'll be there in 3 minutes." Astoria rambled quickly. Kristian looked at her slightly stunned.
"Yea- ok. I'll see you downstairs." Kristian walked out and closed the door. Astoria rehabilitated her focus. She changed into the given clothes and went to the entrance where everyone besides Dario was standing. Most looked bored and tired of the long wait. About 10 minutes later Dario finally showed up.
"OK, each of you has been assigned a partner. And Mr. Varg and Ms. Eir. Ms. Balor you will work with them."
Cora Balor was the owner of the small, sweet shop near the learning center. Astoria would go every day and never get anything; she would just sit at a table and do her work. Cora was a hard-working person. There was never a time when Astoria didn't see her sitting down. She did everything there. She also had 2 kids. The father was never to be known, he left her right after the second child was born. No one knows what happened to him or who he was. Her oldest was a year younger than Astoria. He was one of the amiable students at the center. Now if Cora is punished, her kids would have to be alone.