The Society

Chapter 4: Waking Up

ELLA 

I rolled over drowsily onto my side and squeezed my eyes closed even tighter; my head was throbbing and foggy, and all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. My entire body was stiff and my limbs felt like lead. A cold rush of air blew across my bare shoulders and made me shiver. I reached to pull the covers up higher, but froze as my hand grabbed the comforter. It was densely filled with down, and the material covering it was textured. It was nothing like the plain synthetic duvet that I slept with every night.

This wasn't my bed.

My heart began to race. I opened my eyes, but there wasn't any light in the room; everything was black.

"Hey, hey. It's alright," a voice whispered in the darkness. It was deep and sounded slightly gravelly like the person had just woken up. I felt movement on the bed next to me. There was a shuffling noise, then a click, and soft light suddenly filled the room. It shot a ripple of pain through my head, and I squinted against the brightness.

As my eyes adjusted, the person next to me came into focus. He was young, not much older than I was, probably 19 or 20. His dark blonde hair was short and slightly disheveled, a few tufts sticking up in random directions. His brows were furrowed, shadowing his tired eyes, which appeared to be gray in the dimly lit room.

I tried to sit up, propping myself up with one arm, but my head throbbed painfully. I groaned and brought a hand to my forehead.

"Hey, it's alright, take it easy," the guy told me. He reached out to place a comforting touch on my forearm, but withdrew his hand, unsure.

"Where am I?" I asked him, my voice shaking slightly. I looked around, trying to make sense of my scrambled thoughts and surroundings.

He looked down at his hands for a moment, twiddling his fingers and avoiding my eyes.   He glanced back up at me. "Um. You've been... Selected."

My heart skipped a beat. Of course. The foggy thoughts began to clear, leaving me feeling a little stupid that I didn't know right off the bat. I let out a deep breath, and tried to gather myself back together.

His answer caught me off guard, though, and I was a bit shocked. Of course I knew I would be Selected eventually, but it was always something in my future, I'd only ever prepared for it— I'd spent half of my life just waiting. I'd been lectured to about it, told how it was going to be; I'd imagined dozens of different scenarios over the years.

But there I was in a strange house with a guy I didn't know, a killer headache, and no memory of the past 12 hours. There was nothing special or glamorous or exiting about it; I was just scared and unsure of what to do next. It had all happened without my knowledge— I was literally waking up with an entirely new life.

My mouth hung open. "Uh... I— I'm sorry," I stuttered. "I'm being so rude. I'm just a tad surprised."

The guy nodded. "It's okay, I figured you would be confused. I didn't want you to be alone when you woke up, either, so I camped out with a book." He held up the paperback that had been lying on his lap and let out a small chuckle. "I guess I must have dozed off though..."

I gave him a tiny smile. "Thanks, but you didn't have to do that. I would have been okay and figured it out eventually." I felt awkward knowing that he had gone through so much trouble for me. It was only worsened by the fact that he was right.

He gave me a dismissive wave. "Oh, don't be ridiculous, it's fine!"

I smiled nervously and looked away from him. It was quiet for a moment.