Star-Crossed

Part 4

BEAUTY

"Okay, Eva," Zayn shouts into his mic. "It looks like, in order to make it into the Galactic Squad, you are going to have to sacrifice your beauty. How do you feel about that?"

Eva, obviously pretty shaken-up by the prospect, takes the mic from Zayn and quivers, "I'm ready."

And just like that, Eva's illustrious locks fall to the ground. She is suddenly bald, with a few uneven patches of hair sticking up here and there.

I can't believe it. No one can believe it. The girl standing next to me bursts into tears.

"From this day onwards," announces the Occulizer in a booming voice, "Your hair will never grow longer than one centimeter in length, and only in splotches across your head. Are you ready to Detach?"

A mirror magically appears in Eva's hand, while another form of her original self appears on stage. Zayn hands Eva a sword and tells her to slay the manifestation of her beautiful self standing before her.

"But don't forget to look at your new self in the mirror, first," he laughs. The crowd sneers.

Eva takes one good look at herself. A couple of tears roll down her face, as she touches the bald spots on her head. She takes the sword from Zayn and steps up to the beautiful version of herself.

One, two, three.

In one swift motion, she slices off the head of her former self. The crowd cheers.

Her former, perfect little head rolls on the ground and toward Eva's feet until it touches her toes. Her former body crumples to the ground and disappears in a cloud of smoke. She pauses for a moment and then picks up the head. She strokes its hair and then looks deeply into the eyes of that gorgeous face that used to be hers. The ideal of beauty that she will never again possess. She spits into its face.

Then, she raises the head up high in her hands and smashes it to the floor. It explodes into millions of pieces of shimmering dust and dissipates into the air. The crowd roars. Eva smiles triumphantly. Though I think I catch a glimpse of tears in her eyes.

She has made it into the Galactic Squad.

"Great job Eva. Welcome to the Galactic Squad," booms Zayn. "Next up: Max Cooper!"

I've heard of Max but don't know much about him. But people say he's pretty full of himself. A loud mouth who thinks he's always right. Thankfully, I've never had to have a conversation with him.

He takes the stage and puts on the Occulizer. A few moments later, the word "EGO" sprawls across the hat in big, shiny black letters.

The crowd grows silent. Even Zayn looks a bit confused. He asks the question that is on everyone's mind.

"But, how does one slay their own ego?"

Again, the Occulizer speaks."Max loves to hear himself talk. He doesn't know how to listen, so he never learns. He must give up his voice."

A small box appears on the stage, and a big hammer is placed in Max's hand.

"Ah, clever," Zayn announces. "Max's voice box. He must smash it."

Max steps up to the box and just stares at it for a moment, shifting back-and-forth on his feet. He looks up at the crowd, nervous.

"Well, here goes nothing," he says. His last words. Ever.

He swings the hammer high above his head and slams it onto the voice box. As it shatters into thousands of black shards of glass, the sound that escapes is unbearable - everyone winces as they try to cover their ears.

Max grabs his throat and crumples to the floor, kicking his legs furiously and screaming in pain - but no sound comes out from his body. He coughs up blood. Zayn rushes over to him with a towel and a glass of water.

Max wipes his face and drinks a bit of the water. Then he stands up and makes a big gesture as if he's going to say something. He opens his mouth. Nothing comes out. He takes a quick bow. The crowd cheers. He exits the stage.

"Well done, Max, well done," croons Zayn. "You are now an official member of the Galactic Squad. Congratulations."

One by one, each of the Recruits trembles onto the stage puts on the Occulizer, and watches in horror as their Greatest Attachment is revealed. Few of them are as brave as Eva and Max have been.

It takes a lot of courage to Detach. Most of the Recruits fail.

Finally, after what feels like hours of watching other people live my dream, I look on with mixed emotions as the final Recruit gets called onto stage. It's Niko's turn.