Being beautiful

The Searching

"HAZEL!" my mother screamed from the kitchen of our humble home. I say humble but in reality it was a small dwelling with three small rooms. Two bedrooms and a bathroom with a small kitchen like area. The floor was not really a floor, just dirt and the walls were just slabs of wood. My feet padded across this dirt floor as I ran towards my mothers hectic yelling.

"mother, I'm right here." I say from behind her. She whips around, her brown hair flying behind her. She had panic in her eyes.

"there isn't much time, we must prepare you!" she said as she grabbed my shoulders and rushed me to the bathroom. She sat me on our wooden stool in front of the mirror. I could see her hands shaking and her dark brown eyes darting back and forth. She grabbed a brush and took my rare light blonde locks into her hands and started to work the brush upwards through my hair, creating a big and frizzy look. She did this until my hair was a giant rats nest. Next she grabbed a bucket of dirt and Started to sprinkle it into my hair. She then started to smudge it all over my face. After, she grabbed a yellow bundle of cloth and a large bandage.

"take off your shirt." she demanded. I did and she began to wrap the bandage around my breasts. Once she pinned it together, she handed me the yellow bundle.

"slip this on." I quickly pulled it over me and scrunched my nose at the unflattering look.

"were almost done, just let me rub the rest of the dirt on you." she said with a sense of relief. She rubbed the dirt on any exposed skin.

"do you think this will be enough?" I ask her with worry.

"we can only hope, here squint your eyes the whole time." she told me.

"why?"

"because your eyes are beautiful." she told me with a sad smile.

"now hurry, you must line up in the square with the other young women. I'll be waiting for you with the rest of the crowd." she gave me a reassuring smile as I clung onto her tattered shirt.

"please, I don't want to go!" I felt tears well up. I've seen the women being dragged away from the clutches of their families by the kings army. I just couldn't do it.

"my sweet child, you do not have an option. If you do not go, you will be executed. I wish it were any other way, but no matter what happens, I love you and so does your father. He would be so proud of how strong you are." she told me with salty tears running down her defeated face. I gave her one last hug before I ran out the doors and to the town square. I had made it just in time. The women were all being lined up by the kings soldiers.

One soldier grabbed my shoulder and gave me a disgusted look at the sight of me. He pushed me into the line next a boil covered servant girl and a brunette with extremely large teeth. The commander in charge of all the soldiers stood at a podium in front of the women. I counted at least fifty.

"My people of Asher Town!" he bellowed. " these young women have all reached the breeding age of sixteen and are now to be selected as our great kings wives!" he yelled so all could hear. I heard the parents murmuring around us as they listened to his speech.

"only the most beautiful one will be chosen to live a life of luxury!" I knew that was a lie and so did everyone else, women chosen as wives were just there as pathetic breeders. Only meant to bare his beautiful children.

"Let the searching begin!" he yelled and the soldiers cheered. I was near the end of the line and the anticipation swelling in my chest was almost unbearable. What if they somehow saw under my ugly facade? What then? I never really considered it an option... Stop! I must think of other things before I have a breakdown in front of all these people. I looked at our poor excuse of a town square. It was rather small with our dirt roads and cobblestone paths. The shops were all but falling apart and the statue of our king that resided in the middle of the square, was covered in bird feces, because no one felt the need to ever clean it. A scream snapped me out of my distraction.

"No please! Don't take me from my family! I'm not pretty, I'm poor! I swear I'm not the most beautiful one here!" she screamed as the guards tried to drag the woman away. The girl was red haired with muddy brown eyes. I grew up with her, she was one of my friends before time split us apart. Her name was Bella. I could tell she tried to do the same as I and cover herself in dirt, but anyone could see her figure under her tattered dress.

"hush child!" the guard yelled as she tried to scratch and claw her way out of his grasp.

"I'm not the most beautiful one here! I swear! WAIT!" she screamed desperately. The crowd behind us were trying to look away from the heart breaking sight before them. I could see her mothers eyes dart between her and I.

"Wait! Guards release her!" the commander at the podium yelled. The guard released her and Bella fell to the ground in exhaustion.

"who is more beautiful than you my child." the commander slowly walked towards her.

"h- her." she slowly lifted her shaky hand and pointed. The commander followed her finger and stared directly into my eyes. My heart froze as I realized she was pointing at me. The guard who was scolding her earlier started to laugh and began picking Bella of the ground and into his hold once again.

"wait Sebastian, release the girl." the commander told him. Sebastian gave him a confused look but nonetheless dropped her back to the ground. The commander slowly made his way towards me. The crowd of parents and small children were silent. The commander was now five inches from my face. Inspecting me.

"you almost had me fooled child." He said to me with a wicked sneer. He wiped the dirt from my face. Me, not being one to remain silent, gave him a snarky reply.

"what gave me away?" I nearly spat. He smiled cruelly.

"your eyes." my heart stopped. If I had done what my mother had said and kept my eyes squinted, I might've made it. He grabbed my wrist and raised it into the air.

"Behold! The chosen one!" he bellowed.