Monday, June 28, 2124
I can't believe this! They are sending me away again! The only reason I act out is for the attention that they give me, but apparently, I haven't stepped up my game enough. This time it's to some fancy boarding school in the middle of nowhere called "Miss Fleurina's Institute for Refined Young Women." All of the windows on the transport shuttle are blacked out and we have to take a sedative so we don't have any idea where it is. Mother says that this school has the best reputation in the entire world. I could care less, I give it a month, maybe two, and then I'll be gone, just like every other place they've tried to send me,
I'm supposed to leave tomorrow, and I'm not allowed to bring anything with me, they even provide my travel clothes! I suppose it's to try and "reform" us to be the "perfect ladies" that they claim to produce. I have to get up at 7 am to make it to their fancy transport station by 8! That ridiculously early! That's only 5 hours from now! I guess I better go to bed now.
At 7 am exactly, I was woken from a very pleasant dream of swimming in the Seine with my best friend Chari, and getting in trouble with the rather attractive constable. Mother rushed me through breakfast and out the door we went. The drive was almost an hour-long, and I stared grumpily out the window the whole time. I'm 22 years old, a legal adult, but still stuck under my parent's thumb. Not that I had any desire to leave, it had been made very clear from the start that if I were to do anything my parents didn't approve of, I would be cut off from the family fortune, and disowned. I had never worked a day in my life, and I wasn't about to start now.
After what seemed like an eternity, they finally pulled up the transport station. We were rushed inside to a tastefully decorated office. My parents were told to wait there, and someone would be along to have them finish signing all of the necessary paperwork. I was given only a single article to sign, stating that I was willingly participating in my admittance to the Academy. I knew if I didn't sign, I would be disowned, and really, I had done this countless times before. No finishing school had been able to hold me for more than a few weeks.
As soon as I signed it, I was whisked down a long hallway to a room with a single shower stall. The woman escorting me instructed me to shower and leave my clothes in the bag by the door. When I inquired as to what I was expected to wear, and where my clothes would be going, the woman simply told me that all clothing would be provided for the duration of my stay and that my current clothing would be returned to my parents. The woman told me I had one hour, and left abruptly, locking the door behind her. Up until that moment, it had all sort of felt like a dream, but standing alone in the glaringly white bathing room, reality started to sink in. I shook my head and started to undress, no use fighting right now, there was no one there to witness it.
Unbeknownst to Mara, she was being observed by a team that had the special job of watching all of the newcomer's actions and behavior while in transition. They watched as she turned the shower on, neatly folded her clothing, and placed it in the provided bag before getting into the shower. She quickly washed her hair and body, making sure to pay extra attention to all the nooks and crevices. They made a note as she stood under the spray of warm water after washing up, and then abruptly turned it off and got out. She looked around for a towel and found one hanging on a hook across from the bag where she placed her clothing. There was a robe hanging on the next hook, and she put it on before trying the door handle. It was still locked.
After about 10 minutes, the door opened and the same woman as before told me to follow. I did as I was told, not wanting to argue when I was clad only in a robe. I was led to another small room with a soft chair and a change of clothing. After changing, I was instructed to have a seat and relax. The light dimmed, and I found myself becoming more drowsy with every passing second.
The second that Mara was fully unconscious, the door slid open, and two men entered, they carefully lifted her onto a floating stretcher and guided it through a series of corridors to the waiting glider car.