The Choosing, 6-8, p.1	

	One piece of paper, just one piece of it would decide my fate, what kind of job I got, where I lived, and who I was in society. 

	 I stared blankly at the brick wall of the auditorium. Everyone else had left with their new jobs chosen, my best friend was among them, and her choice was made. I thought about childhood. Once I would get this piece of paper that would all be gone. I would be practically a new person, this piece of paper decided who I was, practically. The pieces of paper were placed in a bowl and the jobs in it were picked by the head of our schools. The heads looked at intelligence levels, skill levels, and talents. I tried to remember a happy thought to take me away from this cold and dark auditorium. Then it hit me, my 12th birthday, a memory of my childhood...

 	 “Happy Birthday Celeste!” my best friend Ebony exclaimed. 
              I grinned and I was feeling fantastic, all of my friends were at my party, and we were having a blast. My little sister, Sage, wobbled over, trying hard to balance on her chubby legs. She tripped and fell into my arms. She burst out laughing hugging me tightly and exclaimed in her two-year old dialect, “Happy Birthday!” 
    “I bet you I can climb the highest,” I bragged to Ebony and Jemma. 
     “Nope, I can climb higher than all of you!” exclaimed Ebony. 
    “Fine, see you at the top,” I said, starting to climb the tall tree in our backyard. 
      Jemma and Ebony followed me. My long brown hair was whipping around me in the wind. As I climbed higher, the wind got more extreme, my hair got all over the place. Finally I got as I high as I could without falling to my death.  Ebony and Jemma had already stopped. 
      “Told you I could get to the top,” I bragged. 
     “Fine, you win. Come down now before your parents see you,” Jemma called. 
         “Coming!” I shouted. 
      I slowly came down from my tree. When I touched the ground I saw it was already dark. My mom and dad had already hung the lanterns. 
The Choosing, 6-8, p.2	    
“C’mon Celeste! Time for you to open your presents!” my friend Johanna called. 
   I rushed over to the table. Only, no presents were there. 
     “Instead of many small presents, all of your friends pitched in to buy you something very valuable,” my mother said at my puzzled look. 
    Just then, my father came out, holding a small puppy!  Puppies were very expensive and rare, it was even rare to find a dog! The small puppy was black, brown, and white. It was adorable. 
      “Happy Birthday Celeste!” all of my friends said in unison. 
     My dad placed my puppy in my arms. 
   “What are you going to name her?” Rene asked. 
     “I think I’m going to name her Luna,” I answered. 
     
      I was back in reality, back to the cold and dark auditorium where I probably wasn’t going to see Jemma or Rene or Johanna or even Ebony. They were all gone. Just like my older sister, Kaila, who was killed in the big explosion in the laboratory where she worked. I remembered her beautiful and smooth face, her long brown hair, straight and elegant. The way she laughed. The way she would hug Sage and I. That was all gone because she was gone. Then, I slipped into another memory...

     I was sitting on my couch, Luna was curled up by my feet, fast asleep. She had grown since two years ago when I had got her. I was reading the newest book I had received for my 14th birthday. My mom was on the phone. She was sobbing, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like seeing my friends or family so upset. Sage walked over and tugged on her dress. 
     “Mommy, what’s wrong?” she asked my mom. 

	She then put down the phone and collapsed into an armchair, her body racking with sobs.  
 “Kaila, she, she’s gone. She was killed in an explosion at the lab. No one in the facility was left alive,” she choked out. 

     My mouth fell open, Kaila, she can’t be dead! I thought. 
    “No! No! She can’t be dead!” I wailed. 
   Sage had already buried her head in Luna’s fur and was crying. 
  “What happened?” I asked my voice shaking. 
    “They were working on a serum that would make you immortal and free from sickness and age, but something went wrong, maybe there was a chemical reaction or something. It exploded and it left no one at the lab alive. Everyone who was working there at the time is dead,” my mother said, silent tears running down her cheeks. 
      
    I thought of my friend, Rene. Her older brother was working at the lab, not in the exact same section as Kaila, but he must be dead too. My mother had said no one at the lab survived the explosion. I knew that I would never see the face, or hear the voice of Kaila Marie Nighte ever again. 
     
     I closed my eyes, trying to stop the tears streaming down my cheeks. I had to pull myself together before they came and got me.
      “Think of a happy though,” I muttered to myself 

        Then I thought of it, when I went to the park when I was very young. This may be a regular thought and not special at all, but I had fun at the park and I had good memories of that place.

	 I was four years old and Kaila was 11. My mother and father had taken us to the park to celebrate the warm weather. I remember wearing my pale blue dress with a dark purple sash. All of the girls who were under the age of six were forced to wear fancy dresses in public. 
	 I was dancing and spinning around in my dress, not a care in the world. I was happy that Kaila finally had time to play with me since she was always so busy with her schoolwork. My mother, father, and Kaila followed me, laughing. 
          “Celeste! Slow down!” Kaila called after me. 
The Choosing, 6-8, p.4
	I reluctantly stopped and waited for her to catch up. 
          “Do you want me to show you how to climb a tree?” Kaila asked me. 
       I nodded vigorously, I always wanted to climb high, away from my worries and enter my own world. 
	 She showed me where to put my feet and how to climb. I copied her and finally got the hang of it. I was near the top of the tree, and now it was close to dark. The park was closing soon. 
        “TIme to go home!” my mother called. 
       “Aww, but I don’t want to go!” I complained. 
   I climbed down anyway, knowing not to get my mother frustrated, because she had a bit of a temper.  


       I found myself grinning. That moment made me the happiest I have felt for a long time. Then I saw a woman with a tight blue dress down to her knees, and her shockingly red hair up in a bun, this was the uniform of an official. She turned toward me and said, “Celeste Nova Nighte, it is time for your choosing.”