SORTING GAM
DAY ONE OF CULLING TEST
BOOK HALL

Sheil lay still in their bed and enjoyed the peace and quiet that was hers alone for a few minutes. She smiled and chuckled as she thought about her alarming thought the previous night, what would happen if she didn't make it to the end of the sorting test. She had thought this over and over for the past three days and turned it over in her mind again and again. She felt her face flush for the hundredth time, but not from anxiousness, it was from the thought of getting caught with her traitorous questions and thoughts. 

She had asked around a bit to see if any of the girls had questions like she does, but from the few girls she had polled it didn’t seem that they ever had questions, they just simply followed the rules. She gave a wiggle of pleasure and sank down into the luxurious linens and pillows. This feeling of having a private moment was so sweet.

A loud noise sounded from her left side, straining her ear to get the exact source where the noise was coming from, “It sounded like it was coming from outside their sleeping hall,” Sheil thought out loud. She tried to stand up from the bed and landed face-down on the floor. The entire night she was alert and barely slept a wink, just yesterday they were all preparing towards their sorting tests and now the day is finally here. She never thought the day would come so soon.

Just as she sat up, an administrator walked in.

“What’s going on?” Sheil asked under her breath.

“Your first test for the culling starts now, to the book hall, you have just a few minutes to assemble yourself there." The administrator's loud voice woke almost all the girls up, he left promptly as he had entered.

“The test is early this morning?” Sheil hopped from the floor and combed her hair with her fingers, then she put on her black uniform, hurriedly.

“I hope it isn’t hard,” her bed-mate said. “I never was any good at written tests.” she muttered lamely

“You’ll do great, don't stress yourself before you see the test.” Sheil encouraged her as she pulled up her trousers. 

This would be a piece of green; Sheil thought. She had always been a great test taker and an excellent student, especially if it's written and recitations. The other girls dressed up and together they left the sleeping hall. They reached the book hall in record time and let themselves in. 

This was the room that the glinders used as their confessional room to vent about the others or to talk about the events of the past days, even though such habits are frowned upon by the administrators. Sheil had only been in here a few times, but the large bookshelves and the mahogany paneling hadn’t ceased to awe her yet.

Today however, the set up was completely different. Sheil suddenly felt like she had been transported back to another world. There were desks set up in rows just like a classroom and a large administrator’s desk in the front. The shades over the eight foot windows were drawn halfway down and the light that streamed in was concentrated onto the desks. As always, there were several cameras set up around the room and three administrators stood around quietly chatting among themselves. All the administrators dressed in the same clothing style but Sheil could differentiate them with their hair color.

The one sitting at the table has purple hair, clipped with a stylish wooden band. The one standing closer to him was taller, probably taller than all the other three, Sheil guesses, his hair is green and short. The remaining two have blue hair, while one of them is of darker shade. Sheil decided to be using their hair to differentiate them.

Sheil selected a seat in the very front row and watched the others as they choose seats farther back. When Yalowel walked in and chose the seat next to her she wasn’t surprised, she was expecting her to sit in the front too. That girl wasn't their leader by mistake, she always does everything according to the rules laid down by the administrator. 

“Glinders, if I may have your attention, I will explain to you what we are doing here.” The administrator that came to their sleeping hall announced.

When all eyes were on him, and he made sure that the camera was going to record every word he uttered then he continued. “We have devised a test that will determine if you are well prepared to enter into the society. Previous glinders are culled, paired and bonded with girls in the same glinds as them, but this year, we would be mixing up the bonding and every one will get paired up with at least someone from a different glind.”

“Good luck glinders, you'll need it,” The Man turned around and taunted. “Buying you lot is quite expensive, so only a few men actually  wants to own a group of bounded glinder, and only if they are worth the silvers.” The smirk on his face as he glared at them all made Sheil’s blood boil, but she didn’t say anything, she would end up dead if she muttered a single word, she just glared back at the administrator without looking directly at him.

“Some of the men coming for this year's bidding are from the upper part of the society, they are very intelligent men.” the administrator twitted as he peered over the pamphlet he was holding. "They needs glinders who will be hardworking, upstanding, support and promotes the society rules and also obey the rules,"

The answer sheets were passed out and the girls were given a 20 page question booklet. There was some grumbling around the room as the girls looked through the book, but they were silent as soon as they were told to pick up the pencils placed on their respective desks and start. The test was one hundred and fifty general questions that covered different subjects from strategy, assassin rules and history with a bit of society behavior and district rules mixed in. 

Sheil wasn’t quite sure what the administrator wanted to test them on exactly, but she was pretty sure that she got all of her answers correct. When she handed in her paper first she was a bit surprised that the others seemed to be struggling with their tests, including their head girl. She sat back down in her seat and daydreamed out the window for the next thirty minutes until the administrator finally called out that time was up and everyone had to turn in their answer sheets. 

The rustle of papers was loud as the others handed in their answer sheets, but the girls were stone quiet. Everyone was dismissed and told that they could do what they wanted until the results were posted in an hour or in the evening. The girls all walked out quietly but then they broke into animated chatter just outside of the book hall door.

“Oh my jiwg! That was the hardest test I have taken in my life!” One of the girls lamentes as they huddled together.

“I totally forgot every society behavior that I ever learned!” another girl whined.

“You lot, we’ll all be okay,” Sheil said, patting a very worried looking Yalowel’s arm. They milled around outside the door for half an hour, and when there were no results they went to the food hall where they picked at the fruit tray. There was deafening silence in the hall which usually was so loud with quiet chatters from the girls and there was a funereal air around every one, because no one can predict what would happen with the first test. 

No one was eager to leave the food hall, so they all sat there and after a few hours, a quiet chatters began amongst them. Evening came sooner than they expected, one of the administrators that was in the book hall poked his head through the door and announced to the girls who were there that the test results were ready and they would be read to as soon as everyone made their way back to the book hall. The girls marched through the hall again and back to the wood paneled room. After they had taken their seats. The administrator was seated there at the large desk and waited for the girls to take their seats again.

“Now remember, this is just the first part of your test and this is to test your intelligence and how well you would fit in to the society. I will call your numbers now as soon as I do leave the book hall and head back to your sleeping hall. Do you all understand?" The administrator asked, while the girls nodded quietly. "Alright, here we go," The man picked up a long sheet and dramatically started reading the names of girls. One after the other, the girls were called and they left the hall. With half of the girls gone the hall felt bare and echo-y.

After a while the hall was totally empty except for Sheil, she could feel her palm beginning to sweat and a cold feeling crept up her spin. The administrator paused and took a deep breath letting the drama of the announcement permeate the room.  “Number two, two, eight, you—“

Sheil knows it, even before the man utters anything she knows her thoughts have finally caught up with her. She began to analyze every word she put in the sheet, but that proved to be difficult for her, her mind was currently blank and she can't focus on where she went wrong.

“....your answers were so detailed and pristine, I was truly surprised. It has been a long time since I came across such intelligent glinder, especially a female.” the administrator said quietly, bringing Sheil back to the present.

“What do you mean by her?” one of the other administrators, the blue-hair one gasped. “She is not even the head girl!”

"This is truly unheard of, the machine has never picked a girl that is not the head girl before, are you sure you checked the score and number well?" the tall administrator asked, looking at Sheil with curiosity. "They've been groomed and watched for the past seven years and the head girl has always been the glinders that got chosen,"  the man Explained, clearly confused with the situation, just like Sheil.

"Should we recheck the machine's data and see maybe there is an error? It would save us a lot of headache later if it turns out to be wrong," the administrator with darker blue hair asked, the administrator sitting down waved his hand at him to go ahead.

After a few minutes of clicking on the machine, while Sheil waited patiently, counting the minutes in her head to see the end to her current weird situation, the man talked quietly to himself, "this is so strange and difficult to understand, how can this be possible?" 

“I am as shocked as you are brother, but the machine does not lie or make mistakes. Or do you think the machine was wrong?” the man asked and gave Sheil a wicked grin as if caught committing an offence. Seemingly not to have an answer to the question the man keeps quiet and glared at Sheil.

“Me?” Sheil said stunned. “Really?”

"Ooh why am I not surprised, I gave you too much credit. You are still a female," the administrator said loudly, reminding Sheil that she has committed an offence, talking to a man without permission, her face loose all color. The other administrator looked at her with more disdain visible on their face. 

"Get out," the administrator said, Sheil didn't wait around for another instruction before she ran and left the hall.

There is too much information for her brain to process, starting with some of the cryptic words the administrator said and also to the fact that she scored the highest. What does that mean for her? What does that mean for her future? She definitely won't get any sleep again like the previous night.