Ranking Day.

"Today is the day, Princess Of The Dead

The day you rise and receive the power

Today is the day you do as we said

Unleash your ability, do not cower

Arise today and take your place on the throne

From today henceforth, you'll never be alone"

I woke up shaking. Another nightmare. Every time I think I'm used to them, they terrify me more. Hearing ghastly voices singing creepy rhymes and seeing shadows I never quite remember when I wake up. I grope around the bed and the bed sheets are damp. I was sweating. I removed the bed sheets and put them in the laundry basket. I go down the stairs to the kitchen to see my mother cooking something delicious.

"Good morning Sisi ! Why aren't you dressed? The ranking test is today and you have to be early! At least two hundred other people are having their ranking test today in this district" She said turning down the heat.

"I'm hungry..." I said sleepily reaching for a slice of toast. Mama swatted my hand away. "Have you even brushed? Leave and get ready NOW" she said sending a string of water in my face. Yes. That's her ability. Liquid manipulation. She works in the Agricultural district. She's not very powerful and can only move small sources of water at once. When she was 18, she was ranked a Butiey. That's middle class powerful abilities. We live a decent life.

We have four rankings according to how powerful your abilities are. The Citriu, those are the ones born without any abilities. They live in lower class community and often take domestic jobs. Then we have the Butiey. They have mild/medium abilities. They are of middle class in the society and have a simple comfortable life. Like mama. Then we have the Homa. Those are the ones in government. They are rarer than the Butiey. Then we have the rarest class of all. Only 1 percent of the population are Inkste. We don't know much about them, but we've been taught that those are the ones with evil in their heart.

Anyone ranked as an Inkste, is taken away for rehabilitation and never seen again. My dad was an Inkste. After ranking day, mama never saw him again. She doesn't talk about him much. Anytime I ask, she always said the same thing. "He wasn't evil" No one really cares or argues with the Homa since we rarely have Inkste. The last Inkste we had seen or heard of after the age of 18 according to history textbook was Hede. He brutally massacred over two hundred people over a century ago. Since then, the ranking was created. To prevent things like that from happening. To make sure, no one is too powerful.

Everyone gets their ability (or lack of ability) on their 17th red moon. Red moons come once a year, every 367 days.Today is the 367th day and my 17th red moon. There will be a ranking test before this night, to test how strong our powers are or if we get powers at all. The next day will be the ranking ceremony. On the ceremony we are all separated from our families and distributed to different classes and jobs to help the society move forward. It is the most important day of everyone's life.

I go get ready and wear the stretchy black and blue spandex suit designated for all of us to wear. I look at the mirror. My dark chocolate skin was shiny and my dreadlocks were packed into a tight high ponytail giving my dark brown eyes a somewhat cat eye effect.

I come downstairs to eat breakfast. A lot of my ranking mates were excited, but not me. I was just scared. Different scenarios where rushing through my brain. I might never see my mum or my friends again. The thought itself was enough to make me lose my appetite. I pushed the plate away.

"What's the matter Sisi? You were all about the food sometime ago. Has it gone cold?"

"No mama, I'm just nervous..."

"Aww. Don't worry" She came over to me and stroked my face. "You're going to do great. It doesn't matter what rank you are."

"But if I'm not Butiey, I may never see you again"

Everyone under 18 is equal. The only discrimination is how rich your parents are. Children of the Citriu often get bullied but we all go to the same standard of school KIuiten Schools. Ranking class is not hereditary. It's very often a child of Citriu gets ranked into Butiey or sometimes even Homa. In such cases, it's rare you ever see your family again.

"Don't worry Sisi ! Just do your best and if we never see each other just remember everything I have taught you." She said smiling and looking straight at me while tears filled my eyes.

''Please please please let me be a Butiey'' I prayed.

Most people wanted to be Homa. The powerful ones in government that controlled all of Klutien nation. I just wanted to be a Butiey. Get a decent job and continue with my life humbly. Besides I haven't felt any power surges the kids in my school bragged about. According to kids at school power surge is like a little preview of your powers. It's different in everyone. I think it's bull. It's a fact you don't get any stupid power like that until your 17th red moon.

Celestia, my closest friend, said she had felt it. She doesn't lie and that gets me scared. What if I was born without powers? Why haven't I felt that surge? It doesn't make sense. I try not to think about it much. Anytime I'm asked I always say yes. But sometimes I think.

Mama and I get into the neon green car designated to her from Agricultural district. We drive peacefully to the Centre. I know what you're thinking. Isn't it going to be chaotic? Well no. The Homa has decreed no one is allowed to use our abilities outside our jobs. Mama breaks that rule often at home. We arrive at the Centre and it's already so full. Mama dropped me off and went on to look for a place to park her car.

The Centre is a magnificent building. It is of eggshell white color with intricate dusty rose designs. It had a huge signage with 'The Centre' in cursive writing. It's like a hotel, split into different rooms, for the ranking. We have one in every district. I take out my phone to call Celestia to see if we can locate each other. While doing that I hear someone shout my name.

"SISI!!!"

I turn around

"BLUE!!!!"

Blue is another one of my friends. He's pretty chill.

"Hey have you seen Celi ?"

"No not really. It's really hard to find anyone in this swarm of people. Come over sand register yourself"

"Oh okay"

Luckily, we weren't too late as I was still able to make it to the second batch of ranking. The first batch was almost done. I didn't want to go into the Centre without my mum.

"Hey Blue, I still want to wait for my mum." I say sheepily.

"I don't advice you to do that. If you miss your turn, you have to wait another eternity. You'll catch up with your mum later. Let's go"

My stomach started to do that weird somersault thingy. My palms were getting sweaty.I really didn't want to go without mama. I didn't want to seem like a kitchen so I slowly and reluctantly joined the long queue into the colossal building.