There was a murmur amidst the group on that. "You have not proven your argument." Carly had lost this round.
In the storeroom, Dalia's plastic face suddenly took on a smile.
“You can’t just let her take my life from me,” Carly said sounding very frightened.
“We have not Sister. We have merely determined the winner of the first challenge. There are many more to come.” The group told her.
“How can I win these challenges if I do not know what they are?” Carly asked.
“We can appoint you a guide as you are new to our laws. If you wish?” Came the reply.
“I wish, I wish that very much,” Carly told them hoping that this guide would be able to her retain her place in the world of the soft bodies. Why was she calling those who put her here soft bodies after all she was one of them wasn’t she?
“If it pleases the others in the sisterhood I am willing to help our new sister with the challenges,” Victoria said raising her voice above the discussions that the group were having as to who would be Carly’s guide.
“If our new sister concurs?” The others said.
“I concur.” Carly began before being cut off by the others.
“Dalia, what say you?” The group asked Dalia.
“I have no problem with it,” Dalia replied.
“Then it is agreed Victoria is now your guide sister and is removed from our discussions. The next challenge will begin soon you had best prepare.” Came the announcement as the others fell silent.
“Victoria can you tell me what I need to do so that I can go back to my life with the soft bodies?” Carly asked the one who seemed to be her only friend in n this mess that she had gotten herself into.
“The second challenge is The challenge of Removal. To win you must not be able to remove part of your body. If you can not do this it proves that you are one complete thing and not made up of separate pieces as members of the sisterhood are sister” Victoria told her.
“How will I be able to show this if I can’t move in the first place?” Carly asked Victoria.
“We will be able to move once the orange light goes away sister. We do this every night, it is the one thing I enjoy the most. I can move around our world and see new places. I have even got as far as the box with the numbers on it.” Victoria told her friend excitedly.
Carly felt happy for her friend standing in front of her on her pedestal as she had been all day. She did not want to spoil her excitement by telling her that before joining the sisterhood back when she had been a soft body she had traveled further than that. There it was again she thought of these other beings as soft bodies. Not so long ago she would have counted herself as one of them but now for some reason, things seemed different. This had to be something to do with the challenges. She had lost one of these challenges she had obviously lost something as a result of that defeat and was just about to ask Victoria about it when.
“Sisters the orange light is gone it is now time for the second challenge.” Came the voice from the main group of the mannequins within the store.
This is one of the challenges that I can’t fail to win. Carly thought.
“We will she former soft body,” Dalia said to her in a whisper that was just loud for Carly to hear and no one else.
“Come sister it is time to meet the one who has challenged you,” Victoria told her as she moved for the first time that day.
For a moment Carly was not sure what to make of this as she looked in the mirror that had been her whole world that day she could see the mannequins slowly move leave their pedestals and head to the center of the store. The place where Carly knew that her next challenge was to take place.
