Amponin, Eunice M.

Blue Mark

Eliana was excited to get up from her bed because today is the day, she will
see what color will appear on her face. "Ready to see your mark?" her best
friend says. "Yes! Yes!" Eliana said enthusiastically, she covered the right side
of her cheek and waited for three seconds to remove her hand from her cheek,
when she removed it, the blue mark appeared. "Oh my God, it's blue." her
best friend Beth said in shock…

Everyone in their realm is assigned a particular significance to their mark. It

shows people where you are in life, and they use it to define your status and
personality. The only colors of their world are red for average people, and
gold for famous people.

"Blue? What is blue?" Eliana asked, but Beth's only response was to cover her
mark. "Cover it?" Eliana asked.

Beth says quietly, "Just believe me, cover it up." Eliana followed her friend's
advice even though she's confused and use a concealer to disguise her blue
mark.

She was able to cover his mark, so they went to their school...

"Hey guys!" she said happily, "Heeeeeyy! You didn't get your mark yet?" said
her friends. "Not yet", Eliana lied to them. One of his friends spoke up and
said, "I really hope I get gold." Eliana replied, "Yeah I know, I really do hope
that I get gold too…" even though she knew she already had a mark. "Mariela
got gold!" said his friend. "Are you serious?" said Eliana, to which her friend
replied, "Yeah! Isn't that awesome?"

Eliana just smiled in response.

"People are getting other colors." Eliana's friend whispered to her.

"Other colors?" Eliana asked curiously.

"Yes! Like all other colors!" Whispered her friend.

"I mean what could it mean?" Eliana asked again.

"I don't know…"

Because their schoolmate was passing by, they heard someone whispering on
their side in the middle of their talk.

One on the side exclaimed, "Omg, look at him, he's blue".

"Blue, perhaps? Wow, that's weird." Eliana interjected herself into the two's
talk.
"Uhm, blue signifies royalty," Said the other. "What??!" Eliana asked in shock
to those she talked to…

"Wait, can you please say that again?" said Eliana.

"The blue mark means royalty... You get it?" the person she was talking to
said rudely.

"Yeah, I get it." Eliana answered even though many questions went through
her mind.

Eliana left and went to the library to be alone and to read, but she saw her
friends talking, so she went there.

"Well, they found one of the blue marks. Now I guess they're searching for the
second one." Said her friend.

"There's only two of them?" Eliana asked.

"Yeah, a prince and a princess." Beth replied.

Her friend explained that the two blue marks should be married. Eliana was
astounded by everything she was hearing.

"WE HAVE MARK CHECK TODAY!" Said the announcer at their school.

"We have a mark check?! But I still don't have my mark." Eliana said to
herself.

They lined up and one by one the students were called to check their marks.
Eliana was sweating in line because she was worried, they would discover her
mark. Her friend noticed this and asked.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" he asked.

"It's just like really really hot in here." She said.

"NEXT!"

It's Eliana's turn to be checked.

"Turn left… Turn right." said the checker. When Eliana was facing the right
side, the checker stopped, "Wait, your foundation is running." Said the
checker.

"No, it's not." Eliana said smiling as she wiped her face.

"UNCOVER YOUR MARK RIGHT NOW!"

The authorities took Eliana to a classroom where they were the only ones
there to find out what Eliana's real mark was…

"It's blue! Seize her!!"

Eliana had no choice but to come along because the authorities were stronger
than her.

"We're putting you in custody." Said the police. "Why?" Eliana asked. "Failure
to report your mark." The police replied to Eliana.

Eliana explained to them that she was scared because her mark was a
different color, but police said there were no exceptions.

"But I'm a princess." Eliana said proudly.

The police ignored it and still took it to him. As they walked towards the jail a
prisoner shouted, "You're not fit to be a princess !!" he said.

"How long are you gonna keep me in here? I mean, can't I just pay bail or
something ?!" said Eliana as she panicked.

"You have to kiss your prince." Said the police. "Woah, ha-ha ok that's very
funny." She said sarcastically.

"I'm not joking, you need to get the prince fall in love with you… or you're
stuck here forever."

"What???"

She was already in her cell thinking of what he could do to get out. While
thinking, she heard the person next to her in the cell laughing.

"Miss! Miss!" she calls, but the woman ignores her. "Can you tell me how I can
get out of here?" she continued.

"Is that how you address a queen?" the woman suddenly replied.

"Oh, you're a queen?" Eliana asked confused.

The woman showed her mark, and it was blue like Eliana's.

"You have a blue mark too!" Eliana said excitedly.

"Yes! And they call me the mad queen." The Queen replied to Eliana.

Eliana asked why, and the Queen said, "Because like you I had to make the
prince fall in love with me.

"Oh my god, and you couldn't do it." Eliana said.

"No, I did… He offered me his hand, then I bit his finger off! So, I'm stuck
here forever! HAHAHAHAHAHA… " the Queen said as if she was going
crazy.
Eliana is just returned to her side because she thinks she can't get a sensible
answer from that Queen. She just leaned over to rest, and she fell asleep
without realizing it.

One night passed…

"Hey blue mark! Wake up!" The guard woke Eliana up. "Time to go."

"What? Why? How?" she asked confusedly.

"GOODLUCK! Bring me back his thumb! HAHAHAHAHA" the Queen

shouted.

"I can't meet the prince looking like this, there is no way he will fall in love
with me like this!" said Eliana while panicking.

"Stop talking." the guard ordered.

"Shilo will come meet you."

Eliana just laughed at what it said. She thought to herself, "What kind of name
is Shiloh?" she had just fallen asleep waiting when Shiloh suddenly came.

"You look horrible." Shilo said, Eliana wondered if he is really Shilo. "You're
shilo?" She asked. "I am… I'm the witch." Eliana laughed so hard as if she was
going mad and said "The mad queen was right! I'm going mad!
HAHAHAHAHA I'm seeing a witch and a prince at the same time."

"I'm not the prince." Shilo said to Eliana.

"Oh, okay. Now I'm really really confused." She said to herself.

"I can get you out of here. I can change your mark and you walk free." the
witch said. "In exchange of blue mark, you will get a red one."

"But that means I would be average." She said while in tears.

"Yes indeed, but you would also be free. Isn't your life more important than
royalty?" The witch replied.

Eliana said "No", the witch snap his fingers and make Eliana fall asleep. A few
hours after Eliana fell asleep, the guard woke her up again. The guard said
she needed to get ready to meet the prince. The maids rushed up to her and
immediately dressed her up.

"Time to meet the prince!" the maid said.

Instead of taking him to the prince, she was returned to her cell "I thought
you said I'd meet the prince? Why did you bring me back to this place?" she
asked.
The guards simply handed her a phone and ignored her. This is supposed to
be a way for the prince to get in touch with her. The prince dialed her phone
and the two spoke on the phone. The prince expressed his desire to see Eliana.
Eliana tried her hardest not to offend the prince by pretending to be excited to
see him, even if she wasn't. The Queen was disrupting Eliana and the Prince's
conversation since she returned to her cell, the Queen was still there, so she
shouted loudly, and the prince cut the call because they couldn't understand
each other. So, Eliana decided to call Shiloh, the witch. She asked the witch if
there was any other way in case her meeting with the prince did not succeed.

"SHILOOOO! I need a better solution incase this meeting goes really bad." She
said.

"Well, you can always add a mark, my dear. You don't have to just have one
mark. Look!" said Shiloh and he showed his marks nearly a hundred over.
Eliana asked how to have so many marks, but the witch's answer was
violence in exchange for those. There is another easy way to have another
mark, that is if someone gives him, which is impossible.

Since the solutions told to her were impossible, Eliana just added her own
mark. She used make up to mark her face.

"Do you want to get in trouble again, deary?" The mad queen said.

"I'm pretending." Eliana said.

The mad queen teases Eliana as she concentrates, she asks if she can tell a
secret. Eliana answered no, but the queen still said what she wanted to say.
Eliana just sighed because of that Queen's loudness.

"Can I tell you a secret no—" The Queen's speech was interrupted because
Eliana answered immediately. "Noooo."

"It's about the prince! He is my son. The prince is my son!"

"Why don't you just tell him to get you out then?" Eliana asked.

"Because I bit his father's finger off and now, he's still mad about it.
HAHAHAHA" the queen answered.

"Then you tell me exactly what I can do to make him fall in love with me!" she
said to the queen.

"Well, I would… but I'm pretty sure he's a sociopath."

After they talked the Queen turned her back on her and talked to the wall,
Eliana resumed marking and while she was doing the marking, a guard came.

"You have a visitor."

"I do?"

The visitor came and…

"OMG, Beth?" she said to the visitor.

"Ooh, poor you." Beth said as if pitying.

"Yeah! I know, it's awful. I'm supposed to be like this princess and all I have
control over is how many rats get in my cage!" Eliana rants to Beth.

"Things have been that bad?" Beth asked.

"Yeah, I should've never listened to you when you told me to cover up my

mark." Eliana said.

"Yeah, you shouldn't have… but you know, you've always been stupid." Beth
said.

"What?" Eliana asked confusedly.

"Everyone knows blue is royalty. You really thought I didn't know?"

"I thought we were best friends?!"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! Ever since you stole Tommy from me, I've hated you."

"That was a mistake!"

"I don't care! The look of you rotting in this cell is better than the time I
smashed you with my birthday cake. Bye!!" Said Beth as she left in front of
Eliana's cell.

Eliana fell asleep again despite her thoughts.

The next morning Eliana called the guard. "Guard! Guard!! Guard!" Eliana
shouted. "I'm ready to try again with the prince."

"Well, you can't look like that deary. You look awful!" insert said the mad
queen.

Eliana removes her facial marks. He called the prince again, they discussed
their meeting in person and the prince agreed to meet them…

"Time to go." Guard said.

"Where?" She asked.

"We need you to get ready for the prince."

Eliana immediately left the cell to bathe, dress, and groom herself.

The time has come for them to meet…

"Are you ready to show each other our marks?" The prince asked.
"Don't we already know that we're both-" Eliana didn't finish what she's
saying because the prince immediately answered.

"Oh, come on, that ruins the fun." The prince said while rolling his eyes.

"Okay…"

"3… 2… 1…" they both removed the covering of their hands from their cheeks
and at the same time they said "Blue!" they laughed, but the laugh Eliana gave
was awkward.

"I'm just kidding. I hate being a prince."

"You do? Why?"

"Yes, people don't look at you like a human anymore. They look at you like-"

"An opportunity to get something." Eliana continued what the prince was
saying.

"Yeah" the prince agreed while staring at Eliana.

"Why are you seeing me? Because I'm clearly a hot mess and I'm no fit to be a
princess and-"

"I believe in people getting second chances…" the prince cut off to Eliana. "I
want to give you a chance to prove that you can be my queen."

"Okay, how?"

"I want you to give me your mark…"

"No, that means you're gonna get everything"

"Indeed, but you would be free."

"Okay"

"Really?"

Just as the prince was about to take her mark, Eliana bit his finger off and the
prince's mark went to her. When the prince called the guards, they did not
listen to him because his blue mark was no longer on his face. Eliana got it all
and she has already escaped from jail. She was called Mad Princess…