Twelve

"OK. Three. Two. One."
Applause washed over the two women seated in comfortable arm chairs on a brightly lit stage.
"Action!"
The applause ebbed away.
"Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. Greet with me our next guest, Nadiya Hunter!" said the woman on the left, all radiating smiles.

Eleven

Here comes Nadiya, hurrying around a corner on almost silent rubber soles. Her light brown hair is billowing behind her as she runs, and she can't help thinking that her mother's mother wouldn't approve. Grandma had wanted her only daughter to have blond children, like herself.
Slightly out of breath she stops in front of a flight of stairs leading to a grand door. She takes two deep breathes, smoothens the short skirt, which had ridden up her thighs, and climbs the stone steps.

Ten

Elisabet's hands were being kept warm by her parents, who were on either side of her. The rest of her body was tightly wrapped in warm clothes, with the exception of her face, which was terribly cold.
"Mom, how long do we still have to walk?"
"Not very far, honey," replied Lucy in the inaccurate but reassuring way of parents. In fact, Lucy didn't have a clue, and from the way Dan looked at her over their daughter's head, neither had he.
They had promised Elisabet something special for her seventh birthday, a trip to the new Fantasyland, but now that they were at the given address this didn't look at all like a good idea. The pedestrian’s exit from the parking lot had led to this long, straight road flanked by brown, frozen fields. The parking lot itself had been quite well filled - Elisabet had been very angry that they were so late to arrive - but nobody was visible on the road, nor was an end, like the entrance to the amusement park, in sight.

Nine

"And you will behave, won't you? Do nothing I wouldn't do?"
"Of course, Susan. I am your best friend, you know."
Susan sighed and got up. Instantly, the world went black before her eyes and she had to grip the back of her chair for support. Erica and John, Susan's love interest, watched her with concern as she tried to steady herself.
"Are you sure that you'll be all right?" he asked. "We could bring you home."
Susan considered this for a second, but then shook her head. "The night is too young to be wasted. And, anyway, it's just a cold!"
The other two shrugged, not willing to disagree, and watched her sway towards the exit.
"Well then," grinned John without humour, "time to get drunk!"

Eight

Elisabet felt uneasy. The new white thing they had dressed her in was of a strange, scratchy quality, and the room she was in was unfamiliar and huge; only the faces around her she knew. Mother had given her to a Friend, who held her now, with a smile that made her look slightly ill.
There was a man dressed in black, a Stranger, who talked using unfamiliar words and gestures. She recognized her name and something that sounded like “part of the glory of heaven that has strayed down to earth”, but that didn’t make any sense to her. Then there was noise, loud and intrusive, and some kind of strange song sung by a lot of voices. Elisabet guessed that maybe there were some more people around she couldn’t see. They also seemed to speak all together; the sound sent shivers down her spine.