Chapter 1
“It’s the day of attraction.” One girl whispers.
“I wonder who I’ll be paired with.” Says another.
There’s quiet conversations all around me, the lights are turned down low to make the searching easier. I glance around curiously, but stick to the back of the crowd, not daring to move forward. My hand absentmindedly starts to mess with the chip in my arm, as I survey the room.
The gymnasium has been modified for the occasion, there’s balloons everywhere, but it no longer feels like the dances we all attended, it was more apprehensive today, nervous somehow. The stage is flooded with the stage lights where the school plays were held. But nobody was up there, not yet. Today, the gym held a different purpose, today we were going to meet our soulmates.
My sister who’s a few years older than me met her fiancé, soon to be husband here too, everyone in town has a partner here, and it’s been that way since the great reset. The chatter hushes as the lights on stage get impossibly brighter, and out steps the headmaster of the high school, Mrs. Ralence. She’s all sleek sophisticated confidence, wearing her usual cream shawl and her signature red lips. Her gray hair in a bun so tight her otherwise wrinkled skin is pulled taught.
“Hello my students,” she says, her eyes roaming over our faces. “As you know, today is the day of attraction! This is the first day of the rest of your adult lives. Before we commence with the ceremony, I will remind you of the history of this sacred tradition.
“As you all know the founders of the great reset found a simpler way of life. A way in which we would no longer have to wait in uncertainty wondering where our lives would take us. Who we would marry, what fields we would go into, if we would have children. The founders have found a solution, a solution in which many of you know, lies in a chip hidden in your forearm.”
Everyone breaks out in excited whispers, and Headmaster Ralence sweeps a hand over the crowd, hushing us. “In a few short minutes, as I’m sure you know, you will start your lives with a soulmate. As everyone has turned 18 and is ready to do such.” She pauses, supposedly to keep us on the edge of our seats. “And now, without further ado, your soulmates!”
The room bursts into light, and for a second I think the room’s exploded and we’ve all died, until the light fades and nothing is different. Everyone starts chattering nervously, until one girl from my biotech class, Silvia Reveeres I think, says “Wait! Something’s happening!” And her arm starts pulling toward Ethan Spouses like it has a mind of its own.
And then we all realize, the chip in our arms somehow has a magnet of some sort, that has quite literally, a physical attraction to our soulmate. And everywhere groups of people start moving out of the way for people to find their partners. Sarah and Darren, Lucy and Sam, Kelly and Maddox.
Everywhere couples meet, but funnily enough nobody seems awkward, they start talking immediately. Apparently ecstatic that they’re destiny has been preprogrammed for them. But when I start looking around, there’s less and less people who aren’t in pairs, and I start to worry. I was never excited, per say, about not getting to choose who I was in love with, but it’s better than being the only one who isn’t chosen, like I’m defective or something.
I start panicking, because there’s only a few more people, and the ones who are already paired start giving me odd looks. A few more people start getting pulled away, and pretty soon I’m the only one I can see who’s not with someone. And the headmaster’s eyes narrow in on me. “What’s your name? The one with the white streaks in your hair.”
I look around panicked and gulp, “My name is Isla Carmmander.” I say straightening, trying to feign confidence. People whisper all around me and I start panicking, until a boy in the back I didn’t notice before kicks off the wall. He has a toothpick from lunch dangling in his mouth, which he pinches between his thumb and pointer. He has dark hair and crystal blue eyes. He’s tall, and has an air of confidence and a wild look in his eye that’s not quite buried, like a fire out of control.
“Chin up, angel.” He says under his breath, sending me a quick wink. “Mrs. Ralence, my chip also failed, does this mean Isla and I are soulmates?” He says, “Perhaps one of our chips is defective, and it affected the other’s.”
No no no no no no no no no no no, never in a million years. I thought, out of everyone to be my soulmate he can’t be it, I would rather be sent to the lab and have my chip be completely rewritten, than have him be my soulmate. I send a glare his way and he just smirks.
“Faelen Grey, I suppose it does, but you’ll both have to be set to the lab to have your chips checked.” She says, and she checks the crowd for any extra stragglers. “Very well, you should both make your way to the lab, I trust you know where it is.” She says you like it leaves a bad taste in her mouth. And everyone knows why. Faelen Grey was bad luck, he was the reason his family was dead, and if he was my soulmate, it would eventually kill me.
“Sure thing,” he salutes the headmaster, grabs my arm, and leads me out of the gym. Next thing I know he’s sprinting down the hallway towards the exit with me in tow. I slam my foot on his and he curses. “We have to get out of here.” he says under his breath.
“What are you talking about! Are you crazy?” I practically yell. He’s starting to sweat and the manic look in his eye gets more untamed. He shakes his head and shoots a trapped look toward the gymnasium door.
“They’ll be out soon, there’s a liability now, dang it!” He punches the wall behind him, and suddenly he turns to me. “We need to run, now, they’ll be after us soon. If they find us they’ll kill us.”
“Who’s they?!?” I say, starting to worry. “What’s wrong?”
He looks at me like I’m the crazy one. “Princess,” he spits, “The Great Reset isn’t made for the benefit of everyone, it’s only for those of us that fall within a certain set of guidelines. And those of us who don’t, well, they don’t take kindly to that. I’ve bought us time with the chip malfunction,” I look at his arm but there’s a jagged scar running down the area where his chip should be. “But we need to go, now.”
“Wait- b-“ The sounds of students get louder and the gym doors open. He looks at me, and starts booking it down the hallway, and without a second thought, I follow.
