Anna approached the Town Hall, dragging her feet. The hall was an ostentatious building that dominated the town square. It was usually empty but today it was littered with a crowd of nervous young adults standing silently in front of the marbled steps of the building. Anna rubbed her gloved hands together and swallowed down the lump in her throat. With a heavy heart, she joined the crowd. Today. Today was the day that will change her life forever. A purple number seven. Somewhere in this mob was someone with the matching coloured number. That person is her life-partner.
Anna stumbled as the nameless stranger in front of her came to a sudden halt. She composed herself and looked towards the dark oak doors that had opened. Out of them stepped a tall dark-haired man. Mayor Johnson. He walked confidently towards the podium.
‘Fifty years ago, we made a ground-breaking discovery. The existence of soulmates. We discovered that through a number of different techniques we were able to match you with your soulmate. With this discovery, we decided to test what happens. It was a success. Divorce rates reduced. Children were born into loving families.’ His voiced seemed to echo around the crowd, invading their ears, ‘Ladies and gentlemen. Today is the day that your life truly begins. Somewhere in this crowd is your life-partner.’
The tests are done when a child is born. They want to know instantly about compatibility. Of course, you don’t always get assigned a life-partner at birth. They might not exist when you do. Anna was such a person. She didn’t have her number until she was four. She used to ask her parents if there was something wrong with her. Why didn’t she have a number? When she finally got her number, she couldn’t stop staring at it. She wanted to show it to everybody. That got her into trouble. It was against the law to discuss or show the coloured number. They don’t want life-partners to meet until they are of-age. They don’t want to give people an opportunity to protest.
After the Mayors speech, the young adults began to move slowly towards the open doors. The only people that know what happens behind those doors are those who have been through them, and like with the mark; it’s not talked about.
‘Anna!’ shouted a voice from behind her.
Anna turned to face Jamie Bowman. She had met her during the mandatory classes they had to attend. Classes that prepare the young adults for what’s to come. She thought the classes were absolutely pointless. Everybody did. Anna got into trouble frequently during the sessions. Asking questions she knew she wasn’t allowed to ask. “What if we don’t like them?” The answer, tough shit. “Do we have to marry them?” Yes. “What if we decide not to?” That would not be allowed. Fascism at its finest.
‘I half expected you to avoid this.’ Jamie said.
‘What and miss the beginning to the rest of my life.’ Anna rolled her eyes.
‘Oh come on. Aren’t you even a little bit excited?’
‘For what? Meeting a completely stranger? Being forced to marry that stranger?’
‘I’m sure she’ll feel the same way about you. You are “compatible” after all.’ Jamie teased, as she nudged Anna’s shoulder.
Anna glared at Jamie. She didn’t believe in the matching. Her parents weren’t a match. When they were due to get paired up, an incident occurred. There is no record of what the incident was in any newspaper article but Anna knew. Her parents told her the story. A mentally unstable man was unhappy with the idea of being paired up. So, when the time arrived for the Mayor to give his speech. The man ran through the crowd, shooting whoever he could before he was caught. Anna’s parents, were among those who lost their life-partner that day. When you lose a partner, the government don’t expect you to be alone forever. They allow you to match up with someone who also lost a partner. There was only one condition, you have to be one hundred percent certain that they are who you want to be with, because divorce is frowned upon. Anna’s parents are happily married, and yet some of her friends were born to compatible parents who were unhappy with their marriage.
As they walked through the double doors, Anna glanced around the dome-shaped room. It was very spacious and void of any furniture. Ahead of the crowd was two separate oak doors. One was for men and the other was for women.
‘What happens now?’ Jamie whispered to Anna.
‘I have no idea. I would guess we go through the door on the right.’
‘What a waste of a good space.’ Jamie said, as she looked around the room.
‘I guess it’s so we are all inside after the speech. Wouldn’t want to litter up the square.’
Anna shook her head and walked forward towards the female door. Jamie quickly followed on her heel, not wanting to be left alone in the crowd. They joined the line that had formed and waited anxiously for their turn through the door.
‘How do you think it works for you? I mean, your life-partner is in this line?’ Jamie enquired, standing on her heels in the hopes that she could get a look through the door. ‘It looks like they’re scanning people.’
‘Well, how else are they going to find out who we are? Heaven forbid should they actually ask us.’
No-one really knows how it all works. Not until they are in that room, and once you leave you are never to talk about it again. Some people probably do tell their children what to expect when they go into that room but Anna’s parents never had the chance to go into it, so she has no advantage.
An hour passed and Anna could finally see the doorframe. Within a few minutes it would be her turn. She wondered if it was too late to change her mind and run. She shook her head at the ridiculous concept, they would never allow it. Everyone has to go through this process or face the consequences.
Anna stepped through the oak door and looked at a woman who was situated in front of a computer.
‘Please walk forward and put your right hand onto this scanner.’
Anna could hear the boredom in the woman’s voice. This job must really suck, having to sit at this desk all day, pairing people up. Anna placed her right hand onto the scanner. She heard it whirr into life and the computer dinged.
‘Please go into the door situated on the left hand side. Thank you and have a good day.’
Is that all? Anna thought there would be more to it. A DNA sample or ID check. Anna smiled at the woman and walked through the left hand door. The room was cold. Its walls were painted grey and the only furniture was a single table and two chairs. It looked like an interrogation room. She expected it to be a little more comfortable. She sat on the hand chair facing the door she just walked in from. She wanted to see the girl that would be her partner. She wanted to see if there was an instant connection.
‘Did I walk into the wrong room?’ A man’s voice said from behind her.
‘What the…’
Anna turned to face them. Standing in the doorway of the men’s room was a tall dark blonde man.
‘There has to be some mistake.’ Anna said to him. ‘There is no way you are my partner.’
His jaw dropped and he raised his hand to his chest, ‘What’s wrong with me?’
‘You have a penis!’
‘You’re gay!’
‘Well, aren’t you? You certainly wasn’t expecting me to be in here.’
Anna glanced to her left and noticed a mirror off to the left of them. She walked up to it and banged on it.
‘Hey, is there anyone there?’
‘Are you crazy?’
‘This room sure as hell looks like an interrogation room, this must be a two-way mirror.’
‘You’re going to get us in trouble.’
‘Do you want to be stuck with a woman for the rest of your life? I’m sorry dude, but I sure as hell don’t want to be with you.’
Anna continued to bang on the glass as the boy whose name she still didn’t know tried to leave through the door her entered in. He pulled hard at the handle but the door was sealed shut. He couldn’t get out.
‘What the hell have you done?’ He screamed at her. ‘I don’t wanted to end up like the other Rejects. I have plans.’
‘What are you babbling about?’
‘You don’t know? Every time there is someone who rejects their match. They become the rejected. They get put to work by the government. In dead end jobs like those computer guys out there. I cannot work as a computer clerk, I have dreams!’
‘It’s not going to be like that. They’ve made a mistake. Once it’s rectified. We’ll be fine.’
‘Have you ever heard them making a mistake? You’ve screwed us over. This is all your fault…wait, what the hell is your name?’
‘Anna. And I have not screwed us over. We just have to wait for someone to come in and we can explain to them we are both gayer than a flaming rainbow.’
He groaned and slid his back down the wall, hiding his face with his hands. Anna stopped banging on the glass and walked over to him.
‘Hey, it’ll all be okay. We just have to show them our wrists bear a different number and it’ll all be alright.’
‘How do you know we have different numbers huh? What if this is how it’s supposed to be?’
‘I doubt that. I don’t care what they say. There is no way in their gazillion tests that they did on us that they didn’t realise we are both gay.’
Anna joined the boy on the floor. She patted his arm awkwardly and they sat and waited for someone to come to see them.
An hour passed before the door hidden in the wall opened and the Mayor walked into the room.
‘Miss Carlton, Mr Boeman. I have been informed that you are rejecting your matching.’
‘It’s not that we are rejecting it sir. It’s just that it’s wrong.’ Anna responded, standing up to greet the Mayor.
‘Impossible! Our genetic matching has never made a mistake.’
‘Look at us. He likes the boys and I like the girls. There has to be a mistake.’
‘Miss Carlton…’
‘No look, I’ll accept if our numbers match but I am telling you this is not possible. Not if your tests are can correctly identify a person’s sexual orientation.’
Anna glanced behind her at the boy who was still sat on the floor. She sighed and pulled at his arm.
‘Come on….erm…’
‘Jamie’
‘Jamie. Show him the damn number.’
Anna reached down and pulled off her glove, revealing for the first time since she got the number, the purple number seven. She nudged Jamie and he reluctantly pulled off his glove. Revealing a purple number eight.
‘Impossible!’ the Mayor exclaimed. ‘How could this have happened?’
‘So if you don’t mind, could you go find our real matches? I like this guy I do. But I don’t want to marry him.’
The Mayor left the room flabbergasted. The system that he had spent years building has somehow failed. Paired two people together that don’t belong together. How could this have happened? Anna put her hand on Jamie’s shoulder.
‘See, I told you it was a mistake.’
‘Thank heavens. No offence Anna but you are a handful. I couldn’t spend the rest of my life with you.’
Anna laughed. Until it dawned on her. Jamie Boeman.
‘Hey, Jamie. How do you spell your last name?’
‘B-O-E-M-A-N. What does that matter?’
‘Oh my days! All this over a flaming typo!’
‘What the hell are you on about now?’
‘I know a girl, with the same name as you, but instead of an E, it’s a W.’
Jamie tilted his head in confusion, until slowly his face broke into a smile and he burst out in laughter. The two of them laughed together until the Mayor returned with their true matches and a sincere apology.
‘Of course it had to be you that caused the uproar Anna.’ Jamie Bowman said as they left the building, ‘That guy that is the match of Jamie though, he isn’t that bad. It wouldn’t have been terrible to have married the wrong person.’
Anna looked at her offended before noticing the smirk on Jamie’s face. She pushed Jamie’s shoulder lightly and told her to “Shut up.”
