The Scars on Our Backs

Chapter I

    As I made my way down to the court house, I began to think about what the matching ceremony would be like. My birthday was December 28th, extremely close to the ceremony on the 31st. I didn't mind that, though. Some people were a bit apprehensive about going to the ceremony or moving away from their families, which is why some people waited to choose someone until they were ready to move out. I wasn't one of those people, though. I was ready to move away from my family and my small town. I needed a change of scenery. While I was a little nervous about not making the right choice for my potential partner, I knew that I could always leave them and file to be put back in the ceremony, so I tried not to let the anxiety about it consume me. There was always a chance that the man I ended up with would be abusive or not a good partner, but I couldn't let it deter me in getting away from here and potentially meeting the love of my life.
    I walked into the court house and smiled at the woman working the front desk.
    "Hi there honey, how can I help you?" She asked warmly. I returned her warmth and told her I was here to take the matcher. She nodded her head and typed on her computer for a minute.
    "You'll go right down the hall and into the first door on the right. There will be tablets set up with the questionnaire already pulled up. If you need any help there should be someone in the room. If not, just come and get me and I'll help you sweetie," she responded, pointing to the hallway I was meant to go down.
    "Thank you, ma'am," I responded before following her directions to the room I needed to be in. She was right about everything except for there being a person in here, but I didn't mind much. The room was completely empty so all of the tablets were open with the questionnaire pulled up. I took a seat towards the front of the room and began filling it out.
    The first few parts were simple. Name, age, location, the basics. Then it got into physical descriptors such as height, weight, hair color, any just about any physical trait you could think of. You were then required to take a photo of yourself and submit it to the quiz. The questionnaire got into what your personality is like, then what you would prefer in a partner. It asked about everything from whether or not you like your partner to be clingy down to what your sexual preferences were. It got detailed but that was important when it came down to it.
    After many hours and many embarrassing questions and even more embarrassing answers, I was finally done with the matcher. I didn't get to see who my potential matches were, I would only know once I got to the matching ceremony. Each man had a room and his potential matches would get thirty minutes with him. This way everyone had the chance to meet and socialize with their matches. The ceremony went on for 3 days. The first day was to meet your matches, then there was a party for New Year's. The second day was to get to know your favorite matches better. The third day was to pack, fill out paper work, discuss who wanted to live with who or where, and leave. I was excited to know who my matches were and what percentage we matched at. The matches were sent in from lowest to highest, so my highest match would be towards the end of my day. If or when I wasn't socializing with a match, there was a huge common room the women got where they could socialize and make new friends.
    As I walked out of the room, I made sure to wave to the lady at the front desk. She smiled and waved back at me.
    "You have a good day honey," she said.
    "You too, ma'am," I responded before I walked out the door. Walking back home gave me more time to think about everything. I wondered who my highest match would be and what the percentage would be. I wondered if I would pick my highest match or end up clicking better with someone else. These were all things I was looking forward to learning.
    Entering my home made me emit a heavy sigh. It was always the same thing here. I did my best to enter quietly and sneak past the living room where my dad lay on the couch. Once I made it into my room without being detected, I let out a breath and sat on my bed. Deciding that now would be a good time to call my best friend, I got out my phone and dialed her number.
    "Hey Mars! Whatchu up to?" She answered.
    "Not much anymore. I just got done doing the matcher," I responded.
    "Ohhh damn, bet that was boring as hell," she said. "It took me like 3 hours to do. I don't know why they have to make it so damn long." I giggled a little.
    "It took me about 3 as well. You already know why they have to make it so long and invasive, you goof. Wouldn't want to get the wrong match." She groaned but made a sound of agreement.
    "Of course, you're always right," she said, slightly sarcastically. She paused for a moment before saying something else. "Invasive?" She questioned.
    "Yeah," I responded, nodding my head even though she couldn't see it. "Some of those questions were really embarrassing to answer. And some of them were just flat out weird. Everyone has their thing I guess." She laughed at my response.
    "I bet you're talking about the kinky questions, huh? You're just a little vanilla baby," she said, laughing.
    "You know I'm far from it," I responded, "but man some of those questions were weird to me. Bodily fluids are not my thing."
    "Okay yeah, some of those questions were pretty weird, I'll admit," she said.
    "I mean I'm no stranger to that world. I've seen a lot of stuff," I said.
    "Oh I know," she said, giggling. After a moment of silence she requested for me to FaceTime here so we could show each other our outfits for the ceremony. After that, we said our goodbyes and see you sons and ended the call. By the time we were done talking it was well past dinner time, but I knew I needed to eat something, so I made my way to the kitchen to try to scrounge up something to eat. As I was raiding my fridge, I heard my phone ding.

1 new message

    I opened my phone to see that Kiera had messaged me.

"OMG, GUESS WHAT"
"What?"
"I JUST SAW THAT LEADER XALIVER IS GOING TO BE AT THE MATCHING CEREMONY!!"
"Why wouldn't he be? He's only 20 and he doesn't have a partner."
"He's never gone before" I furrowed my eyebrows at that. Everyone was required to go unless they had a partner already.
"Why?"
"Apparently the matching ceremony council gave him a waiver of two years since right after he turned 18 he was the new leader. They told him he didn't have to go to the ceremony if he didn't want to for two years, but once he turned 20 he had to start going."
"Oh, I see. Do you think he'll take a partner?"
"I doubt it. From what I've heard he's really cold and uninterested. But damn what I would give to be one of his matches, just to see him up close and talk to him lol."
"Lol, he is pretty hot."

    I turned my phone off and turned my attention to my food that just got done cooking. I dished it up and took it back to my room, trying to be as quiet as I could. The last thing I wanted to do was wake up my father if he was in a foul mood. I closed the door to my bedroom and sat down at my desk and ate my dinner. After I was done, I showered and got ready for bed.
Getting to sleep at night was always a problem for me. Between the paranoia and the racing thoughts, it was hard to find enough peace in my mind. Most nights I ended up smoking a joint on my balcony or taking an edible. It always calmed my mind and made me tired enough to fall asleep. Tonight was no different. I sighed after laying in bed for almost an hour with no luck. I got up and grabbed a pre-roll and lighter from my nightstand before walking out onto my balcony and lighting up. Let's hope my potential match didn't have a problem with all my baggage.

~
1501 words
posted 5/22/23
Unedited