"Daphne Valor," I stand up as the official calls out my name in a monotone voice. Keep calm, I tell myself as I walk up to the man in blue. He smiles at me with sad eyes as I reach my hand into the leather bag that holds my future. This is it, I eit...
My jaw dropped as I turned around and caught a glimpse of something on my shoulder in the mirror. I craned my neck to see what it was. My symbol, I thought in awe, it finally arrived. It wasn't anything elaborate, just a simple D+L surrounded by wheat ears, but I was ecstatic just the same. It went very well with my profile I think. Average height, long hair made of soft copper brown curls, grey eyes, and an athletic build from running. I was wearing the same type of outfit I always wear, a simple teal tank top, combat boots and dark teal cargo pants.
I heard a gasp from my doorway and spun around. My little brother, Ben, was standing there in all his innocence, but if you knew him like I did, you would know that it's all just an act. He was wearing a light green long-sleeved shirt with dark green cargo pants. His brown mop of hair was messed up. His blue eyes full of wonder lit up with mischievousness right on que and he skipped off singing,
"Daphne's got a husband, Daphne's got a husband!"
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"NO I DON'T!," I called out. Not yet anyway, I thought to myself. It's a good thing that Father is at work, otherwise I'd have to deal with him asking a bunch of questions. I like to think that somewhere, out there, a young man woke up to find an exact replica of my symbol on his shoulder. Hopefully he's wondering what the 'D' stands for. Maybe he's already telling his family about it or maybe he's thinking about what I look like. Just the thought brought a wide smile to my face and showed off my straight, white teeth surrounded by full pink lips.
Eventually Ben loses interest like the five-year-old he is and stops singing. There, I think to myself, quiet and peaceful. I like silence, I find it very calming and it helps me think. I hope that wherever I move to for my job is quiet. I would hate to live in the governmental sector where there is always some sort of sound. Whether it's people in a hurry to get to their next meeting, enforcers chasing down a rebellious teal, or marketers trying to sell goods to passersby.
Now, to fully understand my excitement you have to understand that your symbol is your life. It tells you who you're going to marry and what job you are assigned. The officials watch over and study your data for your whole life and match you up with someone who has corresponding data. The letters represent your names, the girl's first letter of her first name comes before the boys letter. The 'D' for Daphne, and I wonder what the 'L' is for. Lucas? Liam? Logan? The other parts represent your job and I can bet that we are both going to be farmers.
Next week is the ceremony where you choose where you are going to live and for those with complicated symbols can get an explanation from an official about what their job is. They have a leather bag with a scanner inside that has been used for years. When they call your name, you reach in and get scanned with the name of whatever sector you are moving to. Wherever you live will be chosen based off of sectors that suit your job. For example, they wouldn't put a fisherman in the middle of a bunch of wheat farms. I have to attend the next ceremony and start my job, wherever it is, but I can meet my husband whenever I want. I'm not one for waiting around though.
In every shelter is a government provided computer and one of the few important qualities is that there is a scanner that you can use to check your symbol. It checks to see if it's even real, for one. It can tell you where your match is in the world, and if you scan two symbols side-by-side, it can tell you if they match. Lots of people do it since there have been quite a few stories of people who get married and then when they do check, they weren't a match all along. When that happens they either hide it and continue on or they just separate and both go along single. You and your match will have a job in the same area so if you get separated, it's not too much trouble to deal with the children. There are lots of people who, when they get to the ceremony, they ask to be single and the officials will remove their symbol and inform the person who was supposed to be their husband/wife.
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Please, if you have any suggestions or questions that you want answered in later chapters, comment.
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Did you know that in Canada winters can get to below 40 degrees Celsius!?!?!?
