Disguised Soulmate

1 - Eighteen

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. The basic brick building loomed ahead of me and the anticipation and anxiety that had been bubbling up inside of me all morning was reaching its limit. The dreary weather replicated my mood, grey and not the best. It was my eighteenth birthday a week ago and yesterday a letter was posted through my door to notify my family that it was my time to take the test.

"You'll be fine." My mother attempted to reassure me.

"It's not like my future depends on it or anything." I rolled my eyes when she chuckled at my sarcastic remark.

"Just remember that anything could be a test." She warned me as her final words.

The building was the 'Soulmate Test Centre' or the centre of hell. This was where I would have to take the dreaded test, the test that would decide who my future soulmate would be. To say I was excited would be a lie. Ever since I was young, the idea of having a soulmate was drilled into my head, as it was to every other young child my age. 

I just happened to disagree with the principle of having one.

It was mandatory that everyone in my country had to take these tests, designed in finding your perfect match. I understood the somewhat twisted logic behind the tests. Apparently, according to 'experts', it was meant to decrease the percentage of divorces and domestic abuse in our little country, England. The tests were something that generations have had to experience for years prior to me. 

They were talked about in schools and it was instilled in us from children what would occur after we had made it through the tests. Although the actual tests were never revealed to the general public, the aftermath of them were common knowledge. 

At eighteen, when we are considered 'adults' in some ways, old enough to take the tests which determine our futures. Something is then sent off to 'The Soulmate HQ' which then pairs us up with our supposed 'one true love'. 

Great. 

Sometimes it took years to make a match, other times it was simple. It all depended on the type of person you are and the type of person they reckoned you would be perfect with, something I could never understand. 

However, as soon as they had put you in a 'perfect pair', they would send the lucky recipients a package, which included a charm. It was meant to be a somewhat unique design, to allow you to efficiently allocate your other half as quickly as possible. This efficiency was increased by the 'Soulmate Ball' where all the lucky singles who received a pendant that year, were required to go to find their matching person. 

It was held in the palace, in London and was the event of the year.

Everyone would buy the most amazing suits and gowns, depending on the theme that year, in the hopes to stand out in the crowd. The British media covered the event thoroughly, although more global medias became more involved if a more significant person attended. 

Many things confused me about the whole process, such as how they worked out who was perfect for each other and why it was only English citizens that were matched. 

Not to forget, of course, that some divorces did take place, so their system was not perfectly engineered nor were the mathematics behind the system, but there were significantly better and more successful statistics that suggested that something was working - the number of divorces had significantly decreased from 42% to a smaller 3%.  

A minor success to the scientists, a major success for the world. 

The air was warm when I stepped inside the pristine area of the centre, a building that was found all over the country to enable the entire generation to reach it easily. There was clearly a colour scheme, bright white. My black trainers contrasted against the white marble floor as I made my way to the reception desk awkwardly.