Hellbound

Chapter One

*Warning: there's lots of mature scenes in this book; so please stop telling me there's lots of mature scenes, I know, I wrote the book. Thanks :) enjoy!*

                                            ***

The air is warm today, the breeze being the only break from the sweltering heat. The children scream and run around as I pass the park they play in. Their parents watch from park benches, the noticeable differences between the Darlings and the Platonics distinctive.

The Darlings are soulmates; their brandings matching from birth, the government deciding their genetics would ensure only the best children are born from them and would be the most beneficial to the economy.

The Paltonics are non-soulmates, together out of convenience. By twenty-two most Darlings had found each other and if they hadn't, their Darling had more then likely passed. Leaving the surviving Darling to move on with someone the government had chosen for them who had also lost their soulmate.

It isn't abnormal for Platonics to end up despising one another; there have been cases of Platonics being desparate enough to leave their relationship that they've faked their death or even gone to prison, their differences and goals not aligning as they would with a Darling.

That's what I'm seeing right now. Darlings sit on the park bench, their arms around each other as they look as in love as the day they met, their eyes on their children. The Platonics however, stand off to the side. The woman stands with her hands on her hips as she yells for her children while the man walks away to answer a phone call, covering his ear to hear over the top of his wife's yelling.

I make eye contact with the yelling woman; the scowl she throws me has me scurrying off. The grocery bag knocks into my thigh as I cross the road, my house coming up on the corner.

I can see my mother from here, her blue dress bright against the beige of our house as she weeds the front yard. Her white bucket hat sits atop her head, shading her from the sun.

I slow my step so she doesn't see me as I watch dad exit the front door. They exchange words before my mum turns her back on him, waving him off with a hand over her shoulder. Dad yells something back at her as he gets in the car and drives down the street.

They think I don't notice but I do. They're Platonics, having never found their Darlings. They do their best at keeping the arguing away from me but I'd have to walk around with my head in the sand to not notice the lingering tension when I walk into a room.

Slight panic rises in my chest, I rub at my heart to sooth the burn at the thought I'd end up like them. I'm twenty-two now; most Darlings find each other between eighteen and twenty-two.

My chances of meeting my Darling are diminishing as each day goes by. The government had already set up a Platonic for me, my best friend, West. He had lost his Darling at eighteen tragically; they only had a week together before she was taken away. To this day he still has his moments.

"Poppy!" mum pops her head up as she continues kneeling on the ground, her eyes shining with tears as she puts a brave smile on her face. I ignore the tears, knowing she wouldn't want me to bring attention to it.

"I got the groceries" I hold up the heavy bag as she hurries over and unlocks the three foot gate that surrounds our house.

I walk through; the distinct sound of the lock clicking into place as mum shuts the gate behind me. I kick my shoes off at the door before mum takes the bag from my hands.

I follow the sound of her feet patting the floor into the kitchen and take a seat on a bar stool, pushing the baby hairs that had escaped from my pony tail out of my face.