A Life Not Our Own

The Countdown

Shifter base at top.
Mae
It had been five years since I'd become a shifter. I'd worked hard and adjusted well to my newfound life of wealth and order. I opened my eyes to the blaring wake up alarm. Brielle was already awake and I could smell tons of hair product. "You're lucky you're quiet. If the officials saw you up before the alarm, you'd get into serious trouble." I chuckled. She rolled her eyes and kept brushing her hair. "Yeah well, I need to look flawless, and it's very hard to do that when the officials only give you thirty minutes to get dressed." She muttered. I hopped into the shower and quickly washed off.
After showering and brushing my teeth and hair, I quickly put on the generic plain white loose tee, light wash jeans, and knee-high boots. I slung my hair into a bun and checked my necklace. 1 week, three hours, and ten minutes until I met my 'other half'.
Brielle grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room. We made our way outside and lined up in our alphabetical rows. I was next to Eric "Shark" Clairemont. My best guy friend ever. The only friends I had at this school were Brielle, Shark, and Thea.
"Good morning students. Thank you for being punctual-" "I'm Here!" Quinn interrupted running into the eighth, out of twenty six, row of students. Official 0826 groaned and stared Quinn down. We all knew what that meant. "Quinn Harthrow. You will be carrying all of the equipment for the Officers for the rest of the week." Quinn nodded, knowing better than to talk back to an Official. Shark chuckled and shoved his hand through his midnight black hair. "That girl is late for everything.." He muttered. "And yet you've had a crush on her for years." I mocked. He turned a bold red and turned away from me.
I smiled and listened to the official.
"The war is impending upon us and we need you all at your best. We are going to be upping our security, making longer training sessions, and we have reprogrammed your necklaces so you meet your match sooner. We want to hurry on with couples so we can have a successful new generation of offspring." The official announced from the silver podium. I looked down at my necklace. It read, 18 hours, thirty minutes, and five seconds until I met my soulmate. "The couple ceremony is tomorrow. We will yell out the shape of your necklace and you will come onstage. We don't know what the war has in store for us, but let's make it promising!" The official yelled. Everyone cheered and whooped.
I bet this was the same speech at each shifter base.

After we were dismissed, all anyone was talking about was the ceremony. I felt butterflies well up as questions began to enter my head. Would we share a room? Will he like me? Are we training together?
I couldn't believe all of this was happening so soon. I mean I was prepared, I was a twenty year old female, I could easily handle a relationship. Or could I?

After lifting weights, running eight miles, and combat fighting I was ready for sleep. I opened my room door to find Brielle already sleeping. I showered and went to bed.

In the morning I awoke early to the flickering overhead light in the room. I groaned and got dressed in a black tank top, jeans, boots, and my hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Brielle was already awake and flawless, her bronze hair was in a messy bun and she was fixing her white blouse. "Ceremony. Today." She muttered. I nodded and left the room.
I met Shark and Thea in the mess hall and grabbed breakfast. "Are you excited?!" Thea asked plopping strawberries onto her plate. "Sure" I murmured going for some chocolate chip pancakes. The mess hall was huge with four lines of people grabbing food. I swallowed hard and took my seat at our usual table. "They said the ceremony would be in two hours." Shark said wolfing down his eggs. "Why so soon though?" I asked. "They don't want us to worry, but I heard that headquarters got a threat targeting this base." Thea whispered. I held her gaze for a heartbeat and continued to eat. We both knew we'd have to fight.

Soon.