Life As We Know It

2

As all 5 of my brothers storm out of the house, The Association's flag we have waves as they run by, the red and gold strips flapping in the wind. My brothers and I share the same physical features; dark curly hair, dark eyes, and olive skin. The only difference for me is that I'm pretty short while my brothers are all trees. Once my brothers reach us, Jackson's face is in utter shock and fear.

"So, little Wendy found her match?" Xavier pipes up, my eldest brother. Jackson begins stuttering but is stopped when another one of my brothers pipe up.

"Nah," Charles begins. "He's too good looking for the baby." That gets a chuckle out all of my brothers, who are all slowly moving into Jackson's personal space. 

"So hot stuff, are you playing my sister or did you actually get a vibration? Because if you're playing, start running now," Xavier says. Jackson begins to stand there, wide eyes and mouth opened not knowing what to say. My brothers are very intimidating. Although they all still live at home and are adults, they stay in shape and all attract every girl under the sun. 

I step in front of Jackson to stop my brothers from getting any closer. "Scare him a little more, won't you?" I say. "We met at the cafe down the road and we are FRIENDS. Now if you guys don't mind, back up and give him a little room to breathe before he suffocates." They all back up, and when I go to stand next to Jackson, he immediately relaxes. Talk about first impressions. 

"So sugar plum, what's your name?" Leo asks, my youngest brother who is still my senior by 2 years. He goes up and slaps Jackson in the shoulder. I think it was meant to be friendly, but Jackson lurches forward when he's hit.

Jackson takes a deep breath and relaxes. "Jackson Duncan. And before you ask, I'm 20." All of my brothers seem more relaxed, except Xavier. Maybe he's weird because his little sister found someone before him, the oldest did. But now he's looking at him weird. Jackson seems not to notice and I'm not going to say anything about it.

"Well, Jackson Duncan. I'm Charles, this is Xavier, Bryan, Leo, and Kenneth," he says, while pointing to the respected person. "And I will be the first to say that if you break the law in anyway by going after my sister, we will all personally end you." He says this while smiling, and then all my brothers take that as the cue to go inside. Once the front door shuts, I turn to Jackson and before I can start apologizing he puts his hand up. 

"You did kind of warn me about them. I'm sorry for acting like a wuss in front of them. They probably think I'm the type of person that is afraid of puppies." We both laugh and he takes a step closer, now invading my personal space. But then my heart beats a little bit. He takes my hand and hold it up to his neck and I feel the vibrations coming from his chip. It is then when mine begins to go off too. He looks me deep into my eyes and steps closer again. This time our bodies are almost touching.

"Now you know that I'm not lying to you, Wendy Eileen Hunter." I smile and I feel myself blush. This is him. This is my person. My match. "Now tell me, is your chip going off also?" I take his hand and hold it up to my neck. His hand is cold, but it warms up the longer it stays there. I look up at him towering over me and he leans down and barely brushes our lips together. My chip stops vibrating at that moment.

"I look forward to getting to know you better," he whispers to me. He then steps away.  I nod at him, at a loss for words. Before I knew it, I had my first kiss...and it was with my future husband. "I'll see you at the cafe tomorrow." He then turns and walks back in the direction we came from. I watch him until he turns the corner, out of sight. 

I walk into my home and I have my family sit down in the living room. It is time for me to tell them that I've met my match and that it is time to begin wedding planning. It seems rash, but it's protocol. When you meet your match, you have two months to get married before you are arrested and have an emergency wedding in city hall. It's forced marriage, even if you aren't ready yet. I've seen twelve year olds get married before. Once married, you must become pregnant as quickly as possible. It's sad to see young girls walking around with swollen tummies because of the law. But it's the law. At least I'm older and more mature than kids that are still learning how to write in cursive.

Once everyone is seated, I just blurt it out. "I'm getting married," I say. My family smiles, and my brothers holler is celebration.

"Now we can all have our own room!" Leo says. He and Bryan, the two youngest, have had to share a room since I needed my own. Then my mother pipes up.

"Care to continue Wendy?" She asks, with a sad tone in her voice. I'm going to be out of here in two month, her only daughter and the only other girl in the house. Then she would be lonely since we are best friends and since we lost my father on the front lines just before I was born.

"It's Jackson Duncan. We both got vibrations today and the cafe and when we kissed, they went away." My mom looks taken aback when I say the last name and Xavier gets on edge again. I decide to ignore it. They'll talk about it later and I'll eavesdrop. My mother then fakes a smile and comes up and hugs me. 

"We will begin planning this week and I'd like to meet this boy before we begin, just to make sure I'll have adorable grandchildren." I smile then go upstairs in my room. I shut the door and prepare myself for bed. All night I dream of Jackson and I, replaying the kiss in my head over and over again. But, after playing it again I get a feeling of dread and fear. 

I wake in the night, sweating and I go to get a drink and clam myself down, wondering what my dream means. I was walking in a hallway that never ended. Just darkness in front of me. Out of no where the word "traitor" was being whispered. I then began to run as hands came out of the wall, wanting to pull me into their depths. When I'm finally caught is when I awoke. 

I decide to go get a drink of water when I see there's a light on in the kitchen. It's against the law to have lights used past this hour, but then I hear voices and I hide in the shadows. 

"...Duncan. What are the odds?" I tie the voice with my mother.

"What are we going to do?" Xavier asks this.

"Hope and pray that they don't recognize us. We've already changed our name and moved. We can't go anywhere now, since they're betrothed. Maybe you boys can get different hair cuts or we can dye hair or I can get a scar put over my face," My mother says. What on earth is she talking about? I hear a seat get pushed back. 

"I'll figure out what's going on. Until I do, figure out a way to hide our identities." I hear them get up and they shut off the light. I run on my toes, careful not to make a sound and go back to my bedroom. Now that my curiosity is sparked, I need to figure out what is going on and why my last name really isn't "Hunter".