Michael was nervous. Very nervous, to say the least. Today was the big day, the day that was going to change his whole life, probably. He was going to meet his soulmate.
At least, that's what was supposed to happen.
Everybody in the world had a soulmate. In the past, there had been a lot of problems with the system. There had been a period of time, which they now call 'the dark times', where a lot of people had become depressed because of the fact that they couldn't find their soulmate. Sometimes, two soulmates lived in another country, or even continent, so they never met. It had become such a problem, that something had to change.
So, governments worked together to create a system to make sure everybody, or at least almost everybody, found their soulmate. Ever since the introduction of the system, people had been happier. There were a few unlucky ones, of course, who didn't get to meet their soulmate, but Michael could only hope he wasn't one of them.
The system was pretty simple. On Michael's twentieth birthday, he had received a black envelope, with 'Michael Gordon Clifford. November 20th, 1995. Sydney, Australia' on it.
In the envelope, one plane ticket was found. It had a date on it, a destination and a seat number. Everybody got a plane ticket like that on their twentieth birthday.
Your soulmate got one of those as well, with the same date, the same destination, the same flight overall. Chances were high their seat number were right next to yours, but sometimes, the system made mistakes, so your soulmate wasn't right next to you. That's how you met your soulmate. On a plane, to a destination where you'd be staying for two weeks to get to know each other. After that, you'd have to figure out everything by yourself.
Michael had to wait for a long time. The date on his plane ticket was nine months after his twentieth birthday, but today was the day. July 1st, 2016. The day Michael was going to meet his soulmate.
If his mother hurried up, at least.
They were going to leave for the airport, to catch Michael's flight to New York, together with his soulmate.
To say Michael was nervous was an understatement. He was beyond scared, and could only hope his soulmate was a nice person. Michael didn't know whether it was a boy or a girl, but he kind of hoped for a boy. He had nothing against girls, but Michael had always felt more attracted to the same gender.
He didn't know what to expect, though. He hoped his soulmate would like him, but he probably would, right? Otherwise they wouldn't be soulmates, right?
When his mother finally got downstairs, they got in the car. Michael could see his mother was nervous as well, but he understood. In a few hours, she would see her son leave, who was going to meet his soulmate. She didn't have the chance of being there with him, but Karen had made Michael promise he'd text her as soon as the plane landed.
They arrived at the airport, and as Michael stepped out of the car, his nerves were making him go crazy. He had never been this nervous before.
He checked in and dropped off his luggage. They still had a little bit of time before boarding time, so Michael and his mother went to sit down somewhere to drink something.
"Are you nervous?" Karen asked as Michael took a sip from his water.
"Yeah," he mumbled.
"It's going to be fine, Michael. You're an amazing boy, how could your soulmate not love you? And I'm sure it's going to be a lovely boy or girl," she said, rubbing one hand against Michael's thigh reassuringly.
Michael smiled, he loved his mother with his whole heart, and he was glad she supported him. Michael's dad couldn't be at the airport today, but he had said goodbye to his son in the morning, so it was alright.
