Circles

Chapter One

Looking back, I was probably at a disadvantage. For starters, I’m an only child. Sure, I would spend some time with the other kids in my parent’s Circle, but most of the time I just stayed in my family’s room. Plus, all of the other kids were younger. I had just recently turned sixteen, which made me older among the kids of my parent’s Circle, but younger among some of the other sixteen-year-olds getting ready to go to their new Circles, depending on whose birthdays came first.

        One week from today, I will learn who I’ll be spending the rest of my life living with. Once a year, a ceremony is held for all of the new sixteen-year-olds who chose to be put in a Circle. The other option was to get a job, but most people went to the Circles. To choose a career would be to choose not to have a family or any friends unless you were lucky enough to like someone you work with. I want a family of my own someday, so I chose to be put in a Circle. I’m a little nervous; I’ll be moving into a house with nine people I’ve never even met before. I don’t really want to leave my family either. But it’s part of life. Part of growing up.

        “Alexandra! Dinner!” My mom calls out to me.

        “Coming!” I yell back.

        I sit at the table in my usual spot: between my mom and dad. The other members of my parent’s Circle are seated around the table with their kids, too.

            “So, Alex. One week to go. How’s that feel?” My dad asks in a joking tone that never seems to leave his voice. I don’t smile or laugh this time.

            “Oh, give her a break, Joe,” my dad’s friend, Bill, says. “It’s probably all she can think about.”

            He’s right, it is.

            Dinner goes on with everyone else chatting, and me only looking up from my plate when my mom says my name.

            “You okay, sweetie?”

            “Yeah, mom. Just tired,” I say.

            “Okay,” she answers, without sounding too convinced.

            After dinner, I help my mom and the other women from the Circle do the dishes. Once I feel that I’ve done my part, I leave to go back to my family’s room, but when I’m in the hallway I overhear some of my mom’s conversation, and I stop.

            “It’ll be okay, Lindsay.”

            “I’m going to miss her so much,” I hear my mom say, stifling a sob.

            I feel an ache in the pit of my stomach. I want to go tell her that it’ll be okay, but that would be a lie. I can’t imagine what she must be going through. For kids to leave their parent’s Circles, it’s sad, but it’s exciting. We get to live on our own, to start our own lives. But our parent’s only get the sadness. They may be excited for us, but they will never know what we’ll go on to do. People are only allowed to interact with people from their Circle, and once I have my own, I’ll be cut off from my parents.

            When I get to my family’s room, my dad is sitting on my parent’s bed.

            “Hey, Alex. Everything okay?” he says.

            “Do you think mom’s going to be okay when I’m gone?”

            “Don’t worry about us. We’ll be alright. You’re going to go out into that world and live a great life. We know that, and we’re content. We’re proud of you, Alex,” he says, standing up and wrapping me in a hug.

            “Thanks, dad.”

 He always knows just what to say.