EUPHORIA | BOOK 3 of Death of the Future Series

01 | NEO

In a world where people were destined to be together based on a system that everyone had accepted to be a norm, Neo believed in something else entirely. No human had the power to truly figure out if two people were meant to be in love; it didn't make sense to him. And yet, that was the world he lived in.

At fifteen, he had heard enough of his future Match from his grandma and grandpa that he wished they would just shut up for once. Every morning, if they felt particularly chatty, he was subjected to their notion of what his Match would be. It was exhausting. Shoving his final spoonful of cereal into his mouth, he stood up, effectively silencing his grandma who had been flipping a pancake on the stove. Grandpa looked up from his tablet, eyebrows raising.

"I'm leaving," Neo said, grabbing his bag that had been on the chair next to his feet.

Hiking the strap over his shoulder, he didn't bother tossing a wave at his guardians. Before he could take a step outside, the gritty voice of the older man caught up to him. His fingers paused at the doorknob of his home, letting the words to wash over him before they settled deep in his brain like a branding.

"Don't miss classes," his grandpa said. "You don't want to be dumb in front of your Match."

Clenching his jaw tight, he yanked the door open and slammed it close behind him. Jogging away from the small, squared house that looked like the rest of them in this neighbourhood of his, he kept his gaze on the pavement as he head down a direction that definitely wasn't to his classes.

He was smart enough and it wasn't like he would be allowed to do what he wanted anyway. With Elly, his sister, taken away from his grasp when she was deemed to be a Fail, his parents nowhere to be found and him not understanding why his grandparents couldn't disclose their whereabouts, he wanted nothing more but a feeling of freedom that he wasn't granted with.

Day by day, his thoughts were becoming dangerous and frightening. Doubts about the system and the message of 'true love' began to fester within him. Because surely, those weren't real. Why were they forced to prepare their whole lives for their Match?

What was so great about the First Spark?

Nothing about it would answer his burning curiosity about his family long hidden secrets. None of that would bring him his sister back to West House like he wanted. He huffed a breath, tightening his grip on his back strap. The wide path began to narrow as he took a secret detour located in the depths of the neighbourhood. If he took a sharp right past that large tree, he would come across a fenced area. Bushes and trees scattered everywhere, almost hiding the area from prying eyes.

His heart raced in giddiness when the hole in the fence showed itself. Dropping to the ground, he crawled through it. Patting his chest once he managed to get back onto his feet, he glanced over his shoulder in case he was being followed. Despite doing this a few times too many to count, there was always the paranoia that someone would catch him. These people could preach as much as they wanted that there was no crime, but he was pretty sure what he was doing wasn't by the books.

A familiar face flashed into his mind, making him huff in mild amusement and incredulity.

He couldn't believe his best friend managed to persuade him to do shit like this.

And to think that the other boy was a South House member.

One of the more famous families in a wealthy part of society and here he was, influencing a dirt poor, lower end of society boy like him to break the law. Rolling his eyes, he forced his feet to trudge upwards a small hill where past that, he would be into a large forest. He never really explored the area and figure out where the end of the woods led him, but he liked how the whole world outside ended up swallowed here.