It started with a kiss

Prologue

No one expected the plague to hit. At least not when it did. It took out millions, specifically targeting mostly woman. Those who did survive, were unable to carry children.

As the population dwindled, the government decided that the only way to help the people, was to create arranged marriages.

At first, they allowed parents to choose. But as technology was produced, they found it easier to not only control the population numbers, but our lively hoods by using a computer program to decide our future spouses.

As the years went on, more rules were added. People had less of an option to choose who they wanted, until one day they were no longer given a choice. The program chose who you were to marry based on economic status, attractiveness, personality, and the most important, how fertile you were. Those who were deemed infertile by doctors were forced to marry each other.

This led to politicians becoming extremely powerful (as most married each other) and the rich getting insanely wealthy (as they also tended to be paired together). As more arrangements occurred there was nothing that the middle/lower class could do to stop the corruption that occurred in the government.

If you refused the arrangement you received (not that many did), you were considered to be "unwanted" and "dirty." The government had a sneaky way of dealing with those who refused. In order to hide how much they controlled their people, they gave two options to those who decided not to follow through on arranged marriages. You could leave and never return, however, you would no longer be able to contact your family or friends. Or you could choose to remain in society but you would have a very difficult life ahead of you. Very few places hired those who refused, as they received benefits for hiring all arranged members of society. There were only certain places that you could live in, most were controlled by the government. They were able to raise and lower the cost of living as they pleased which meant most who choose not to be arranged, were left with pennies to survive on.

There was only one legal way to get out of a marriage. After you had at least two kids, you could potentially get a divorce. However, hardly anyone ever took this option.

This tradition continued on for 50 years. On the 50th year, I was born. 9 Ibs 6 oz, a healthy baby girl to my arranged parents, Darren and Molly Lancaster. I was the second child out of four, born to an middle/upper class family.

My name is Millicent Lancaster, and this is how one kiss brought a country to its knees.