Emeros X

Chapter 1

Erin was nervous. Her sister, Violet sat in front of her with one hand on the wheel and the other holding Todd, her fiancé’s, hand. As she drove, Violet kept looking in the rearview mirror at her little sister. She had turned seventeen last month, starting the process of selection. This was her second visit to the office, the first that would have any effect on who was selected for her. The first meeting was simply a “get to know you” meeting that Erin barely spoke in. Their mom decided Violet was to take Erin this time, hoping she might be able to convince her baby sister that she had no reason to be nervous.

            “Stop biting at your cuticles, Erin. They’ll bleed,” her sister said.

Her reassuring smile reflected in the mirror, but Erin ignoring it. She doesn’t know when she started biting her cuticles, and she didn’t particularly know if she’d stop. Hopefully The Board would pick somebody who doesn’t mind her habit.

Todd squeezed Violet’s hand, stroking his thumb around the curve of her palm.

            “Come on, Erin. It can’t be that bad. The Board picked your sister for me, and look where that got us.”

Violet smiled, looking toward her fiancé before shaking her head.

            “That doesn’t mean it always work though, right? They could mess up, couldn’t they?” Erin asked, looking up from her stinging fingers toward Todd.

            “Erin, they’ve done this procedure since before mom and dad were married and nobody has had any complaints. Besides, all you’re going to do for this meeting is fill out some forms. It’s not a big deal,” Violet answered.

Erin looked out the window. As they passed her high school, she desperately wished she was in her class, even though they were taking a test on Jane Eyre. Nobody in her class understood the book. Mrs. Campbell said the reason why they didn’t was because the story contained what is called “organic love”. Such a thing doesn’t exist anymore. Katie, another student and Erin’s best friend, asked why, to which Mrs. Campbell lectured for the rest of the class period on the nation’s history. That, at the time the book was written, there was so much corruption that people needed something to hold on to. Now that the nation is nearly perfect, there’s no need. After all, most of the food they ate was synthetic, as were the organs used for transplants, why not feelings as well? Feelings were simply the releasing of different chemicals, which could be easily replicated.

Upon arriving at the building The Board worked in, Erin forced herself to take deep, slow breaths as she walked in the door, signed her name and sat down. There were five other people in the waiting room with her and three of them were parents. The girl by the window looked excited. Her mom did too. Rather than biting at her cuticles, she was animatedly ranting to her mom about her hopes of falling for someone who had blue eyes like her, because then her entire family would have blue eyes. The other girl, who was sitting with both her parents, silently flipped through a magazine while her parents leaned against each other.

 The fan above Erin make the light in the room appear to flicker, syncing up to her heart wildly beating in her chest. A woman in a dress suit walked by, calling for the girl by the window. She quickly sprang up, grabbed some papers from her mother, and followed the woman down the hall. The mom pulled her phone out, smiling at a message someone had left for her.

The clock ticked by, until the girl with the magazine was called as well. Her mother followed her, stopping to kiss her husband before walking down the hall in the same direction her daughter had gone.

Violet walked back to her seat, as she had apparently gotten a cup of water, and crossed her legs toward Todd, who put his arm around her shoulders. Erin couldn’t believe it was taking this long. Couldn’t she just have the paperwork handed to her? Why did she have to go wait until a room opened up so she could fill in some bubbles?

“Erin Foster?”

Erin looked up from the floor. A short woman stood in the hallway holding a clipboard and looked at her. She stood up, looking back at her sister, who nodded in the direction of the hallway. Erin slowly nodded back, took a deep breath, turned and walked toward the woman, who hadn’t moved.

“Good morning Miss Foster.”

“Good morning Dr…”

“Santiago.”

“Okay.”

Erin followed Dr. Santiago down the hallway, turning into a small room with a pair of seats and tables. There were needles sitting on a tray, along with a stack of papers on top of a folder and a few pens.

“Sit anywhere you’d like Miss Foster,” Dr. Santiago said. She stood by the door until Erin walked past the table and sat down facing her. Dr. Santiago nodded and sat at the chair across from her.

“Now, we’re going to start with…”

“What are those needles for?” Erin asked. Nobody ever told her there would be needles.

“Oh, those? We just need to take a sample of your blood for further analysis,” Dr. Santiago answered before pulling a pair of gloves on.

Dr. Santiago grabbed one of the needles and held her hand out toward Erin. Erin slowly pulled her arm out from underneath the table and set it down in the doctor’s free hand before looking away. She never could stand the sight of needles.

“Now, take a deep breath,” Dr. Santiago advised while sticking the needle in.

Erin could feel that familiar pinch and clenched her jaw. She counted in her head until she felt her doctor pull the needle out.  Dr. Santiago quickly rubbed alcohol over the mark and put a small bandage on it before excusing herself. Before she left, she told Erin she could go ahead and fill out the paperwork. When she was finished with all the questions, she was welcome to leave.

Pulling the first page towards her, Erin printed her name as carefully as she could, along with her social security number and her birth date. The first page was always the same at whatever place she went to. She continued filling out her address, previous addresses, primary phone number, secondary phone number and so on until she had finished and started on the second page. The second page asked for medical background, the third for educational background, the fourth financial background, and on and on until she had finally reached the sixth page, which asked personality questions. Check all boxes that describe hobbies you enjoy. Check all boxes that describe hobbies you do not enjoy. Write “yes” or “no” for the following questions. Explain why, if answer was “no”.

Erin had checked and marked three pages of questions until she had finally reached the end and her hand was starting to cramp. She dropped the pen on the table, stacked the papers and put them in the folder. Standing, she walked out the door and paused to drop the folder in the plastic box by the door. Her sneakers thudded down the hallway as she walked, hoping she hadn’t made a wrong turn, or her sister hadn’t left her. When she had reached the waiting room, she found Violet and Todd to be the only two people in the room, both asleep.

“I’m done,” Erin called, effectively waking Violet up, who shook Todd’s shoulder until he had opened his eyes as well.

“How was it?” Violet asked, pulling herself out of the chair and stretching.

“Okay.”

“Just okay?”

“It was a lot of writing. Nobody told me I had to get a shot either,” Erin muttered.

“Oh come on, it’s just one little shot. Plus, you only have one more meeting left, which doesn’t require any paperwork.”

“I guess so.”

“Erin, really. Lighten up a bit. After all, that paperwork is used to match you up with someone that is perfect for you,” Violet looked toward Todd, who was already at the car and waving at them.