Forbidden

𝔭𝔯𝔬𝔩𝔬𝔤𝔲𝔢

February 14th, 2089

America. Land of the free. Free, at least, if you're a man. Certainly not free for me. Born a girl, the past twenty-three years of my life have been plagued by living in the shadow of men. I'm not allowed to drive. I'm not allowed to vote. I'm not even allowed to be seen out in public without a little silver ring on my left hand that says, "Hey, world, I'm waiting."

But it's not like I'm abstinent or waiting to find the right person. No, unfortunately the right person has to find me. Lord help us all if I so much as kiss him before we're married. It all sounds so stupid, really. 

Imagine not being able to even hold hands in the schoolyard with your childhood crush. No more shy kisses under football bleachers. No more heated touches in the backseat of a car parked in the still of the night. Those were all things I had only witnessed in old movies, a snapshot of a time once so full of passion and romance. A world where people could love one another loudly and proudly, and regardless of how they chose to identify. 

This loveless tragedy is the way the world became when my parents were only children. An epidemic had washed over the nation almost 40 years ago. It wasn't an illness. It wasn't even a social movement. It was violence. Abuse and murder. Women were dying or going missing left and right at the hands of their own lovers. 

The president at the time was very progressive, but unfortunately the country just didn't prefer him. Not wanting to risk losing his next election, he chose to honor the cries of lobbyists and childless parents alike. At first, it was simply that we women couldn't date in public. So then the ladies chose to rendezvous behind their parents' backs. 

Every time a new law was enacted, the youth found a way to rebel in the name of love. Now we live in a world where we have little to no rights and can only love someone after they've given us a marriage proposal that we've accepted - and that someone has to be a man and must be approved of by our families. These bogus laws became known as the Best Wishes Act. 

All these years later, and the same man was still being elected for president. He was praised so highly of doing what was best for America's sweethearts that they let him override presidential term laws. In turn, other checks-and-balances meant for the President were soon eradicated. He was even able to overthrow amendments to the Constitution. As far as we knew, the guy would stay president until the day he croaked. Many have tried - and failed - to take him out.

"It's what's best for them," the President would say on the television with an all-too-white smile. It reminded me of a fox's sneer right before it would pounce on an unsuspecting rabbit.

"It's what's best for them," my grandpa would echo.

"I voted for that guy," was all we heard every time my grandfather saw the President on television. 

Little did he know that my parents were sneaking out to meet each other behind his back. They planned the whole thing, too. My father "just so happened" to run into my grandfather and mother out in public while getting coffee. He paid for the drinks of the man and his daughter behind them. My grandfather thanked him and regarded him as a kind and thoughtful gentleman. As a courtesy, he introduced his daughter to him in that moment. They began talking, and eventually my father would ask to meet with my grandfather and my mother for other outings. His marriage proposal followed soon after. 

My parents were natural born geniuses, and I liked to think I inherited my self-proclaimed sharp wit from them. I wanted to do things just like they did: find the guy of my dreams, fall head over heels in love with him, and then trick my parents into allowing me to marry him. They wouldn't have a reason to be upset with me once the wedding was said and done, and therefore I could tell them the truth as to what had actually happened. It would be a classic case of the student outsmarting the master.