Gray House

Chapter 1

Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. - William Jennings Bryan

100 years later

Reyes' POV

I look at the page in my book again. I've known this my whole life but I don't want it to be true. I want to fall in love. It's hard seeing all of your best friends getting girlfriends and having first kisses when I'm never even supposed to utter the one simple word 'love'.

It's technically illegal for me to say it to anyone but my immediate family. I can't fall in love because my manual says so. Our Manuals are supposedly guides to others of our personalities, our deepest secrets. The theory is if nobody has secrets and we can basically see everyone's thoughts, then there won't be war. Of course, the government took advantage of this and started putting jobs in the manuals, which started altering our personalities. Then the government decided that some jobs shouldn't allow spouses.

I've been assigned one of those jobs. I'm supposed to be in the army. The Government thinks that people who have dangerous jobs shouldn't endanger the emotions of their spouse. Death is the one thing the manual can't control. It can control how you feel about phrases, what your favorite food is, everything. Except death. As hard as the not-so-secret government scientists try to figure out the perfect algorithm for death they've found it impossible, it's too random.

Tomorrow is my 19th birthday, tomorrow I'll be thrown in the back of one of those big white truck and maybe never come home again. From the occupation section of the manual, I've figured out that the first year I'm going to be in an intense training program with other boys my age. At the end of the year, I'll be stationed outside of the White House and be the President's daughter's personal guard for the 15 years. After that, I'll be discharged and go to the retirement home in my community or if I do an exemplary job I'll be an army trainer for the new wave of 19-year-old men who've been condemned to the same fate as me. It's gonna be a great 16 or more years.

From what I've seen over the years on the small TV, my mom has in the kitchen, the president's daughter, Lillian Pender, was a quiet 16 year old who refuses write her own speeches and despises public speaking. She's pretty enough, I guess. She has chin length blonde hair and obviously fake tanned skin. everything on her face seemed small. She had small delicate eyes and a matching nose. It was rumored that she had a thing for girls so she had male guards instead of female so there would be no chance of attraction between the guard and her.

"Reyes Julian Tomson! Get your skinny little butt down here!" My mother yelled from the bottom of stairs snapping me out of my daze. I blinked and glanced at the clock on my bedside table. I muttered a string of curse words under my breath as I grabbed the red blazer from my bed and hastily threw the wrinkled jacket on. Today was my graduation, today was the last day I would probably see anyone I had ever known. 

I ran down the stairs to see my exasperated mother standing at the bottom of the stairs. "Really Reyes? Why did this take you so long?" She sighed before giving me a long hug. "You're going to be a great soldier kiddo" she whispered her voice breaking as she spoke to me her facade of bravery shattering. 

I sighed softly and hugged her tightly "Mom, I'm going to be okay. Okay?" I said softly "besides you still have Arlette." Arlette was my five year old little sister who was destined to be a doctor with 4 kids and find true love. It was crazy to think about my Barbie doll loving kid sister as a neurosurgeon one day. Sometimes it even made me upset, why didn't she get to choose? What ever happened to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Oh yeah. The Pender's happened. If I wasn't too terrified to loose my life I would run against him but I'd no doubt be 'taken care of' within seconds. It was dangerous to even speak out against the government forget about changing it. So Arlette is going to be a doctor. My older brother, Alden, was 21. Alden was destined to be a pastry chef in California which was on the opposite side of the country from where we were. We lived in South Carolina where it was hot 90% of the time and the other 10 it was basically an iceberg. Thankfully the capital was closish to home so distance wasn't a huge issue. I wouldn't have to get used to a completely new climate or time zone 

My mom sniffled and glanced over to my red-haired little sister playing with her dolls and a ghost of a smile appeared on her lips. "Arlette," she said with a small voice crack making it evident that she was trying not to break down into tears "Come say goodbye to your brother. H-he's going away tomorrow. Like Alden did." I watched helplessly as my mom broke down in tears causing me to hug her again. She pulled back and laughed weakly, and pushed back a stray piece of dark red almost brown hair that had fallen into my face. "I'm not supposed to be the one crying," she said wiping her tears as she picked up Arlette. Arlette smiled adorably at me "Bye bye, Rey Rey!" she giggled obliviously being the little ray of sunshine she was. 

I smiled and kissed Arlette and my mom's cheeks before grabbing my bag and walking out the door. I stared out at the deserted sidewalk briefly glancing back at my childhood home before getting on my bike and biking towards the graduation hall where the rest of my life would begin. I've never been more terrified in my entire life.