Stolen

1

        The world has changed, viruses ravaged the world, changing how everything works, there is no longer marrying for love, you must marry to have children, health screenings are done on men and women alike, after puberty is hit. The women that cannot have children disappear, no one knows where they go, the men that can't give children are taken to a prison. School isn't mandated. For the most part we're matched off to guys who are deemed the perfect match, but some girls go missing, taken in the middle of the night. No one truly knows what happens but every now and then you'll see some of the missing on tv at high society events, many of them pregnant. Some of course are found on the streets dead. Of course some people do actually fall in love with their matches, my brother is one of those people. There is still fear another deadly virus will break out again, 18 years ago one came around and wiped out plenty of people, my father was one of them. My mother lived but just barely, we almost lost her. She lives with my brother and his family now. I live on my own in a studio apartment, after I turned 14 I decided to work instead of attending school.
        Every now and then you see the homeless children running around begging for food. Those children lost their parents or got abandoned.
    My alarm sounding woke me, well more startled me awake, it's the day of the matching, many 18 year olds from across the state will be at the event center, since we all turned 17, we've been taking many tests to find the one we are to be matched with. I stretched and here we my legs over the side of my bed, my feet hit the carpet with a soft thud. I made my way to the bathroom and turned the light on. I stared at my reflection, my brother got my mother's blonde hair and blue eyes, I got my father's red hair and green eyes. Sometimes' looking at myself makes me sad, some of my features remind me of him, like my hair and my eyes. I sighed and pulled my hair up, before beginning to brush my teeth. After my teeth I started on my hair, curling it and getting ready. I walked to my closet and pulled out a pair of leggings and a white quarter zipped hooding, I pulled fuzzy socks on and my hightop converse. I sighed and put my mother's ring on my finger and took one last look around my apartment, this may be one of the last times I'm in this place,most of the time the women move in with the men.
    I quickly locked my door and began walking to the event center, I live five blocks away. The hair on the back of my neck stood up, someone's following me. I turned and out of the corner of my eye I spotted a black tinted out car slowly driving behind me, for the last few months I've seen this car following me. Something in my body told me to walk faster, walk faster and don't look back. I rounded the corner and bumped into someone. I hit the ground with a thud. "Oh my miss, I am so sorry. Wait, you work at the horn's bar." "It's okay, I wasn't paying attention it's me who should be sorry." The man helped me up and before I knew what was happening everything went black.