Stuck In Time

Prologue

        Cold. That was the first word that appeared in Asher's mind as he got up. It was mid-winter in Illinois and of course like every other winter it was cold as the inside of a freezer in his room. But you could thank global warming for that, woo. Asher grumbled something under his breath as he suddenly sat up yawning. Even though it felt like a freezer in his room, throughout the night he got hot because his parents seemed to not get the concept that there was another human being in the household. He couldn't blame them though, they were getting old.

About 30 minutes of actually trying to look presentable for work, he was up and heading down the stairs. Pictures of his family as the years grew on seemed to a line the walls of the stairs. Everyone looked happy, Asher looked happy. The pictures seemed to be in order from the time Asher was a baby until now. Ever since he was 18, it seemed like he was stuck in time. No aging in the faced or anything. This wasn't anything new though. "Good morning" came a shrill voice that seemed to ring throughout the house. "Good morning" Asher mumbled, still trying to get out of his sleep daze. His mother was always a morning person, unfortunately, he's glad he didn't inherit that side of his mom personality but the one thing he is glad he inherited was his mother's looks. Because, no offence, his dad wasn't the prettiest color in the coloring box. "Your Father had to be at work early today so unfortunately there isn't any breakfast" His mom said as she walked to the kitchen to refill her coffee cup for who knows how many times again.

Asher followed her into the kitchen and sighed dramatically "And it would be such a tragedy if my dear mother cooked breakfast for once." He said teasingly knowing that the day his mother cooked, was the day were they would no longer have a house anymore. His mother audibly huffed as she playfully hit the back of Asher's head, causing him to scow at his mother. "I can cook. I just value my lovely household as much as you do so hush it" His mother didn't cuss, not unless it was necessary but considering this playful quarreling it wasn't. "Don't you have to be at work? Hop to it sweetie" and with that she playfully swatted Asher's butt and headed back upstairs with the cup of coffee in her hand.

Asher hung his head in defeat but smiled watching his mom walk up the stairs, she was always like this. Always sassy and happy going, another thing Asher inherited from her that he was thankful for having, there was never a dull moment in her life it seemed like. I mean how could there be when she had already found the love of her life. She was one of the lucky ones.

Asher grabbed his keys that were on the counter and headed outside to his car. The cool air hit his cheeks making them go numb at the touch it seemed like. Another reason as to why he didn't really favor the cold weather. Walking to his car he quickly turned on the heater and pushed his hands up against the vents, he always told himself that he need to buy gloves but, like everything else, and he kept putting it off. It would probably be too late by the time he actually bought some, by that time he would probably be missing a couple of fingers. As soon as the car finally kicked into action in radio started blaring on the pop station, Asher cursed as he fumbled with the knobs to turn it down. He managed to turn it down but also turn the station in his panic to the loud noise. "Again, today at 5 pm at downtown St. Louis we will be having another Lunch Date Gathering! Come and meet your soul mate and live to an old ripe age with them! This is just a disclaimer but wanders will not be allowed on the premise, we will have officers on duty so everyone is guaranteed their safety!" after that it cut back to the music that was playing the station. 'Just another death wish' Asher thought as he slowly polled out of the drive way.

They had one of these "Lunch Date gatherings" every once or twice a month. Like the radio spot said, it was basically a way to find your soul mate, your life time partner, the peanut butter to your jelly, the mac to your cheese. There's more of those you could use but it was plain and simple, finding your soul mate was the true purpose of why you were alive and still living. Because once you finally found your soul mate, you started to finally age. I know what you are thinking," who wants to age? Staying young forever sounds like the best thing!" Well when you are stuck at 18 for most of your life then it starts to suck. So basically one you hit the lucky age of 18, you stop aging! No wrinkles, stretch marks, weird floppy skin etc. You stayed and looked the same until you found your soulmate. Since it was the 21st century there were plenty of ways to look like you were "older" because looking young was no longer a complaint anymore. People would no longer spend thousands of money to look young, like Asher read in some books, now they would spends thousands of money to look old. One of the many unsteadiness things is that there was no telling how long it was take you to find your soulmate. It was kind of a hit and miss if you could say, but not all were lucky to find theirs earlier in life and were stuck at the plain age of 18. The thing about your soulmate is that you didn't know what they looked like or where they lived or even when you were found to meet them. They could be old or young, male or female, in the states or across the planet. You would just have to hope for the best and just keep looking. Many described it as looking for a needle in a hay stack

No one really knew when this all started. It was never reordered in books or any of the sources on the internet. It kind of just happened. Like ever thing else, there have been countless theories of it having to do with the food that the people of a current time era ate, that was the most popular and up to date one that Asher had read over the internet. But it didn't just happen to humans, it also happened to the animals and plants, which over the first couple of years of this occurrence there was a major problem with over population of animals and plants but that all got sorted out of course. Considering that humans weren't being over run by rabbits or any of the sort.

As for the wanders those are the people that everyone stayed away from. Those are the selfish and greedy people who seek immortality for as long as they could. These people were the killers. Instead of seeking a happy fairy tale life with their partner, they were trained hunters. They went around seeking their soul mates to kill them so they would stay young forever. Once you killed your soul mate or your soul mate died of unexpected events then you have to wait years or even decades for them to be reincarnated. But what the wanders would so is that they would for this to happen, then they would just kill them again. That's why some of these "Lunch Date gatherings" were labeled as public suicide to some people.

((What's up everyone -v- its been like years since I've been on this site but hey, new year, new me. Anyways this is one of those stories i wrote when i was bored on day, don't know if i will continue it but if you read through it then let me know your opinion. Should i continue it? Was it good? let me know please~))