The time of your life

1-

People were shouting. Cries could be heard in every single room. In one of these rooms, a woman took her last breath. Giving birth to a son, she died at the moment, surrounded by strangers who called themselves doctors, nurses, midwives, and others. At that moment, a life was given and another one was taken.
       Tiberius was the name chosen by that group of strangers and later written on the birth certificate. The baby boy was led out of the room by a nurse and someone gave him a diligitis.
       As soon as the thin bracelet touched his skin, numbers appeared.
6 347 d - 23 h - 48 m - 05 s
       "17 years to go, little Tiberius," said the nurse.

—

In this society, order is the most important thing. A strict education is given to all kids of Erila. Jobs must be chosen on their 15th anniversary. No failure will be accepted. Meals are delivered three times a day, 8 am - 12 am - 6 pm, and are never late on the schedule.
       In Erila, even love is not a question of fortuity. Every child born on this ground gets a diligitis. The moment it touches the skin of a person, it shows the time that has to pass before you meet your soulmate.  It allows the government to control their love life and reduce the chances of divorces and broken families.
       But it does not prevent death of breaking couples apart.
       "Ty," shouted a voice behind Tiberius' back "our meals have arrived. Come downstairs."
       "I'm coming, Paul," said Ty, removing his earphones off his ears. His uncle left the room. "It's not like the meals are not always delivered at the same time everyday."
       He put his earphones on the nightstand and looked at the picture next to it.
       It was taken the day of his parents' marriage. Both of them looked happy, glad to be with each other, not expecting what would happen nine months after that picture was taken. His mother died while giving birth and his father later killed himself because of the pain of being without her, leaving Tiberius to his father's brother, Paul Whitethorn. Seventeen years later, Ty had no memories left of his parents but the remaining pictures of their marriage. Having analyzed these photos during hours, looking up every similarity between them and him, he could see in him the reflection of his mother, who gave him her bright gray eyes, and of his father, who gave him his messy black hair and, as his uncle said many times, his love for books.
         Ty came out of his room and headed downstairs toward the kitchen, where Paul was waiting for him.
         "Oh look, Mister Tiberius left his fictional world to come eating with the poor mortals! What a miracle!" Said his uncle.
         "It isn't a miracle, uncle. I am always eating in your company."
Paul put his hand on his nephew's shoulder. "I know. Don't take things too literally, I meant it as a joke. You're so much like your father, it's terrifying. He had trouble with sarcasm too."
"I know this, you've told this to me a couple of times."
      His uncle smiled and sparkles danced in his brown eyes. "I can't help myself, I'm sorry."
"Don't be, I love to hear about them. About your past."
         Ty unconsciously pulled his sleeve to cover his diligitis, but Paul did not miss it. His smile faded. Paul's soulmate died of a disease before the count down was over and never got to meet another lover. 
         "How many days?" he asked.
         Tiberius rolled up his sleeve and looked at the diligitis.
         42 d - 3 h - 19 m - 56 s
         "42 days. A bit less than one month and a half left. Aren't you excited?" Paul said.
         "How could I be? I don't know her."
         "Yet," Tiberius' uncle whispered.
         "She could be anyone. She could be a serial-killer."
         "Or she could have an unexplainable passion for burning books. Come on Tiberius, don't dramatize everything. Meeting a girl can't be worse than killing dragons."
         "How could I know, they don't let us see people of the other sex more than a few minutes, and never let us alone," pointed out Ty. "Plus, I can guarantee you that, of the little I saw of girls, they are way worse than dragons. At least, they have the decency of not being real."
"Don't worry, child. Everything's going to be fine. How could the government let a serial-killer be the soulmate of a gentle guy like you anyway? Trust your country's system, my boy."
But how can you trust your country's system when they can't even trust you to eat without a strict schedule and can't imagine you being able to cook decent food?
"I know. Thanks, Paul. You're right, we should trust our government," lied the boy.

—

Tiberius came out of the house, identical to the others of the avenue, and started running. Running against the cold of  the winter, in the snow covering the street, breathing the freezing air of January. He could feel the judging eyes of his neighbours on him. Running wasn't very usual here. People took the train to work and others walked. There was no in between. Ty loved to run to get his mind straight, to feel free of all the responsibilities that come with being a citizen of Erila. He often ran to the municipal library, his favourite place of Erila.
Rare were those who went to the library. They usually asked for books to be sent to their house. Paul was the one who showed it to Ty for the first time when he was four years old. At this time, the looks of the library, which was inspired by the architecture of greek temples and was a work of art itself, the walls, which we couldn't see because of hundreds of bookcases and millions of books covering them, the ceiling, covered with paintings, were the most beautiful things Tiberius had ever seen. And it still was. Since then, he ran to the library and stayed there during hours every time his schedule allowed it.
He entered the building. He looked around and took a deep breath. It smelled like always: a mix of paper, dust old of a good ten years, ink and the head librarian's perfume.
"Oh hi there," the old man said, looking at Ty. "The same as usual?"
He nodded and Mr. Vivlia gave him a pile of books, those Tiberius loved the most and was never tired to reread, and a key to open whatever room he wanted to open.
"Thanks Al." He left him to go to the staircase and the librarian went back to his reading.
Alberto Vivlia was the head of the municipal library. He was the only man still willing to be librarian, because of his love of Shakespeare and greek and roman mythology. During all these years, he saw Ty become bigger, taller, more mature, to the man he was.
Tiberius went up the stairs to his favourite spot: the tower. Once he arrived in the small room, where books he had read during the past years were everywhere on the floor, he sat at the window seat and looked beyond it, to see a view of Erila no other building could offer; we could see all the neighbourhoods, the center of the city, the Concilii Tower, where the government was, and at the edge of our borders, we could see the mountains separating us from the world.
He took his favourite book and read for the umpteenth time the opening line.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity. It was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness. It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

• • •

I hope you enjoyed chapter one of The Time of Your Life! I'm sorry for the errors, but you can leave a comment if something bothers you.
The first chapter is mainly to get into the story, introduce the characters, so the action is still to come, don't worry.  
Leave your opinion on Tiberius and how this story will end in the comments, let's see if you're right!

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