This is a fanfiction I wrote about the second book of the Match Trilogy by Allie Condie. It's in Vick Roberts' point of view and is a short story about him and his girlfriend, Laney. It goes into more detail about his relationship with her and what happened before he came to the Outer Provinces and the Carving.
Laney. Her name rolls around my head over and over. I think about her as I walk up the stream. I wonder so many things, why she left, why she didn’t tell me anything, why. She disappeared without saying anything to me. Did she die? Was she still alive? I wanted to know. I needed to know.
***
It was love at first site. I knew immediately this wasn’t a good thing, she was an Anomaly and I was a citizen. We weren’t meant for eachother, but I didn’t care. I fell in love the minute I saw her by the river. She was crouched down, looking into the river intently. Her light brown hair braided to the side and her eyes alert. Suddenly, she reached out her hands into the river and grabbed a fish. It wasn’t just any fish. It was a rainbow fish, the first one I’ve ever seen. She then did something. She placed the fish back into the river. I was curious. Why did she put it back? I decided to ask her. I stepped from the tree I was hiding behind. She quickly looked up and we found each other's eyes. Hazel. That was the color of her eyes.
“Who are you?” the girl asked.
“I’m Vick. And you’re Laney, right?”
She hesitated, “Yeah. How’d you know?”
“Well, you’re the only Anomaly in the Camas Province...” I instantly realized I shouldn’t have said that.
She chuckled bitterly. “Everybody knows the one and only Anomaly. So, what are you here for? To make fun of me? Mock me?”
“I... No, I didn’t mean to say it that way. I was... curious... the fish...and you --”
She looked at me like I was crazy and laughed, a real laugh, “Uh, the fish?”
“Yeah, the fish. I saw you put it back into the river. Why?” I asked.
“My mother. She always told me, nature should be left alone. And that people shouldn’t mess with it.”
I nodded, “I agree with her.”
She looked at me questioningly, “You do?”
“Yeah. My father always told me to take advantage of what I have and can do, but I think otherwise.”
She smiled. It was a bright and dazzling smile. “That’s cool.”
**
A few weeks passed and I went to visit her as much as I could. I got to know her and she got to know me. My father wasn’t happy about this. He never liked or acknowledged Anomalies. Although she was an Anomaly, she was somehow... not. She was just like any other citizen in the Society. But Anomalies were what they were for a reason. I decided not to think about it.
“Hey.”
Laney looked up from the river. “Hey.”
“Looking for another fish?” I asked and sat down next to her, looking at the river as well.
“No, just thinking. Do you ever think about why nature is the way it is? Like this river. It never stops running.”
I thought about her question. “No, I don’t think I ever have.”
“I don’t think there is a reason, really. I think it’s the way it is just because. And I’m glad, at least there are some things the Society can’t change.”
**
“It’s my birthday today,” I told Laney.
“It is? You should’ve told me sooner! You’re turning 16. I would have gotten you something!” Laney exclaimed.
“I don’t want anything, really.”
“Yeah, but still. So... are you getting Matched?”
“No.”
She stopped picking at the piece of grass she held, “What? Why not?”
“I don’t want to be Matched with someone I don’t know. And besides I already like someone.”
“Really? Who is it?” Laney asks bluntly. I stared at her, hoping she would take the hint. She gasped,
“No, you can’t Vick. Your parents, they won’t allow it. Please, it’s not a good choice. You’ll be Reclassified!”
“Laney, this is what I want.” She looked at me, taken aback,
“I need to go.” She got up and left. Why was she mad? Shouldn’t she be happy about this?
**
"Laney! Please open the door," I pleaded. Silence. "I know you're there Laney."
"Why are you doing this?" I heard her faint voice.
"Laney, it's my decision. I know what I'm doing," I assured her. Another silence.
She opened the door to her room abruptly. I saw tears streaming down her face. "You can't do this, Vick," she whispered.
"Yes I ca--"
"Why didn't you choose to be Matched?" She cut me off.
I didn’t know what to say to her. I loved her, but I couldn’t say it. Not yet. “I want to be with you. I want to celebrate the Contract with you. I know what I’m getting into. I know I’ll be Reclassified. I know that and I’m making that choice.” I looked into her red puffy eyes, “I know.”
She shook her head. “You can’t... I... I can’t.” Her parents stood in the hallway outside Laney’s room. I turned to them,
“Will you allow me to celebrate the Contract with Laney?” I asked them. Surprised looks appeared on their faces as did Laney’s. Her father cleared his throat,
“Vick, are you sure about this? Are you sure you’ve thought about it clearly?”
“What about your parents, Vick?” Laney’s mother asked.
“Yes, I’m sure. And it’s my choice, not theirs,” I replied firmly.
“I accept this Contract, Vick.” Laney’s father smiled warmly at me. I looked over at Laney. She wiped away her tears and smiled that same smile at me, like the one on the day we first met. I enveloped her into a hug and whispered, “I love you.”
**
Two weeks later, I heard the Officials were coming for us. I went to find Laney, but she was gone along with her family.
***
Continuing to walk up the stream, something caught my eye. I looked into the stream and found a rainbow fish, swimming against the current. Laney. I knelt on the ground near the fish was. I stared at it for a while. Then a thought came to me. Did she not want to have the Contract because she knew she was going to leave me? I quickly shook the thought away. I reached out my hands for it. Then it came. Something was fired. By the Enemy or Society, I didn’t know. But it was different from all the ones I’ve experienced. It was heavier. Something big was being fired down. They landed into the river. White orbs? Poison. It was the Society. They were trying to poison the river. I scanned my eyes over the stream, trying to find the fish. I eyes locked onto the only colorful object in the stream. It lay floating, dead. I stared at the dead corpse. Laney. That could have been the last rainbow fish. The last thing keeping me from breaking, but something else broke me first. Another white orb was fired into the river, this time, setting off an explosion. I was blasted a few feet away from the stream. I got a feeling. My vision blurred. Laney. All I could think about was her. I felt it grabbing me. I tried to fight it, but I think it was time. Laney’s bright smiling face flashed into my head for the last time. I guess I would never know what happened to her. Death quickly took me.
