A Vampire's Dealbreaker

Chapter 1

Edited - 4.7.20

Chapter 1

Beep! Beep! Beep!

I awake to the sound of my alarm going off. What an annoying thing it is, blaring its awful tune just to yank me out of my peaceful slumber. I open my eyes and stare up at the wood ceiling as I listen to the alarm's continuous beeping. I offer a loud sigh to the room.

I roll over onto my side and glare at the horrendous thing, flashing the time in red even though I already know what time it is. Let's just say it's too early.

I slap my hand on the stupid gray box, hitting the snooze button to shut it off. The beeping stops and I smile, feeling victorious.

I roll onto my back again and look to the ceiling which is shadowed gray from the just-rising sun. I want to go back to sleep, and I consider it for a moment. I could at least get a couple more minutes of sleep before I begin yet another boring day of preparing for marriage life.

Marriage life. I wish I didn't even have to think about it, but I spend every day preparing for it, which is ridiculous given that I am only seventeen. I'm forced to, though. The law requires everyone to be married by the time they are eighteen, and you don't even get to choose who you marry. Your parents decide. They can't even give you a hint as to who it is, either.

The government established the law in 2068, which was almost sixty years ago. My grandmother's generation was the first to experience it, but she never tells stories about when it began. She always told me that when my wedding is scheduled, that's when she will tell me. I only have to wait eight months at the most.

It must have been scary for her, knowing her generation was going to be the first to try it out in hundreds of years. No one had done assigned marriages in America for a long time before the law was declared, so no one really remembered how well it worked out.

The law was declared because everyone had lost their values in relationships, and women would become pregnant with children they didn't want and that the father didn't want either. Abortion had been outlawed, so women resorted to either killing themselves or abandoning the baby. Orphanages and adoption agencies were overflowing and couldn't find enough homes for the unwanted children.

If your significant other is a runaway and they aren't found, you must remarry to another runaway victim. If your significant other dies, you must remain single for the rest of your life. It's very confusing, but everything usually is it seems.

I close my eyes and just as I do, Grandma Sheri bursts into the room. "Get up, Karisa. Come on. Chop, chop!" she shouts, and claps her hands for emphasis. I open my eyes and sigh, glaring at the ceiling once again.

I roll onto my side and groan, still sleepy. Sheri is standing in the doorway, her thinning blonde hair looking lifeless as it drapes over her shoulders. She is short, only about 4'10", but she is much feistier than you would think. I found out the hard way when I stole a cookie when I was five to give it to a boy I had a crush on and she found out. She slapped me really hard in the face and forced me to bake about a dozen batches of cookies. Then she threw them all away and told me not to steal her cookies again. I didn't.

"Rise n' shine!" Sheri says, and walks over to the bed. She yanks the covers down and, with a groan, I pull them back up over my head.

She sighs. "You've got five minutes to get decent and then we're going to get to work," she says, and walks out of the room, closing the door behind her. I sigh and will myself to sit up. I throw my legs over the side of the bed and glare at the wall for a moment, and then rub the sleep from my eyes. I hate waking up at six freaking thirty in the morning.