The Lucky Ones

2. Hunter

Since Hunter could remember, he knew his life was anything but ordinary. Hunter walked around the world knowing who he was and how his life was meant to be, but he didn't listen to it. He was in high school when his first vision that his parents had warned him about happened.

He was outside with his friend James walking the streets of New York City by Central Park laughing at something funny James had just said to him. His head started to ache and he had stopped walking to hold his head when it suddenly got bright. He opened his eyes and he found himself in a classroom. The muffled sounds of pages turning, pens clicking, and a teacher speaking. In front of him sat a girl with blonde hair, he could hear her giggling softly as she waved to another person across the room. Then she turned around and stared at him; a confused look on her face as her eyes scanned his features. But just as quickly as it was there it was gone and he found himself looking into the gray eyes of James.

"Are you alright?" James asked waving his hand in front of Hunter's face. Quickly reacting, Hunter grabbed James' wrist.

"Yeah, dude I'm good stop doing that. Let's just keep going." Hunter quickly started walking away from James as thoughts ran wild through his head. He couldn't believe this stupid thing was real. The things his parents told him were all real and to him it didn't make any sense. Why should he have to be this way? He was like a science fair project that for some reason actually won. He brushed the thoughts out of his head.

Hunter headed home after a long day of being outside with James hopping onto the N train heading to Brooklyn. The dangerously tall buildings in Manhattan full of corporate offices and equally dangerous rich people were something Hunter was always used to. He was always taking the trains by himself since he could remember. It's the way everyone born in New York City lives, and honestly it never helped Hunter that his parents were always away on business or didn't do much to check in on him. Everything was always about the money and what to do with the business next. Hunter became painfully aware of people getting closer to him and is shoulder constantly being brushed against by New Yorkers navigating their way through the streets of tourists.

When he got home he could hear the sound of his dad scolding someone on the phone and his mom popping open a bottle of her favorite over priced red wine.

"I'm home." Hunter yelled at no one in particular. He knew they didn't actually listen to him since they were always talking about the business or a new trip they had to take. 

"Hi honey, we will be with you in a moment your father is just taking care of things." his mother said. She  was the beauty standard when it came to women and Hunter knew she cared about him. He was the only child between his parents who came from a line of big families; a little miracle in his own way, you know besides the entire scientific miracle with destined soulmates. 

"I actually need to talk to you. I had one of those vision things that the doctor told us about. It was kind of weird." Hunter shrugged. He glanced back at his parents to suddenly realize they were staring at him full attention. His father hung up his phone and his mother nearly dropped her wine. 

"Hunter, please tell me you're not joking. This isn't something to joke about." His father's voice was always so stern, solid, and even cold usually; however, there was a softness in his voice Hunter hadn't heard since he was too young to realize anything about life.

Hunter suddenly grew painfully uncomfortable with all the attention his parents were giving him. Their full attention on him. It was strange a new feeling. 

"Why would I joke about that? You know I think it's stupid anyway," Hunter scoffed. It was true. He hated the idea of having a soulmate. It was a completely ridiculous idea to him. He was only sixteen and had life to live. He wanted to date girls and experience life, but how was he supposed to date when he knew those girls would never be for him. He wanted to meet the old fashioned way and now he's going to be part of the newest science model that everyone had to offer. He knew all of the secrets that came with it, including how it could fail if they don't work out as soulmates. At sixteen, he didn't care to have his life completely figured out quite yet. He wanted to just live his life while he could. 

"Hunter, you know how amazing this is and how it makes our family look!" his mother exclaimed.

"Honestly mother, I don't care. I have homework to do." Hunter began to walk away toward his room hearing his parents hushed whispers behind him about how much his family was going to benefit from everything. Shaking his head Hunter began to remember his vision. The classrooms didn't look like anything he would have seen in the city although he couldn't be too sure. Something in his stomach told him that whoever this person was, he had never met before. Closing his eyes, Hunter sighed. 

"I wish my life was different. I wish I was normal," he thought to himself. Hunter turned over and shut the light off. He knew he had stuff to do, but in this moment he couldn't be bothered to do anything besides think of the life he wish he had. Hunter knew he could have anything money could buy; however, the life he wanted and wished for on every birthday that he spent by himself was the one thing it couldn't buy. 

It was dark outside by the time Hunter woke up from his nap, fortunately for him he was much more of a night owl anyways so the sounds of the streets below were comforting to him. He figured his parents have already started to prepare a speech for him when he figures out who his future bride would be. To be honest, Hunter couldn't care any less about his family's image. It was all fabricated for the photos and the interviews. When his family was around, the only thing they did was talk about the company or ignore each other all night. The lonely feeling never went away no matter how long his parents were gone or how many times he came home to a "be back in 3 days!" message on the table in near perfect script. Truly Hunter wanted what all the great poets wrote about, a love that was genuine and real. Unfortunately, like most things in Hunter's life, everything was perfectly planned out for him. He knew he had everything laid out for him. It didn't matter if Hunter did well in school or if he was the best athlete he would get into anywhere he wanted all because of who his parents were. It wasn't fair and he knew that but Hunter couldn't do anything to change it as much as he wanted to everything he had was because of his family. Hunter always loved his family, despite how much he hated what they stood for sometimes. Hunter would never be able to escape his family and a part of him was envious of those who were able to run away.

Hunter vowed to himself that one day he'd be able to get away from it all. He wanted to leave it all behind and start a completely new life for himself. He wanted to fall in love organically, so he decided he'd do everything he could to make the experiment fail, even if that meant disappointing his parents.