Apparently We're Soul Mates - L.T.

Love is a dangerous idea. A very dangerous idea. It can make people do crazy, unexpected things. Yet love is irreplaceable. Everyone craves it. Now imagine a world without love. Or, better put, without the choice of love. Your soul mate is picked for you. Awful, isn't it? You bet it is. But that's just the world I live in. And I hate it. I hate the stupid government for deciding love was too dangerous; that it needed to be controlled. So every girl, on the day of their birth, is given a bracelet. Well, I guess 'given' is too light a word. More like, the bracelet is forcefully attached to their arm. We have no choice. On the bracelet is a simple countdown with years, days, hours, minutes, and seconds. Constantly flashing down. When the countdown reaches zero, the bracelet deactivates and falls off. The first man with a ring (the men are given rings, which they can only take off once a girl claims him) that the girl sees is forever declared her soul mate. They can marry or not, but now they are in a permanent relationship. Having a relationship before your bracelet or ring is gone is illegal. It can be punishable by death. Some people choose death though, to be with the one they truly love, and I honestly don't blame them. Some people are wise enough to time their countdowns perfectly, so they end up with the one they love. The thing is, I don't want to have my 'soul mate' picked for me. I don't even really want to get married or be in love. But if I do, I want it to be on my own decision. While my friends pray they don't end up with a douche, I'm trying get them to realize a stupid bracelet can't run their lives. Too bad that's not the way things work around here. Too bad I'm the only one that thinks that way. I just want to say one thing to the government, the Regulators, before I start my story, before I explain why I'm even saying all this: Go to hell.