Heart Shape

She stuttered her reply, I,I,I,I’m ready. She listened to the history of the locket read although it was not necessary. Due to over population only those who find their heart mate can have children the traditional way. Any and all can adopt state made kids, but only those who beat the one in a Trillion odds can give birth. She was more interested in the idea that there is a person out there who was created just for her and she was created just for him. She undressed and stepped into the 5D printer. She felt a tingling as the machine searched her. She was given her Heart as it were rather unceremoniously. It was actually, a heart shaped locket. She clutched it tightly. She placed around her neck and walked out to the room of choice.

She had only been allowed to where the color of age which changed each year of her life, but now she was 16 and ready to make her own decisions. She chose tight fitting black pants and a loose-fitting pink top. She did not bother with a bra as she was small breasted, and the shirt was not clingy. She grabbed a pair of sandals close to the black of her pants and walked out ready to search for her true love.

She chose to walk home and think. It was a three-mile walk. She spent the hour deciding her best course of action. As she drew near her home, she heard a familiar voice, “Hey Sprint, wait up.”

“I think now that I’m accountable I’m going to go by Rinnan instead of Sprint.” She thought of how her mother had given her that name on her naming day. She laughed at the idea of giving kids names at birth, but now the family you are placed with gets to name you at three years of age on your naming day. She ran everywhere so her mom mom named her Rinnan which means running or constantly flowing. Her mom boss called her sprint. It was a running (not so funny) joke. Everyone decided Sprint was easier and that is what she was called for the past thirteen years.

“Ok Rinnnnannn.” Kayley dragged out. You going to marry someone here and get on with your life or go LoLo? Kayley was from Hawaii and had a strange way of talking. Sprint walked through the door and looked at her packed suitcase. She had worked for two years and saved enough crypto to go most places in the world.

Mom was crying and MomBoss looked interested. They both were pretty women who married and adopted her with very different ideas of how to raise a kid, but as it happens it worked out well and Rinnan felt ready. She glanced at the clock. In 7 minutes, her locket would shine a light in the direction of her true love. It lasted three days. She would follow the light and hope to meet her heart mate.

No one spoke and then suddenly the light pointed behind her. She got up, kissed both moms and walked to her suitcase. The moment of truth; was she really going to do this. She turned and as if answering an unspoken question. “Yup” she said through determined lips. She picked up her backpack and walked out and followed the light.

She walked to a bus stop and waited. Twice she turned to go home then turned back. She felt certain anyone that saw her would think she was intoxicated. She had never been intoxicated but felt certain that those who staggered in circles. The bus arrived and the door opened with a swoosh. It sounded like a death sentence. She boarded and the swoosh now sounded like a life sentence, but what kind of life she had no idea.

The bus bounced along towards the coast. It stopped and picked up day travelers, and the few who were searchers like her. She smiled, but kept to herself. She was aware of the dangers of travel and knew that on her own meant stay to yourself. The bus ride to the coast was seven hours nonstop, but since it stopped frequently it took twelve. She dozed and woke to find some creepy guy standing over her. He laughed and walked to the back of the bus. She checked her things, and all was there. She did not doze the rest of the way.

She walked off the bus with the creepy guy following close behind. She turned a corner and was about to run when two cops were walking in her direction. She went to them and reported that the man was well, menacing. The cops talked to him. One of them must have used his retina facial recognition implant. A transit unit descended, and the man was placed in a holding container. She had not even thought to look at her locket. She noticed others staring at theirs. She pulled hers out of her shirt and immediately saw the brilliant light sending a beam of hope across the ocean. “Ok”. She walked the half mile to the shipping circuit and asked to be a shippy.

She singed up for the trip. Passage was free, but you had to work for the entire trip. You also had to stay in a hostel like setting at sea. She boarded the luxury cruise knowing that it was going to be months before she reached her destination. This ship went to the Hawaiian Islands. The trip was far less exciting then she thought it would be. She had thought of lecherous passengers and mean girls working the ship with her. It was the opposite. The wealthy passengers were exceptionally kind. The staff working with her were on a similar journey. The love and support were amazing. The dramatization she had seen on countless movies and shows were not reality. She almost hated to see the ship doc.

Her light from her locket had long since died down as is the custom of the magic. She thought that her true love could be on this very island with her. She walked off the ship and the recruiters were there. Lots of jobs for the social industries. Prostitution was now legal as well as exotic dancers ect. She saw the food service booths as well as law enforcement ect. She watched as the searchers picked and chose. She had a very special gift though. She was fast and fit. She took a deep breath and walked over to the booth that was off by itself that no one had visited. The stunned young man looked up. “I’m fast both mentally and physically” she smiled. She had run this scene in her head a thousand times.

“Well, you had better be,” he smiled a very weary grin. The young man had a scar on his left cheek. He had a small piece of his ear missing on the same side. She sat down in a chair and waited to both of their surprise a very fit young man with dark skin and perfectly white teeth walked up.

“I’m fast both mentally and physically” he said with complete confidence.

“Two in one day, amazing.” The other stammered. “Go sit next to the other flex fodder.” The three sat in silence until all had left the doc. A shuttle came from the sky and the three boarded without a word. They jutted off to what all knew was going to be the death of their old life and quite possibly the death of them all together.

Rinnan sank into her room with Chase. She learned he two is looking for anything, but what he had. They are the only two freshens. She thinks of her life just months before. She worries about the training and the running the gauntlet after that. She worries about her life mate finding another or dying. She most worries about giving up. The battle in her mind will be as tough as the battles that lie ahead. She drifts off to sleep hoping in three years she is able to move closer to what now can only be described as a distant destiny.