TIME TO DECIDE

Sydney stared at the thin metallic slab etched into his wrist. 1 HOUR AND 45 MINUTES. He sighed and nibbled at his nails, something he did when he felt nervous or agitated.  The digital countdown showed the length of time remaining before Sydney would meet his life partner and Sydney’s time was drawing to an end.

Sydney lay in his hovering sleep pod for a while just staring at the numbers. He wasn’t a shallow person but he desperately hoped she would be beautiful or even smart, both would be a bonus. He hopped off of his sleep pod and regarded his reflection in his full length mirror. He sighed at his flat mousy brown hair and bean-pole-like skinny frame. He was nothing special and he knew the world didn’t work that way. There was no way the love of his life would be beautiful or even smart. 

He hated this world. He hated how no one had a choice in who they married and began a family with. It was his worst fear that he and the woman forced upon him would have nothing in common. What if she didn’t like Harry Potter? What if she listened to pop music? What if she didn’t speak English? His breathing quickened and his palms began to sweat. He flopped himself down on the floor and curled himself into ball, trying to stop the full scale panic attack that had crept up on him. The worst thing of all is that he had no choice. He had to connect souls with her no matter what. The consequences were unimaginable.

35 MINUTES.

“Oh crap.”

He forced himself into a steaming hot shower to try and calm his nerves. He picked out his light blue button down shirt and black skinny jeans. His mother had always told him the light blue brought out his eyes. He sprayed a small amount of aftershave as he didn’t want to choke the girl then he laced up his shoes. He was ready.

MCDONALDS. 5 MINUTES. Flashed across his wrist.

“Well that seems promising, meeting the ‘love of my life’ at McDonalds.” Sydney scoffed and headed out the door.

He walked as if on a mission. A mission to find true love then he laughed at the very thought of it. Sydney leant against the bike rails outside of McDonalds and stared blankly at the metallic device on his wrist.

30 SECONDS.

29…28…

He nibbled once again at his nails.

16…15…14

He smoothed down his slightly crumpled shirt and regretted not ironing it. His palms began to sweat and his breathing quickened.

4…3…2…1

The metallic timer beeped indicating time was up and the love of his life was standing right there. He looked up from the timer. For a moment he thought he was being pranked. A look of confusion and horror spread across his face.

“Hi, my names Tom. That blue shirt sure does bring out your eyes.” 

Standing right in front of his was not the beautiful girl he envisioned but a dauntingly tall man.

“This has to be a mistake.”

The boys looked down at their timers, but to Sydney’s dismay both timers had ended and were beginning to fade away. There was nothing he could do about it, unless he wanted to have his brains incinerated to dust in public.