Nobody knew how the soulmate system came to be. some believed it was the work of a scientific and technological miracle, a highly unimaginable evolved form of implanting a digital clock into the arm of a new-born baby a few months before birth, programmed to run the same time as another given the same way to someone else. Others believed it was the hands of the divine and the gods, a mysterious bizarre power that had naturally set timers to the destinies of lovers from all over the world even before birth, flashing out their soulmate with digits written on their skin.
As people grow up, the numbers on their wrists become the objects of their existence. They represent the countdown in which someone would meet his/her soulmate. Scientists did not know why people were born this way but could tell them that they would always be subject to the importance of finding a soulmate. And as soon as they would meet, they were bound by the numbers on their wrist.
Young men and women would grow up with the enamoured idea of meeting their soulmate, grooming themselves for the day, the hours on their clock would add up to see each other for the very first time. Older people would still hope against hope, hanging by the time on their clocks like hanging on a thread, never losing faith in the world that would await ahead. They all lived with the exhilarating anticipation of meeting their other half, going forward on dreams of a lovely reality alone and the human nature to reach it. They day-dreamed it, they planned it, and they prepared for it. Exams, success, money, fame, accomplishments—none of these were put on a pedestal like they were supposed to. Meeting your soulmate was the greatest accomplishment in a person's life span. To love and to be loved...
The time shown on one's flesh always changed based upon their actions; one moment, the clock said three days, but after a few minutes, it said three years. Depending on the actions of someone's soulmate and his/her own actions, the time will never settle on a definite number until they least expect it.
Eden had never seen this personally, but there were special cases where few people never met their soulmates. The glowing digital clock on someone's wrist will forever remain green, only turning into a solid blue color when they finally join together with their designated half—she knows this mainly because of her parents...both of their wrists read "0:00" because they had found one another.
Although some people would never meet their soulmates, it was more common for one soulmate to die before meeting the other. When this happens, their numbers turn gray, which was something Eden had experienced firsthand…it was kind of interesting how it all worked. Even though these soulmates have never met each other before, they become absolutely heartbroken when their other half passed away.
But of course, the soulmate system was a hideous mixture of beautiful and ugly. Where there were the enthusiasts and there were the rebels too. Those who fell for people that were not their soulmates. Those who cheated on their soulmates. Those who mistreated their soulmates. They were everywhere amongst the masses; living proof that this inexplicable soulmate system had its flaws. It was full of errors in the code of torn relationships, abandoned lovers and countless victims who would be left to pick up the pieces and heal their own wounds by themselves.
Sometimes children were involved too. Other times suicide struck in numbers. Friendships poured down the drain, families struggling with loses, aches and heartbreaks, selfishness, humiliation, pain, grief and hardship—all going out of control, spiraling into a bottomless void created by the darker side of love.
But the government kept it all under control. The way how society worshipped the idea was something Eden could never pick up on. Women would flaunt their wrists out freely and men would travel the world to find their other half. Dating was a common thing to see as people and the court system figured it was an ideal way on how to prepare themselves for their one true love.
Affairs were a big no-no, and other forms of intercourse were to be reserved. If someone was caught cheating on their soulmate along with another person, they both would have to face the wrath of the court systems and the general public's desire to keep things the way they are.
Who knew that the tiny green numbers would be so salient to society? They were all that people ever talked about—Commercials, billboards, and magazines advertised the idea because it played a huge part in everyone's lives. Private detective agencies would rake in cash by helping people find their soulmates. Insurance companies refused to protect married couples and children involved in non-soulmate families. Common practices and religions had been set on teaching people the importance of the numbers, proving that escape from it all was futile. According to the government and the population, questioning the clocks was a waste of time. They were just there and had always been there; it was all a way of life.
For Eden the clock was just another worry on her list. She tried to keep it from bothering her, but considering that she was surrounded by its propaganda, she couldn't help herself. She used to be fascinated with the idea when she was a child, but all that soon changed because she had seen all the flaws of the soulmate system and they terrified her
It astounded her how love could make or break lives so easily…like a force of undiluted chaos. Eden knew that she was an odd person, but she was also an intelligent one, raised by her parents. She matured too soon and threw away the rose-tinted glasses magnifying the universe in a gullible shade and opened her eyes to the truth. There were unanswered questions and her own dose of aspiration to happiness but the fear of falling to a horrible romance steeled her mentally.
Eden didn't want lies and what ifs. She didn't want a soulmate at the moment. She was content with being who she was. She didn't mind being alone for as long as possible and also as long as no one would get the innate freedom and access to put a hole through her chest and ruin her from the inside out. If the people around her knew what path she wanted to take…they would have called her many things; foolish, selfish, stupid and pitiful. Eden didn't care though in a way. It wasn't her intention to harm or hurt anybody either.
She feared the soulmate system. Thought it was a sad end of life, dragging the whole existence of a living being down along its path of departure into the all speculated unknown. Which was why she had decided to break her soulmate clock. Eden had thought this action would affect her and only her. Rendering the clock forever stuck on the numbers 162,5.