Zodiac Conformity Agreement
“Long ago we used the stars to predict the weather, celestial events, and even natural disasters. It’s only natural that we looked to the stars to learn more about ourselves too. That’s my job. I research your astrological charts and provide potential matches once you reach your sixteenth birthdays. Now please look at your tablets and you’ll find your potential matches are available to view.”
A girl in the front raised her hand.
“Yes?” I asked.
“Is it really illegal to be with someone who isn’t compatible with our signs?”
I nodded my head. “I’m sorry, it is. Everyone on the planet has been compared to your charts. The list of people you receive are the most compatible, with the highest happiness potential.”
“You don’t have a marriage mark joined to your sign,” she said, pointing to the Scorpio sign under my right eye. “If the person that makes the charts won’t use them, why should we?”
I cleared my throat, glancing at the teacher and the security escort, hesitating. I didn’t like talking about it. So I decided to stick to the basics. “He died when we were in high school. None of my matches compared, so I chose to not marry, with the permission of the government of course.” The girl looked horrified, and I couldn’t deal with it. I clapped my hands. “Now, you have a year to get to know your potential spouses, before the choosing ceremony. ”
The security guard escorted me to his office to sign out, shutting the door behind him. “Are you okay Alessandra?”
I didn’t answer, I kissed him, drawing him closer to me until it was like we were one person. I traced his Aries sign, wishing he could have been one of the water signs instead. Something I could match with, instead of someone I can never really have. But, when we were together it was truly a fire and water relationship. Steamy.
He pulled away from me, staring into my eyes. “Talk to me. What’s wrong?”
“We can’t be together,” I whispered. My words hung heavy between us. “You’ve seen our charts, they will never allow us to be together. This is a mistake.”
“No one can tell us who to love, not even the stars,” Zane said, kissing me again.
This is how this conversation has gone for the last few years. We were getting in too deep. I had to change my tactics. “Do you want children one day?”
He sighed, stroking my arm.
“You know that having children out of wedlock is a one-way ticket to the work camps or worse.” I took a step away from him, putting some distance between us. “I knew a long time ago that I’d never get married and have children. I’m okay with that, but you don’t have to share the same fate. I’ll rerun your charts, and find you a nice girl-”
His lips were on mine. I didn’t have the will to push him away. “Let’s run away,” he whispered.
I laughed, trying not to be affected by his words. “Where would we go?”
“There are colonies outside of the city for people that refuse to marry by zodiac.”
I never thought he’d offer to leave his family, his friends, and his whole life to be with me. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life. I want to be with you, laws be damned,” he growled, slamming his fist on the desk I was leaning against. “We just have to find someone to guide us, or we’ll definitely get caught.”
“I know someone, if you really mean it,” I said, hesitantly.
He picked me up and spun me. I couldn’t contain my glee. This crazy man loves me and is risking his life for me.
There was a knock at the door. “Zane open up! We know you have the astrologer in there. We just need to chat. Open the door.”
My glee sank like a stone to the pit of my stomach. They knew. They would catch us and try us for our crimes. We had to escape. I glanced out the window, if I could find a rope, we could make that work.
Zane dropped a bag in front of me. He’d been prepared for this. I grabbed the rope. “We need to separate,” I said, kissing him as he started to protest. “We’ll meet at six tonight, outside of the prison.”
“The prison?” he asked.
“That’s where my almost sister in law will be. We haven’t spoken in ten years, I hope she doesn’t still hate me,” I said, using the rope to swing to an open window in an adjacent building. Maybe we could make this work after all.
