It is important to prioritize building a strong friendship before rushing into marriage when it comes to investing in love. Love starts with friendship and grows over time as you get to know the qualities of the person you are interested in. By taking the time to invest in a genuine friendship, you can develop a deeper connection and hopefully a committed relationship. True love takes time to deve...

I got my list on my seventeenth birthday, same as everyone. They’re based on the things that matter, according to the government. Grades, physical state, mental state. You can date whomever you chose before that, but once you get your list, you’re expected to drop everything and find the peorson at the top of your list and settle down with them. The government originally introduced the list system...

My life has always been planned out for me from the moment I was born. My name, who I am to marry, how many children I am permitted to have. All of it.

The government controlled all of it.

My parents had agreed to it, so I did too. That way of life was all for me. It is our society, so everything else that opposed that society is muffed and cut off.

But now, I’m not sure what is right and what...

In the heart of a society that prides itself on the precision of arranged marriages, there lives a young woman named Elara. Since childhood, Elara has watched as friends, family, and neighbors entered into meticulously matched unions. Each match was calculated to ensure harmony, prosperity, and the continuation of social order. Yet, while these marriages were undoubtedly stable and functional, Ela...

Ria always wanted love.

With the concept of soulmates ruling society, she never was sure that she would get that after Lizzy died.

She isn’t even certain she was in love with her. Just that maybe she could have if given more time. By the rules of soulmates, one doesn’t get another. They are very spelled out. You are born with powers, meet your soulmate, first physical contact takes away your p...

“Name?”

“Like my full name?”

“First and last.”

“Sandy Colton.”

“Sandy… Colton. Tell me about yourself Sandy Colton.”

“I’m a musical artist. I like spring. I have a little sister. I like sunflowers. I want to teach music when I’m older. I like the colour yellow.”

“Can you tell me how you would describe yourself?”

“No. That would be inaccurate. Only others could really tell me about me. I can’t...

He holds my hand in his

“One more day” he whispers

My lips purse

Into a homely smile

But never shall I forget

Far off in the dark of night

Stands a magical moonlit forest

With a little cottage on it’s outskirts

Where my true heart lies

Covered in dust

The day I met him

Was like all others

The queen chose two paper slips

Mine and his

We held hands

The crowds awed

But that day

As his hand squee...

It was the day when I’d woken up and I suddenly understood whole sentences. Words, like more than just one at a time. Like ‘struck’ was struck in my chest. Literally. Festooned like the major melody in a concerto. Intertwined inside me, a bit sticky, but strangely furry, like a blanket.

Words are like an assault rifle. Sentences their ammo. And each paragraph was like getting hit by a round. Logi...

The silence was deafening at St Patrick’s Cathedral that warm spring day. Even worse than the time that Eloise Mulcahy from last year’s First Communion class had twirled with excitement in front of the altar after the ceremony sans tights or underwear. Her parents still could not look Father Matthews in the eye.

Neither could Cecily Steele, biting her bottom lip, staring down at her bouquet as i...

The city guards covered their faces, turned from the bloodshed they caused. One of them stared at me, his eyes locked on mine in fragments of wavering light. Tears brimmed in them, made them sparkle with wide eyed terror. I tried to offer a reassuring smile, something he couldn’t get from his comrades even as they to shared pittied glances with him.

“This year’s Worst have been selected.” We all...