The Mating Game

Pregnant!

For the next week, life seems to be occurring within one of those old pre-Mass Extinction day fairytale books. You know the ones where the girl wears pretty dresses, a crown, and is called a princess. I don’t have the dress or the crown, but I definitely have the prince, even if he doesn’t realize that he’s my prince. So what if my prince has two other princesses with who he spends “quality time.” Who cares if I only have a year with him before I’m passed onto another male? For now, I’m living the fairytale. This past week my prince has only been with me, so I have been able to pretend that he is mine and that Katie and Laura are just random people who live with us. Maybe they can be like the ugly stepsisters in that one story. Listening to Aaron’s heartbeat, I try thinking about the old fairytales. I wonder if there is a fairytale where the princess is passed around to other men yearly or when the prince has multiple partners. Nope pretty sure they didn’t have any gang-banging fairytales back in the day. Silently stroking Aaron’s chest, none come to mind, that’s because that wouldn’t be a fairytale, that would be the nightmare I’m living in. I have woken up like this every day for the last week. Our bodies entwined with one another. Not knowing where one begins and the other ends. Even if we went to bed apart, our bodies still found each other in the middle of the night like magnets being pulled to one another.

Slowly prying myself from his body, I move to get up but am pulled back to him, landing on his chest again. “No don’t get up. Just a few more minutes before we have to start the day again.” He says closing his eyes and digging his nose into my hair.

We lay there for another few minutes, but our stomachs begin to growl from the smell of bacon wafting into the room.

Sitting down for breakfast I find myself watching Laura and Katie. I wonder what they think about all the time I’ve been spending with Aaron. I wonder if it bothers them. Do they think it’s strange that I’m sleeping in Aaron’s bed every night? I know it would bother me, but I’m too happy to truly care about their feelings. What can I say I’m a b***h, and he’s mine, and as long as he’ll have me I’m going to continue because I love him. Even though he may just be performing his job or duty and may not love me. I have fallen completely in love with him.

“Well, there is something that I want to share with everyone.” Laura starts apprehensively.

Instantly drawing everyone’s attention, I place my fork down on my plate.

“I’m pregnant.” She says not sure whether she’s happy, sad, angry, or all three emotions mixed together. I’m not sure what to say so instead my mouth hangs open, and I’m sure my eyes are staring wide in shock.

Turning to look at Aaron I see a face that must mirror mine, but all of the color has drained from his cheeks. He unconsciously drops his fork on his plate and stares emotionless at Laura. Time passes by… maybe seconds or minutes but it feels like an eternity before he breaks the silence.

“We’ll have to gather your things and take you to elder Isaac’s home for transport to the containment camp.” He says wiping his mouth and standing to leave.

“Start gathering your things and be outside in thirty minutes.” And with that, he walks out of the house.

I don’t follow him because I’m not sure what to do or say in this situation. I can’t congratulate him or her because he will never know the baby, and she will only be with the baby for his or her first year of life, and then she’ll be removed from the child’s life. So is this a joyous occasion? I’m so confused, with each new baby born we are ensuring that human life on Earth will continue which is our sole purpose on Ubertus, but now that I’m living this life it doesn’t seem like such a great purpose to have when you can’t enjoy it and have love. Wordlessly Katie and I help Laura pack up a few of her things and give her a hug. Laura seems to be in a daze herself not sure what emotions she should be feeling. When Laura and Aaron leave the farm everyone is still quiet and in shock, with Aaron only stating that he’ll be back around dinnertime tonight, and just like that our strange little f****d up family goes from four down to three, and the fairytale I have been living in starts spiraling out of control after only a short week of living in it. While completing my chores, my mind wanders back to the fairytales I have been thinking about all day. Idly I wonder if there is any fairytale from before the mass extinction that speaks of the prince impregnating another woman other than his princess.

“What do you think Almond? Do you think people had to deal with this kind of s**t before Mass Extinction Day?”

During lunch, Katie and I begin a very awkward conversation which finally breaks the silence from the morning.

“So, you and Aaron have been getting along very well lately.” She says taking a bite of bread.

“If you mean we have begun mating then yes we have.”

“Why are you two sleeping together throughout the night?” she asks.

“Isn’t that something mates sometimes do with one another?”

“Well I have been with one or two mates who would choose a female that they would sleep with, but the majority of my mates have always dismissed us after we finished performing our duty.” Unsure what to say I remain quiet.

“You do realize that this is just going to cause a lot of problems for yourself and for Aaron when your year together ends.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well if you two are spending all of this time together, you have to be developing some type of attachment to each other which is a foolish thing to do. You are young and stupid if you think that what you have with him is going to last.” She says standing up to scrape the leftovers of her lunch into the trash.

“Obviously I realize that after our year is up, I will be moved to a new mating group, that’s common knowledge,” I say.

“Yes you know that but falling in love with Aaron isn’t going to make that transition any easier. You are naive, and you are going to have your heart broken. You will just have to learn the hard way I guess. You should just stick to performing your duty and going about your life. Emotions make this whole game messy.”

“You sound like you have experience in this area,” I said c*****g an eyebrow her way.

“I guess we all have to learn things on our own by experiencing them ourselves. I’m trying to save you some of the time and pain. I’ll see you at dinner.” Dismissing herself, Katie leaves the room, and I’m left with only my thoughts.