I will wait for you trilogy: 1

2. Ceremony

Days had passed since Braelynn gained her mark and once it was revealed on the day she had P.E the rumours travelled through the school like wildfire, her face would flush every time someone would mention it.

Before she had been an outcast, completely forgotten or unknown to her class. Now they hovered around her like moths, Braelynn hadn't even meant to show it but forgot to retouch the makeup after swimming.

"Goddess please don't let my parents hear the news..."

After her silent prayer, she made her way toward the last class of the day. Pretty much everyone talked throughout it and never did the actual work, even Braelynn relaxed in this class...slightly. Naturally, she was the topic of all the conversations in the classroom now, after all, it had been about eight years since there was a new Purple Heart Wings mark.

"Hey, Braelynn how come you didn't show off your mark as soon as you got it? I would totally be showing mine if I got it!"

Simple really, she didn't want her life to become more focused on the mark.

"Ah, I was nervous since it's a rarer one."

Kathy glanced over and gave a small smile but it didn't reach her eyes, in fact since the sleepover at her house Kathy seemed more reserved. There was this sickening feeling in her stomach when she thought about it, it was almost as bad as imagining the ceremony that was approaching faster every hour.

So she dug into her work and began writing feverishly until the class ended.

As soon as Braelynn started walking home she felt the nerves build in the back of her mind, she had heard the stories of how once gaining your mark and finding your soulmate the feelings would grow so fast that some couples would marry within a month.

That made her stomach twist, it was so fast and it would be like the couple had skipped all the joys and dived straight in.

"Goddess what if we have nothing in common? What if we're like arranged married couples that don't like each other but still have to be together?"

It was rare but some people never get marked and are arranged to marry another unmarked person, that was possibly more frightening.

Braelynn took a deep breath as she fumbled with the keys to the front door, opening it slowly to find her parents in the living room cuddled up together and watching a movie.

"I'm home!"

They both welcomed her back before looking up at her, her mother's mark was considerably faint considering her soulmate had passed when Braelynn was two years old. Even though she had seen photos of her birth father she could never associate him with being her dad, she could only picture her step-father's face.

"What's up buttercup?"

Her dad's face was worn but he still smiled warmly at her, he loved saying that phrase.

"Well...I, um, got my mark?"

They stayed silent and then her mother suddenly sat up gleaming insisting on seeing the mark, gasping when it was revealed while her father just looked on with pride. She wondered how he felt, he had never gained his mark and was never going to since once you reach the midnight of your 23rd birthday if you didn't gain your mark you never would.

Her mother was still gushing and started to call her friends to share the news while Braelynn felt like the wind had just left her, her dad patting her shoulder and easing a little of her nerves.

"Don't you worry about all that, how's Kathy? Did she get hers?"

She shook her head, her best friend only had a month left until her birthday and if she didn't get her mark by then she would be Unmarked. It confused Braelynn, the Goddess made it so the majority of us would be marked.

"Dad? Why would the Goddess allow anyone to be Unmarked?"

He glanced around for her mother and when seeing she had gone outside sat up.

"A long time ago Brae probably a millennium ago by now, there were no marks at all. People never had marks or soulmates, people would date until they found the person they thought was for them, and they got their hearts broken a lot too. By some miracle, people found a Goddess who was injured and after healing her she granted them the power to gain marks to find their soulmates. But humans being humans not everyone wanted their soulmates some just wanted to date around or be single so she granted their wish and made the minority be Unmarked. It is believed that the Goddess looks into our lives and decides if we would be happier marked or not."

Her eyes glittered with curiosity as her father explained and by the end, she only had one question,

"Dad? How did you know all this? They never covered it in school..."

To be honest she had been expecting a very typical answer like he didn't know.

"Schools tend not to cover it anymore but they used to and all Unmarked learn it from their parents since most Unmarked are born from Unmarked."

It was true most Unmarked couples also had an Unmarked child but it was the same possibility of getting a boy or girl, a fifty/fifty. With a deep sigh, Braelynn hugged her dad and made her way to her room, dropping her bag by the door and collapsing onto the bed.

It was all so much to contain, and honestly, Braelynn just wanted to be past it. To just focus on right now and not a soulmate.

"He probably won't even like me..."