Page 5 of Omega's Faith

When they find out where I’m going, their bosses are going to love this even more than the pool noodle incident.

The registration doesn’t take long. I’ve always hated the idea of mandatory registration and a forced match. It goes against everything I believe.

People should be free to make their own choices. Why the hell should the government tell me when or who I should marry? It’s none of their business.

But I’m Alexander Colborne. I don’t whinge or complain. I charm. I flash a smile at the receptionist, then the person who helps me fill out my forms. I sign an autograph for the phlebotomist who takes my bloodwork and then another for thesecurity guard on the way out. As soon as I’m back in the car, I send a photograph of my signed application to Diana with a single word.Done.

She better unfreeze my accounts, although there’s not much I can do if she doesn’t.

My application is supposed to take between a twenty-four hours and a week to be processed but I get a response from the Bureau in than less than six hours.

Thanks Diana.I wonder how much she paid to push me to the front of the queue.

The match comes through as a notification to my phone.

Omega Match Bureau: Prime Match notification.

Name of match: Jonah Wells

Age: 21

Designation: Omega

Compatibility Rating: 96.2%

An appointment has been scheduled for your initial meeting.

The first thing I think is:who the fuck is Jonah Wells?The second thing I think is:I thought prime matches weren’t real.

2. Jonah

“Alexander Colborne is going straight to hell.”

I flinch as Pastor David's words slam into me from the pulpit. I got the match letter yesterday afternoon but I haven’t told anyone yet. It might feel like a co-incidence that Colborne is the topic of today’s sermon but the reality is that Pastor David mentions him every couple of weeks.

Alexander Colborne and every other celebrity who gets drunk in public or wears revealing clothing or blasphemes.

I might not have access to social media here but that doesn’t mean I don’t know who Alexander Colborne is. Pastor David has been using him as a bad example for a long time. Colborne has been kicked out of three universities. He's crashed two luxury cars and at least one yacht.

He’s rumored to have been in rehab twice although clearly it hasn't stuck, not from whatever has inspired today’s sermon.

Pastor David starts talking about temptation walking among us in thousand-dollar suits.

My knees are starting to ache against the hard wooden kneeler, but I don’t dare move.

I shift in my seat and tug at my collar. The air in the church suddenly feels stifling.

At least temptation isn’t my problem. I don’t want to marry Alexander Colborne. Iwantto turn the match down. I’m desperate to. I just don’t think I’m going to be allowed to.

No one knows yet. None of my friends or my parents or mysiblings know that Alexander Colbourne is my prime match.

I spent half the night thinking it was a nightmare, but the letter was still there when I woke up this morning. I didn’t dream it.

My parents weren’t home when the post came. I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad one, but it means I opened the letter on my own. I’d known what it was. TheOmega Match Bureaulogo on the corner made that clear. It was what was inside that shook me to the core.

Prime Match Identified: Alexander Colborne, Alpha, Age 34. Compatibility Rating:96.2%

"The devil wears Armani," Pastor David continues, his voice rising with righteous fury. “And our young people look at him and covet what he has.”