Obeying the Zodiac

This is Surver, and if you want to stay on this planet, you will have to follow the rules. They are simple rules, but will most likely drive you insane. That is, if you’re like me. Here on Surver we are to obey our Zodiac. If you are a Cancer, like me, you are to stay away from Aries and Libra. Then, on your eighteenth birthday your parents pick your husband or wife. In the Cancer’s case, your parents would pick either a Pisces or a Scorpio. Everyone seems to be fine with the rules.

Everyone but me.

I ran down the stairs to get breakfast.

“Good morning, Mom,” I said.

“Good morning, Rayvn,” she said, but didn’t turn away from the food she was cooking on the stove. I smelled scrambled eggs. Mmm, my favorite. “Sit down; I’m almost done with making breakfast.”

I did as she said. The chair was freezing against my thighs. I was wearing my favorite pair of pajama shorts: black with white stripes. I played with my fork as I waited.

“Where’s your necklace?” My mom asked as she put eggs on my plate.

“Mom,” I groaned. “Do I have to wear it?”

“Yes.” Her voice was hard and stern.

“I hate it,” I muttered around a forkful of food. Everyone on Surver had to wear their Zodiac necklace; marking them for what they are. Mine had a silver chain with a silver crab on it. The crab’s eyes were light sky blue gems. Sure, it was a very pretty piece of jewelry, but it was unfair. I tried to tell my mom that making us wear these stupid necklaces so we know who to stay away from or whatever was just like some of the things that happen on Earth. I’ve heard stories where the people of Earth used to make Jews wear these yellow stars so people would know who they were and stay away from them.

“It doesn’t matter. If I have to wear mine, you have to wear your’s.” She touched her Capricorn necklace that was around her neck. It had a silver sea goat on it with dark green eyes.

“But you like wearing your necklace. Besides, it mattered to Lilac.” Once the words escaped my mouth, I regretted them. I bit my tongue, wishing I could take the words back.

My mothers hand balled into a fist as she slammed it onto the table. I cringed and waited for the fury.

“Do not ever, and I repeat ever, mention Lilac in this house again,” she hissed through her teeth. I looked up a little and noticed the angry tears in her eyes.

Lilac was my sister. She was also my hero. She made me see sense to how silly this Zodiac law was. She was a Libra though, which meant that my mom and I couldn’t be near her. She must have been so depressed that she committed suicide because she had to live alone in a foster home with people she could be around. We never saw her. One day we were watching the news and heard that the policemen found a body washed up on shore that seemed to have bled to death. They said that the person must have “fell” off the cliff near by. They showed a picture of the body. It was my sister lying there.

Lilac’s death devastated my mother. She cried for three days straight. It’s been four year since the Lilac’s funeral and she finally seemed to have gotten over it.

“Sorry,” I apologized and put my fork down. I felt too guilty to eat the rest of my eggs now.

“You should get to school now,” she whispered. I nodded and left the table.

Not wanting to cause anymore trouble, I put my necklace on without complaining. I even dressed in blue to match the crab’s eyes. I sighed and grabbed my bag.

It was raining so the whole way to school I had to walk with my hands over my head, creating an invisible umbrella over me, so I would stay completely dry.

My friend May saw me walking and ran over, her chocolate brown curls soaking wet. I always envied May. She was completely content with her life. She already had a boyfriend, Max of the Taurus; so no need for her parents to pick a husband for her next year. And then there were her looks. I never new anyone with prettier eyes then her. The perfect shade of brown. Not too dark, not too light. With her perfect pinked cheeks, no wonder she already has a loved one.

She looked up at my hands that were still in the air.

“Why can’t you just stop the rain altogether? I’m soaked!”

I laughed. “I’m not a god or anything. I have as much power as anyone else does.”

“Figures,” she muttered. “So, what classes are you participating in today?”

The school program is different on Surver. Each day you decided what you wanted to learn, and then you’d just go to the class where a teacher was teaching it. Seeing how the people that live on Surver are much smarter than on most other planets, students only need to take a specific class for one day. That’s all the time we need to learn everything in that subject.

It’s only confusing in the beginning, what with so many different classes, and then once everyone had taken a specific class, it was taken away from the program, but you got used to it after a while. Plus, school wasn’t as long as school days on Earth. It’s only about three hours long. Three classes, three hours.

“I think I’m just going to go to Orchestra, Biology, and Math today,” I answered.

“But you’ve already taken those classes! They won’t let you in.”

I started walking again and she followed by my side.

I shrugged. “I’ve got good grades; I think they’ll let it pass this time. And what about you?”

May thought for a moment. “Um…maybe Earth’s Poisonings, Flowering on Mars, and the Zodiac History.”

There were both the regular subjects that all planets had to have in their schools, and then the other subjects that are just for that world.

“Earth’s Poisonings,” I scoffed. “Have fun in that class.”

“Oh yeah, because you had so much fun learning about Earth,” she remarked sarcastically.

“It was torture, May. Pure torture. I can’t imagine how people are able to survive on that planet.”

By this time we were near the school. I put my hands down because it had stopped raining.

“Wow, not a single drop on you. Lucky.”

I smiled at her then said, “I’ll see you after school, May.”

“See you later, Raven.” She waved and went in a different direction then me. I went to Orchestra first. The teacher looked up at me from her desk and looked confused.

“Uh…Rayvn, you already took Orchestra two days ago. You can’t retake it.”

“I’m having a bad day,” I said in a soft, gentle, and sweet childlike voice. I tried to sound very innocent.

“Can I just have this class for today, please?” I put on some puppy dog eyes and fluttered my eye lashes. I wondered if I was overdoing it.

“Sure, sweetheart. Feel free to come here tomorrow too, if you’d like.” I guess it worked then.

“Thank you so much.” I smiled warmly and then turned to go get my cello from off the rack. As much as I hated Earth, I had to hand it to them, they made some real beautiful instruments there. I loved the cello. I only took Orchestra once but I fell in love with the sound the cello made as soon as I played the first few notes. Thank goodness that since Orchestra is a required subject on all planets, it will never be taken away from the school program.

I played my favorite song that was both calming and entertaining at the same time as other students started to gather into the room. Most of the students formed a circle around me, gawking as I played with my eyes closed. I could hear them whispering in amazement. I just smiled and continued with the next song I knew by heart.