Heartlines

57: Distorted Light Beam

Andrew shifts and looks at the both of us, we are staring at him for clarification. If this world wasn't confusing enough, he just threw another puzzle at us. 

"You're twin souls." 

Ben looks at me and I'm staring at him. I wrap my arms around myself and frown at him. He snaps his head at Andrew, with a glare, he asks for a simple translation. 

"It's not simple. Let me show you. Allyson, think of your favorite place in the city and grab Ben's hand." Andrew states. 

Reaching out my hand, Ben laces his fingers with mine. I close my mind and think of the one place that instantly comes to my mind.  When I open my eyes, I see the both of us standing in the middle of the Bow Bridge in Central Park, just as the sun is beginning to rise. 

This spot is special to me because this is where Ben had planned to propose to me. I look up at him, sadness fills his features. His stubbornness is slapping a hard dose of reality against him. 

"Allyson, Ben is literally the other half of your soul, the missing piece. Now that you have found each other again, you are whole." He teaches us. 

Andrew starts explaining more in depth. We learn a higher power wanted to expand the universe to increase the experience of love - so he split man and woman in half, separating out both male and female energies between the two bodies, those bodies are always trying to find one another to become whole. 

Twin souls are reincarnated many times and live very different lives in each lifetime. Sometimes, the souls live an entire lifetime without finding each other. "Ben and you have always found each other. You always find each other no matter the distances that separates you."

I walk ahead of the boys, telling them I need a moment to process the information. It's all too much to take in and understand clearly.  

"You and Ben have always shared a deep and empathetic love for each other. He has always felt the need to protect you because you are his soul mate – that will never change. The feeling is very real for him. Just like you will always try to save him from harm, you will always throw yourself in harm's way if it's to save him."

Ben is staring at Andrew fascinated by his words. "My feelings for Ally are intense and overwhelming at times. I could never put into words how much I love her." 

"As it should have been. Twin souls have intense unions that should feel different from everything else they have ever experienced. The both of you love each other very deep and it goes beyond your sexual beings."

I blush at the thought of him mentioning our sex lives.

"So now what?" My head snaps back to look at him. 

"If you live – you'll forget all about this conversation and go on living as you normally would. If you die – you will live out the rest of eternity together because this is the end of human life for you. Your souls have evolved and you're ready for the afterlife together."

"What if one of us lives and the other doesn't?" Ben looks worried.

"Then one of you will wait until the other one joins you."

"Awesome." I roll my eyes.

"I have a couple more questions - how do we eat, sleep, change our clothing." 

Andrew smirks at Ben, "Easy - you don't need to eat. Sleep, if you become tired, you sleep. Change you clothing..." He closes his eyes, when he opens them, Ben is wearing something completely different. Laughing, "you just need to visualize the clothing on the person." 

"Oh this could be fun." Ben smiles at me. 

"Don't." I warn him. 

"Now - this is where I leave you. Advice? Keep fighting, don't let each other give up. One of you has a giant battle ahead." 

He disappears in front of us. I sit down on the bridge and lean against the support. I'm looking up at the sky, I can't feel the breeze or heat on my skin. I bury my face in my knees and start crying. 

Ben sits next to me and wraps me in his arms. "It's going to be okay." 

"How can you say that? We don't know what's going to happen. Our babies could grow up without us." I say with tears rolling down my cheeks. 

He is fighting back tears of his own, "I know because I'm not going to let you give up and I'm not going to give up. I promise, I will get us back to Christian and Isabella soon." He kisses my forehead. 

"Don't make promises that you can't keep." 

He chews on his bottom lip. "I'm sorry." 

I feel my anger brewing. "For what?"

"All of this. I should have told you the truth from the very beginning, we could have fought this fight together, we are stronger together." 

"Funny. I think I said that from the beginning." I'm angry with him. "I'm so pissed with you, and yet I don't want to be without you."

He smirks at me. "I love you too." 

Standing, I grab his hand and pull him towards the fountain. "The bogus palm reader told me that I'm stuck with you forever." 

Ben laughs. "Sounds like we've been stuck together for many lifetimes. You looked very beautiful tonight, or last night, or whenever the hell that was." 

"Thank you." 

I kiss him and when we break apart, I see the blackness hurrying towards us. 

"RUN." I grab his hand and pull him ahead. 

The bodies are too fast to out run. Ben disappears into the middle of the darkness. I grab my shoes and hold them up like weapons. I take the first body with my elbow to its sternum area before putting a heel through its neck. 

Ben appears before me, realizing what is happening, he pushes me behind his body. I didn't have the heart to tell him that he couldn't protect me in this world. I shout at him to fight for his life. 

I count the bodies, we have seven surrounding us, but their focus is on Ben. This is his fight, but I wasn't about to let him fight alone. 

Together, we fight them with everything we have. 

Tourist moving around us, talking, walking through the madness, and laughing. I miss that world. 

Ben fights off the last two bodies, I drop to the ground, weak and breathless. My lungs are burning, begging for air. 

"ALLY." Ben shouts.

Tired, I raise my hand in the air and give him a thumbs up. "Fine...just tired." I say closing my eyes.