Hyacinth || dreamwastaken

1

You wake up one day and you look down and it's there. A time clock counting down upon your skin. Telling you when you've found your soulmate. The soulmate you've waited your entire life for. Except this number doesn't end when you meet them. It doesn't go off like a radar. You don't know anything until that timer hits zero and theirs does the same.

It's not just the timer that holds the key to answer all of our questions. It's the book that writes itself as well. Your life plays out before you in words magically appearing on pages. You wake up and the book begins to start. You close your eyes and the book loses its magic. You feed the book. You write the book. You make the book.

Today the clock has appeared. Red numbers inked into my skin. Two-hundred-fifty-three. That's the amount of days left until my soulmate turns into my soulmate. I could walk up to someone today, my first real time meeting a person, and meet my soulmate. I won't know that's them until my timer hits zero. Soulmates are built, not born. All the knowledge I have is unknown until it starts appearing in my book.

When time gets closer days will turn into hours, hours into minutes, and minutes into seconds. And then the clock hits zero and there they should be. That is how it is all supposed to work. But sometimes things go awry. Sometimes your book stops writing. Sometimes your numbers seize to change and you're stuck to figure it all out on your own.

Who is your soulmate? You won't know. You won't have the indicator anymore. All you have is you and your instinct. At least that is how it used to be. But recently the world has been trying out something new. Self isolation.

You are stuck in the four blank walls of your room until your clock appears. You see no one. You speak to no one. You sit. You learn. You sleep. Life is routine. There is no stepping out of boundaries. You follow the rules set to you. That is life.

"Two-Five-Three-Two-Zero-Two-Two." My ears pull alert as a knock sounds against my stark white door. It has no texture. It's flat, blank, cold. We are numbers here. At least until that number appears on your arm. Then you become real. You become what the world wants you to be known as.

My door slides open on an automated control as I walk over to it. "Two-Five-Three-Zero-Two-Two today seems to be your lucky day." A short man stands before me. He seems younger than I but somehow he's been lucky enough to have been out for sometime. I can tell by his chipper nature. I can tell by the smile placed upon his face. But most of all, I can tell by the three dashes along his wrist that he has been met by the one.

"It seems as though today is." I hold my wrist out admiring the red ink ingrained in my skin with three simple numbers. I feel like I have waited so long for the number to appear. I feel like everyone number's appear when they're in their teens. And I'm now in my twenties.

They do tell us your numbers will only appear when you are truly and fully ready. I was definitely glad that for whatever reason I was finally ready.

"I will be your guide into the outside world. You may refer to me as Q." He holds his arm out for me to hook around his. I follow eagerly, ready to see sunlight for the first time. Ready to feel heat upon my skin. Ready to hear the sound of the wildlife bustling around. Ready to feel the wind blow through my hair. Ready to actually experience what we all live for.

"Q, do some of us not make it out of these rooms?" I look back towards my room as Q leads me off into the world. There are people. Lots of people. They are roaming freely. People of all shapes and sizes. I feel alive getting this stimulation. It's not overbearing. It's needed. It's wanted.

"Some do not but they have a different role in this world than you or I. They don't get numbers. They get a life of knowledge and expansion. They help us grow into a better society. They help fix the issues in our technology. You and I are lucky enough to find love. And they are lucky enough to help lead us in that direction." Q's voice is endearing. I'm sure he's been given a script to say but all of his words make this world feel so inviting.