Universe of Soulmates

"In Front of Me and a Thousand Miles Away"

Arabesque, feet together, arms swing behind, 180° turn on pointe, lower arms in front, repeat two more times. Jetê, two steps forward, arm out...

Repeating the steps in my mind, it doesn't seem to calm my nerves whatsoever. Being the only freshman on the varsity dance team, there's always a lot of pressure that I have to be perfect, no mistakes when we're performing in front of the judges, and most of the time when we're not. It's hard, but I love it. I've loved it for years, ever since I discovered moving your body in time to music was something people did as a sport. My dance team—more formally named the Kethan High Gazelle Competitive Dance Team—is the fifth in the nation, at least that's where we placed at the national competition in the capital while I was still in eighth grade.

"Aren't you excited to see Venice?" My mother, excited to see the beautiful City of Water like she did when she was my age, grips my arm tight enough to give me a bruise. It's only the two of us, since my father has work and can't take vacation days two weeks prior to their launch, and my little sister has school. My father works at a plant, although I couldn't tell you what they make because it usually just goes in one ear and out the other, coordinating where shipments are coming and going and all that. My sister is in fifth grade, excelling in the math and science courses, like our dad. My mom and I are more similar, since we both really enjoy English and World History.

"Yeah. I'm super excited to have real gelato." That and real pizza and real pasta. My mother's told me story after story about how good their food is, and that's what I'm most looking forward to. There's also the gondolas and the amazing glass stuff they're well-known for as well, which I'm excited to see.

"You'll love it." Checking the plane's status on the screen in front of me, I look at the timer in the corner of the screen that tells me we only have twenty minutes left. Not enough time even for a TV show, but I turn on the next episode of Let It Flow, a dance show that I've enjoyed since the very first episode aired in October. With it being March now, I've had more than enough time to obsess over it, despite my mother's protests that I should be practicing my dance moves.

Sooner than I'd like, the plane lands, jolting me back into reality. I didn't even notice the announcements over the speakers while my show played on my phone. That's one of the beauties of noise-cancelling headphones.

"Alright. Pack up your stuff. Hopefully, it won't be too long before we can get off." My mom, the only person next to me since the other side of me is the plane's window, not that I can see much anymore. Only other planes and airport terminals are in my view now. Given what little I have to pack up, it only takes me as long as we're taxiing to get everything stowed away and my backpack zipped up. It's only a few more minutes before we're off the plane and trying to figure out where we are when everything is in Italian. It doesn't exactly help much that neither of us know a lick of the language.

I guess we got lucky because it seems most of the signs are also in English as well.

"Alright, so first thing's first. Get to the hotel." My mom, taking her carry-on in her hand, takes me in the direction of the cabs. "Then, we're getting gelato." Although usually she's a stickler about my health—what I eat, how much water I drink, exercise outside of practice—she promised me this weekend she wouldn't berate me for eating a lot of junk food. Or, at least, more junk food than I usually eat.

Why we're actually here, though, is another matter entirely. Venice isn't just the City of Water, isn't just known for being so close to sea level it'd drown in a rainstorm. It's the one place in the whole world that has what people call "The Mirror of Love".

Lore has it that many, many years ago—some say it was a thousand years, others say it was closer to five hundred years—there was a woman looking for her lost love. She'd met him years before when she was much younger, and didn't know what he looked like anymore. (Some say it's because she had forgotten what he looked like, but a few think it's because he wouldn't have looked the same all those years later.) But, she wanted to see him one more time, or at least hope she could. So, instead of just hoping and wishing that she might recognize a man she hadn't seen in years, she made a mirror.