Save My Soul

Anabella

My name is Anabella Marie Hart. I’m a student at the California State University of San Fransico. I’m a nursing major. I’ve always been a naturing person so a field in medicine is perfect for me.  My mother says I’m a lot like my father. She says he was a man filled with so much compassion  and love that if it were possible to measure it, it would wrap around the world a thousand times and still have enough to travel to the moon and wrap around it a thousand times more. I love my father, even though I never got that chance to meet him. My mother says he passed before I was born. She doesn’t go into detail, just that he never made it to the hospital when she was in labor with me. Sometimes I catch her staring out at nothing in particular with a heartbreaking sadness in her soft brown eyes and I feel the longing and nostalgia in her heart. I know she misses him, which is an understatement. How can you ever get over losing your other half, your soul mate? My mother says if it weren’t for me, she would not have survived the grief. She was only 21 years old when she brought me into the world.

Fortunately, she had help from my grandmother to raise me. My grandmother is a playful spirit and a little on the wild side, not your traditional grandma. She likes to tease me about my eyes.

 “Oh baby girl with those eyes you can bend any man to your will! Your poor momma did not stand a chance against your father one look and she melted like butter on pancakes!” she would say with a wink at the end. Every time I would giggle with a reply “Oh momma Carla I just want one man, my soul mate.”

“Well, in the meantime, have a little fun, if you’re picking up what I’m putting down” she would reply wiggling her eye brows.  I love her so much she brings laughter to my day.

My father’s most prominent feature were his bright, golden eyes which I had the honor to inherit. He also had honey blond hair which made his eyes stand out more. The way they described him makes me think of what an angle would look like. I like the thought of my father being an angel, our guardian angel.

My mother is a beautiful woman with a slim curvy figure. She has long, wavy ink black hair and fair skin. She has a thick set of long eye lashes and soft brown eyes. Her small lips seem to always be curved up in a smile. I can almost pass as her twin, minus the eyes and I’m a bit taller than her. I feel very fortunate to have been born to these two wonderful people.

I live with my two best friends, Emma Grande and Clarissa Martin. We live in a comfortable three bedroom apartment in San Francisco. I met Emma in middle school. I was very shy, but I sensed she had a pure heart. We became inseparable since then. Emma is a bit of a girlie girl and just a tad boy crazy. Well, a lot boy crazy, but not in an unhealthy, desperate, obsessive kind of way. She is still a very independent young woman and knows when to cut off a romance she knows is not going to end well. She has a contagious bubbly personality that makes you feel stress free. Her smile is warm and inviting and readily available to anyone. It is very easy for her to make new friends since her smile seems to be a bit of a people magnet. Her cheeks are decorated by endearing little freckles and she has welcoming soft, light brown eyes. Her hair is ombre colored, beginning as a light brown and ending in blond ends. She has a lovely curvy figure, a bit thicker than mine. Emma comes from a very wealthy family, but is down to earth and has good work ethic. If it weren’t for the help of her generous parents we would not be able to afford our apartment.

I met Clarissa in my freshman year of high school. We had a p.e class together and automatically clicked. It was as easy and natural as breathing. Her dorky personality made it easy to get along since I, myself, am a dork as well. I was lucky she opened up to me since she does not trust many people. She attracted many admirers with her grey blue eyes, silky tan skin, and dark brown hair. She never gave any of them the time of day, until our junior year. It surprised when she suddenly fell in love with a young man named William Pierce. He was a new student that came from Washington. I was ecstatic she found someone to share her life with. It was obvious they were madly in love by the way they would get lost in each other’s eyes. Many of our classmates envied them and would say it’s only a high school romance that won’t last. It saddened me to hear these things but my classmates were young and they couldn’t see what I saw. They were soulmates. That’s the weird thing about me… I can feel the souls of others, their emotions. I can share their emotion and even absorb it if I wish to. I am very deeply grateful that I have this gift because without it I don’t think Clarissa would have survived the tragic incident our senior year.

It was our senior prom. Emma, Clarissa, and I were very excited waiting anxiously for our dates to pick us up at Emma’s mansion. Emma’s date came first, and then mine in second, but we stayed to wait for William so that we could all drive together. Hours passed and William still did not show. Clarissa called him numerous times but the calls would do straight to voicemail. Finally, she received a call from his mother, “Hi Mrs. P I’ve been trying to get a hold of…What’s wrong are you okay?... What do you mean he’s been in an accident is he okay!?...no… you’re lying!! No!! He can’t be gone no!!!!” Clarissa’s soul shattered that very moment and I ran to her tears flooding out, frenzied sobs full of anguish escaping from my mouth matching hers. I felt everything. The way her heart felt like someone was constricting it, squeezing the life out of it. The way her soul broke into a million pieces when the realization hit that her other half was gone from this world. I held her in my arms, her body shaking uncontrollably. Emma sent the boys away and she came to put her arms around us both, tears crashing down her face as well. Slowly, I absorbed her anguish. Her sobs slowed and her shaking became more controlled. I kept absorbing more of her suffering until I felt that it was bearable for her. I could have taken it all, but it would be wrong to steal her grieving away. People need to feel pain, so they can grow from it. “I love you Clar, you’re going to be okay. Emma and I will not let you go. We will not let you give up on life. We love you with all our hearts so don’t forget that, ever.” She nodded her head, holding us tighter. Three years have passed since that day, not much time at all, the pain is still prominent, but Clar is smiling, laughing, and almost completely back to her dorky self.

I haven’t told anyone about my gift. How would I even go about it like “Hey guys? Guess what. I can feel your souls and absorb emotions. Like a sponge, a super sponge of goodness! I’ve come to clean your souls!” Yeah, not something that many people would believe and it’s not something they really need to know. I’ve known about my gift since I was a toddler. It just came natural to me and it felt nice to make people smile. At that age I wouldn’t restrain myself from absorbing all of their pain, I was too young to understand it was necessary.