SOUL DORM

9

It takes two to make a thing go right...

***

CHAPTER 9:

SOULMATE

Contrary to what I expected, there was no response from anyone. They were looking at me with vacant eyes and lips slightly parted. Their strange reactions made me doubt myself. Was I mixing up names, perhaps? I reached into my bag and pulled out the envelope, double-checking what was written on the paper.

"Yes, Mars," I said confidently. "Here, you can check yourself."

Ursa didn't even glance at the paper I handed her. Instead, her gaze was locked onto my face, her eyes brimming with concern. "Mars..." she repeated, and for the first time, her usual bubbly demeanor was nowhere to be found.

"Do you know him?" I asked.

Diego, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else, took a massive bite of his meal; Lark buried her head in her cards, and Helene stared blankly into her milk. Naturally, it was up to Ursa to spill the tea.

"Yes, we know him," she said, forcing a smile. "In fact... few souls in the Dorm haven't crossed paths with him. He's, uh, kind of a big deal around here."

"Kind of?" Diego scoffed. He quickly crammed another forkful into his mouth, hoping to avoid Ursa's withering glare.

"So?" I said, trying to understand why this was a problem. Mars's popularity was probably because of his talent as an artist. As long as he aced his classes, why should I care about his social life? But... Ursa's face was morphing into a tension ball.

"So..." she began, fishing for the right words. "Mars marches to the beat of his own drum, you could say. And that doesn't exactly make him a great team player with his soulmates."

"In simpler terms," Helene cut in, "He's the poster child for selfishness. That's why not a single soulmate of his has made it back to the land of the living."

"What?" I gasped, practically launching out of my seat. "What does that even mean?"

This time, Ursa shot Helene a glare that could melt icebergs. Then, she gently guided me back into my chair as if she was afraid I might pass out from the bomb she was about to drop. She coughed. Took a sip of her milk. Cleared her throat. Took another sip. But when she noticed I was about to scream, she began to explain.

"Mars is one of the OG souls in the Dorm. Nobody knows exactly when he rolled up here. Or why, for that matter... He's super tight-lipped about his past life. As far as we know, he was the only child of a very wealthy family. He had a good life. But for whatever reason, he's not interested in returning to the land of the living. Maybe he's just vibing so hard here that he has no reason to leave."

She tried to lighten the mood with a chuckle, but it fell flatter than day-old soda. She coughed again and soldiered on.

"Since he's not chasing that 'return to life' dream, he's not exactly hitting the books either. He spends most of his time strumming his guitar and... well, doing other things... that mostly involve beautiful girls. So... he's not exactly a model study buddy for his soulmates."

"In other words," Helene butted in once more, "He'd rather serenade to every possible girl around him and jam out than crack open a textbook. That's why his soulmates eventually give up and stop trying. Then..." She traced an imaginary airplane in the air. "Off they go to the great beyond."

I felt the blood drain from my dead body. Judging by Diego and Ursa's worried faces, I must have been as pale as a ghost. "So you are saying..." I burst out. "Just because some guy thought this place was a holiday resort, people don't get to clock back into their lives?"