Tick. Tick. Tick.
A glance at my arm tells me I have barely five minutes before I meet the girl who will be my soulmate. Am I nervous? Heck, why wouldn't I be? My dad explained how significant a soulmate is, and how he never had a chance to find his. That's why he divorced my mum.
"Blake, come on, have some cake!" I look up, and there's Cecelia, grinning broadly at me. Her timer still has three years on it. She's holding out a plate with a large slice of cake on it to me, which I take gladly.
"Thanks, Ceci," I say, but it's muffled by the cake I had shoved in my mouth. She giggles at the mess I'm making, and then suddenly looks serious. She's peering over my shoulder at something--or someone. I turn and follow her gaze to spot a small girl sitting under a tree, looking very lonely.
"She looks sad. Has she joined the party at all?" Ceci, ever the concerned one, is watching the girl, who appears to be trying to make herself smaller. My eyes dart towards the football game in session, longing to join it. Why shouldn't I? It's my birthday, after all. Ceci, however, seems to have other plans. "Let's give her some cake! Everyone likes cake!" Then, a plate of cake is being shoved into my hands and I'm being dragged by the eager 7 year old over to the girl, the timer on my wrist momentarily forgotten.
When we get there, the girl doesn't acknowledge us. Not when Ceci greets her, introduces herself, and kneels down to see her. Only when I hold out the cake to her does she look up, meeting my gaze.
Pop.
I feel it before I see it. When the girl has taken the cake, I look down and see a thin strip of plastic lying in the glass. Picking it up, I turn it over and feel my stomach lurch. A glance at my wrist tells me that my timer has fallen off.
Just like its supposed to do when you meet your soulmate.
I look back at the girl, who quietly introduces herself as Nicole McFarrow.
Her timer has not fallen off.
It wouldn't for another ten years.
And never for me.
Some soulmates are not meant to be.
YOU ARE READING
To The Ends Of The Earth
Short StoryFinding a soulmate is something most people dream of, but it's easier said than done. But what if finding your soulmate was as easy as letting a timer run out, living until your eighteenth birthday, or even simply being born with heterochromia? In...
