Clocks

Chapter 1

I woke up with the sun shining through my window. I was in a good mood, but I couldn't figure out why. Suddenly, it hit me. Tomorrow. My meeting is tomorrow.

Everyone has a clock. Most people meet their soul mate before they get to high school, but not me. My clock was set for 12:27 pm on July 12 in the summer before my Freshman year, well after all my friends' clocks had fallen off to reveal a tattoo of the exact date and time they met their soul mates. Many of them met in Kindergarten, but some had met in eighth grade. Everyone was different.
All my friends were in happy relationships, and I felt alone. Why wasn't I like them? Why did I have to wait so long to meet my soul mate? The suspense had been killing me for months. What would he look like? Would he be cute? What if I get stuck with an ugly one?

I shook away that thought, praying it wasn't right. I hoped that even if he wasn't Josh Dun hot, he would at least be decent. Looks don't matter, I reminded myself. It's personality that counts.

My friends had been bothering me for weeks, teasing me about who my soul mate would be. I went along with it, but really it bothered me. I already felt bad enough that I hadn't met him yet, and I really didn't need them there making it worse. But I stuck it out.

I suddenly heard the unmistakable noise of my phone ringing, but I had never heard that ringtone before. Even though I was a little confused, I picked it up and looked at it. It was an unknown number. I answered. Before I could say anything, I heard a feminine, yet deep and raspy voice on the other line.

"I know you probably have tons of questions, but just trust me for now. I promise you'll get answers eventually," the voice advised.

"What do you want?" I inquired, somewhat angered by the fact this person I didn't even know was telling me to trust them. I'm not a very trusting person, at least not right away.

"Like I said, trust me. Your meeting is tomorrow, right?"

"How did you know?"

"That's not important right now. We are going to go on a little adventure. Pack a bag and head to the corner of 65th Avenue and Brookside Street. I'll tell you what to do when you get there."

"Before you hang up, is there something I can call you?"

"Call me Quinn. I'll see you at the corner, Ariana."