Soulmate Clock

Author's Note:

This fic was inspired by the soulmate clock post on tumblr. My friend wrote a story based on it and the little story made me cry with how sad it was so I had to write my own version to make me feel better. I still cried while writing this, but the ending made me smile.

Original post: superlameblogname . tumblr . com / post / 70419884668 / c3l3st1al-lum1n3sc3nc3-notmylady {remove spaces}

Okay, onwards with the story!

--- l i n e ---

As soon as I was able to understand the concept of ‘love’ in school, we had our first lesson on the odd little clock attached to the skin on our wrist. The ‘soulmate clock’, as they referred to it.

We were taught that the days, the hours, the minutes, and the seconds were all counting down to the moment we would meet the one we were destined to be with all of our lives. The only one who could ever make us truly happy.

The first lesson was held in my 5th grade year of school, and everyone was mesmerized during the lesson. As is customary, there was a lesson every year of school after that about the soulmate clock to make sure it was fresh in our minds.

Like most others, I dated an assortment of people while waiting for my soulmate. Some people preferred not to date until they’d met their soulmate, but I wanted to get all the awkwardness of not knowing what to do when dating someone out of the way. I wanted to be ready for the day I met them, whomever my soulmate was destined to be.

Ninth grade came and went; no soulmate. Tenth grade; still no sign of them. Eleventh grade; most of my friends had already met their soulmate. Even by twelfth grade my clock was still ticking away. Nearly everyone in my class had met their soulmate.

When I graduated twelfth grade, I decided to wrap a silk scarf, a gift from my grandmother, around my wrist to obscure my view of my soulmate clock. I’d decided that I no longer wished to look at it. I’d given up on the obsession of watching the seconds trickle away and the sadness of knowing I was nowhere near close to finding my perfect other half.

I enrolled in an online college course in the nursing field, and went to study abroad in Europe on a student visa. I stayed there for awhile relatively worryfree and picked up on some of the different medical approaches in the select few countries I was allowed to travel through. The sight of other people walking with their soulmate continued to sting, however, and it worsened as day after day passed by. I’d banned myself from looking at the number on my wrist. I couldn’t bear it.

Until one night when I was awoken by a steadily growing ‘beep’ sound. I’d been in the midst of a deep sleep and stumbled out of the bed in surprise. I was renting an apartment during my stay in London, and though it wasn’t much it managed to keep out the cold. I looked all over for the source of the beep and finally it dawned on me. I tore the scarf away from my wrist and my eyes widened in awe.

0000 d 00 h 5 m 36 s

I dressed as fast I possibly could. My soulmate was near, I could feel it. The soulmate clock never lied, either. As soon as I was dressed, I darted out of the apartment. Some unknown force was calling to me, telling me to hurry. I swung the umbrella I’d grabbed on the way out open and held it above me as soon as I got outside. I knew I’d heard the gentle patter of rain against the windows earlier.

0000 d 00 h 1 m 21 s

Only one minute left. I felt my heart constricting for some odd reason. This was the moment I’d been waiting for ever since the lesson in 5th grade; nine years. My legs moved of their own accord down the street, my heart racing. I stole the occasional glance at my wrist, anxious for an unknown reason.