My Necklace was a yellow moon. All my siblings were jealous of me; they had received hardly recognizable blobs in gray and green. When everyone in the whole country receives a different one (I guess your soul-mate’s isn’t completely different because it is just the other half of yours.), our genes have to get pretty creative with the shapes and colors.
My mother and father went searching for each other at the age of 14. My mother was born in Oregon, and my father in Arizona, so they met in Oceanside, California. Of course, wherever your parents meet is where they start their family, so we all currently live in Oceanside and always have. Erin, my twin, said you’d be lucky if your soul-mate lived in the same state as you, but I don’t agree. Erin is still searching. I would love to travel all across the country in search of my special partner. My oldest sister Olivia, who is now 18 and went searching at almost 15, met her partner, Madison, in Missouri, which gave her a chance to travel five states. Of course some people choose to not reside in the state that they met their partner, but I’ve heard it’s just more work that way.
I am 16 as of today, which means I’m late. I haven’t had a feeling as to where to find my partner yet, which means she or he hasn’t either. Mother is worried about me, as she brought up at my birthday dinner.
“So, Charlotte, do you feel any different yet?” She asked expectantly.
“No, Mom. Besides, if I had felt something, it would be undeniable, right? So you asking will not help me remember or change anything.” I replied a bit snappy because she’s been asking a lot lately.
“Yes, but I’m just worried. You’re already sixteen and both of your sisters have left before their 15th birthday, and Erin was your twin!” We always have variations of this same conversation, so I have my arguments all laid out.
“Are you that eager to get rid of me?” I said
“No, you know that I just want you to get your life started.”
“Yeah right, you are probably already planning turning my bedroom into your new art room.” I joked.
She ignored me and Dad chimed in “Let’s do cake!”, then went to the kitchen to get the cake with sixteen candles.
After cake, I went up to my room. I inspected my Necklace between my two fingers. We learned in History class that humans had evolved to grow an extra bone in the womb, which was collected at birth and hung on a chain for the child to wear for the rest of his or her life. I have never seen anyone without one on, except in old pictures or movies. Early people used to wear fake Necklaces with jewels or diamonds or just metal on them. In school they told us that it was for decoration or to show off wealth.
Things had gotten pretty lonely since my sisters left, especially Erin. We would do everything together, even fantasize about that one day where we set off to discover our futures. We would of course imagine leaving on the same day since we are twins and all, but that obviously was out of the picture now. 'I bet he’s going to be beautiful. I just know it will be a he. I have a feeling, you know? Anyways, I imagine him having beautiful, flowing blonde hair that just sits there sometimes, atop his head as if he doesn’t even care about anything in the world. He will be beautiful.' She had said to me two nights before she left, her face glowing with anticipation and love. I was jealous because I couldn’t even begin to imagine what my soulmate might look like, but I listened to every detail of this boy she was painting in her head, trying to figure if my partner would look like this. Of course I had no way of knowing. I wonder if she’s found him, and if he looks just like she thought he would. I hope he does.
I then wondered what my partner was doing at this very minute, and if his or her parents were worried about his timing, and if he himself was worried. Was he thinking about me this very minute? Was she trying to envision me? Did he correctly visualize my dead straight blonde hair and my round, dark eyes? Did she inspect and analyze the way my hair sits, like my sister did? I fell asleep, these questions picking and bobbing around in my mind.
