AN: Yay for soulmate AUs! I may be slightly biased, but I'm pretty sure that this one is insanely adorable, so you're all welcome.
Katherine Pulitzer's life changed in the middle of the night when she was seventeen years old. This was the night that her soulmate finally wrote a message to her. Though she never let anyone know, she was a romantic, and had imagined all the different ways her soulmate would finally contact her, a sweet note, maybe by doodling some hearts on their arm.
Of all the ways she'd imagined it, the way it happened hadn't been one of them.
She'd been asleep in bed when she felt a strange sensation on her stomach, waking her up. She was terrified for a split second before she realized that it didn't hurt. It just felt... different. She quickly realized what must be happening, and hurriedly pushed up her nightgown to see the message.
Her excitement didn't last though, and it disappated almost immediately. Her stomach was covered with bruises, more than she'd ever had from her soulmate before. Her eyes quickly red the words, which looked as if it had been hastily written in black ink. And the words weren't good ones.
Help me.
She scrambled out of bed and headed straight to her desk, grabbing a pen and responding with the first words that had come into her head.
Are you alright?
No.
That response made Katherine panic, and she knew that she was going to have to find her soulmate. Tonight.
Where are you?
Refuge.
Katherine racked her brain. Refuge? A refuge was supposed to be a place of safety, why would he be in trouble in one? She was about to write back asking for more information, when she gasped out loud. There was that government-run juvenile jail that she'd passed a few times. Was it possible that that's what they were talking about?
The juvenile jail?
Yes.
Their last response ended with a sharp line coming off of the end of the word, and it was obvious to Katherine that it was there because something had startled them, and she felt compelled to ask about it.
What happened?
There was no response.
Did something bad just happen? Are you alright?
Her soulmate didn't answer her, and, overwhelmed by fear, Katherine tore off her nightgown and pulled on a skirt and blouse, grabbing a coat to make up for the fact that she hadn't bothered with a corset. Once she had laced up her boots, she yanked open her window and climbed down the fire escape, racing off in the direction of The Refuge.
As she was running, she felt her soulmate write something again, on her right arm this time. Once she reached the front door of the building, which looked much larger and scarier now, she rolled up her sleeve to read it.
He came back.
She didn't like the sound of that, and she responded on her left arm (she was right handed), grateful that she'd thought to bring her pen.
I'm outside. Which room are you in?
Basement.
Well, that certainly complicated things. Katherine had no clue how she was supposed to get into the basement and rescue her soulmate (who probably wasn't in any shape to help themselves, considering they'd reached out to her). She thought for a few minutes, but, at a loss, she decided she had to ask.
