Gone Away

James Howell

I remember the event happening like it was yesterday. Every detail carved into my brain, like how the wind blew softly against my skin, or how the street lights lit up once the sun began to fall beneath the mountain tops. It was a great day that would later turn into an amazing one.

Henry and I walked, talking about what new things had happened in each other's lives. It was mainly him talking, because nothing exciting ever happened to me.

"It was amazing! I met Rosie at Lake Mirror. We actually fell in, but that's not the point. Anyways, when I came out of the water, the words were gone! And she spoke the words. It was crazy man. You could even say it was like magic!"

I nodded, not really wanting to hear about Soulmates anymore. My words appeared on my arm at the age of 14 and here I am was with them still tattooed on my arm three years later. I sighed and watched my breath turn to fog out in front of me.

A bit of context for those who don't know about the tattoo system. How it works is once someone finds out what love really is and what makes a soulmate, words appear onto their arm as a tattoo. Mine bore the words, "It's my fault, I should've been paying attention more," which most likely meant that my clumsy self did something that caused her to say such a thing. Once you meet your special someone, the words disappear from both peoples arms and are never seen again. I found out what love meant when I was 14, and a couple weeks later my words appeared on my skin. No pain or anything. I fell asleep with nothing, and the next think I know I'm waking up to see purple ink on my arm. Another think I should probably mention is that the words appear in your soulmates favorite color, and hers was purple.

Henry patted my back in a brotherly manner. "Hey kid, don't sweat it. You'll find your girl eventually. Not everyone's as lucky as me."

I rolled my eyes and moved away. Henry she always tried his best to comfort me, but it always had to be about him in the end. Other then his sometimes self-centeredness, he really was a good guy and always seemed to have my back.

I smiled at the thought. However my smile quickly vanished as I felt my body run into something unknown. I fell backwards and hit the ground, scrapping my hands on the hard pavement below.

My eyes which were once held shut slowly opened. A young looking girl sat up on her knees, feeling the ground around her. Her hair was dark like ashes and her eyes were emerald green.

I stood up and noticed the pair of glasses that must have fallen off her face when we collided. I reached down and gently picked them up.

"Dang it James!" I whisper yelled at myself. "I am so sorry!"

She shook her head and started to speak. What came next would forever alter our lives.