All Roses Have Thorns

Erin I

She tried to not think about it. Knowing your fate was already tied in with someone else's was scary. She was pretty sure her soulmate was a girl, but that limited it to about two thirds of the world population... or something like that. She picked up a black pen and began to draw on her left forearm. Her sketch was messier today, but it calmed her mind. All of her pens had round tips, but they still made well-defined marks.

Erin was in the middle of drawing a rose. The petals were curled and she drew three leaves. The one on the right was bigger and had thicker veins. She drew two smaller, overlapping ones on the left. She grabbed her favorite red pen and colored the inside of each petal, giving the effect of a red to white gradient. Pale skin was good for an artist's canvas. Well, her parents told her it was bad to draw on herself, but it was for her soulmate and sometimes by her soulmate. Surely they wouldn't mind. She took a four-color pen and slid down the green switch.

Erin colored in the leaves before grabbing her yellow highlighter. She made lines with the swirls on the end and little sparkle marks. "All things should be given a magical touch." That was what her mother used to say before the car accident. She clenched her fist as she picked up the black pen again. She had painted blue streams of tears down her arms on that day. Sure, it was mesmerizing, but it wasn't the type of magic Erin had wanted.

She outlined one side of the swirls in black pen and shaded in the veins of the leaves a little bit more to finish her drawing. Satisfied with her creation, she wrote Ri underneath the rose in small letters, letting her soulmate know she was done. Instantly, she felt the tingling on her wrist. Amazing as usual, appeared with a small smiley face below it. Erin smiled. Maybe having a soulmate wasn't that bad.