My Best Friend Can See My Soul

Chapter II - Ayden.

It's been almost a full week since I first noticed my best mate, Adil, acting strange. It started on Monday, when I caught him looking at me strangely as we walked to our first class of the day. I didn't think much of it at first, I'd caught others doing the same thing a few times. Everyone receives a few weird looks every once in a while, right? 

But then it happened again, on Tuesday, as we were heading into the weekly assembly. I heard Adil gasp quietly, I was bothered slightly but got over it quickly. I mean, he could've been gasping at something else, right? That was probably it. By Wednesday, I had myself convinced that it was nothing. My reasoning was that I had always been superstitious, and I couldn't let myself doubt my best friend. I thought my reasoning and been proved since nothing suspicious had happened on that day. But then the next day came around.

Thursday wasn't a good day. I had already taken a test I most likely failed, my back was aching from the amount of homework in my bag - and on top of all that, Adil was acting weirder than ever. After a few years of knowing Adil, and how he is normally a little strange, one would think I wouldn't be surprised if he started acting a bit weirder than normal. However, he never acted this weird. On this already bad day, Adil was doing things like bumping me into people and changing the direction in which we walked so that we would pass by groups of other students. When I confronted him, he merely stated,

"I was just trying to lighten the mood and make you feel better, man!"

Something was definitely up. Adil never said 'man', let alone a sentence with more than about 5 words. Plus, it was obvious from the beads of sweat appearing on his forehead and his stiff posture - his knuckles turning white as his hands clenched themselves onto his backpack straps - that he was lying. 

I was going to confront him on Friday about the whole situation, but something stopped me. I don't know exactly what it was, maybe doubt or hope, but I decided that I would talk to him about it after the weekend. 

And now, it was Monday morning. I was at the school gate, hyping myself up for another dreary week of torture - I mean school! The events of last week were running through my mind, reminding myself that I wasn't paranoid. As soon as I see Adil, I'll confront him! I encouraged myself. 

I headed into school with a determined expression and a feeling of dread. I figured Adil would already be at the lockers, he was one to get to school early, and rushed there. It was quite a walk from the gate to the Year 10 lockers, but I made it there in a couple of minutes thanks to my quick pace. 

As I had predicted, Adil was there. He was leaning against his own locked, one leg propped up and his phone in his face. Adil's structured nose was basically touching the screen, the reflections basically engulfing his usually dark brown eyes. He was so wrapped up in his screen, I reckoned that I could collapse right in front of him and he wouldn't even blink. 

"Hey man!" I exclaimed loudly, punching his shoulder suddenly to scare him. He jumped with fright, throwing his phone up in the air before scrambling to catch it. After a dramatic leap and almost falling over, Adil pocketed his phone and turned to my with a triumphant grin. At this point, I was hysteric. Tears were threatening to fall and my laughter echoed off of the lockers, which only cause me to howl more. Adil rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and laugh, but at least I didn't smash it like you did few months back." He retorted, effectively ending my amusement. "Anyway, why are you here so early?"

"Yeah, about that," I cleared my throat, and took a deep breath. It was time to get answers. "why were you acting so strange last week? I noticed you gasping and bumping into me for no reason!"

Adil opened his mouth to respond, but judging from his frantic and defensive face, he was going to feed me a bunch of lies. 

"No excuses!" I cut him off, crossing my arms in an angry manner, "I can tell when you're lying, so just tell me the truth. I won't judge."

Adil sighed, "Ok." 

"Ok." I replied, more than ready to hear what was up. 

"It's- uhhh.... you see, I am - er, " He took a deep breath, probably figuring out what he was to say. "How about you come over to my house after school today? It's too complicated to discuss now. And besides, I've got that test next."

"Ok," I agreed, satisfied that I would get answers, "And good luck on that test, you shouldn't fail as much as I did!"

~-~time skip because school is boring and no one needs to hear about it~-~

After school, I walked with Adil to his house. He lived close to the school, which was convenient at times like these. After we talked about what was going on with him, I would have to take the later bus to my area, and then walk the rest of the way. But, I thought it was worth it. 

I could tell that Adil was tense, which only made me more nervous as time went by. What exactly is going on?  We made it to his house after a few minutes of walking in silence. He invited me in and we headed to his living room, where I dumped my bag and flung myself onto the couch. Being best mates with Adil for around three years came with benefits.

"Wait here," Adil instructed, "I'll be back with something that'll explain everything." 

A minute, he came back to me with a textbook in his hand. He opened it to a page that had been bookmarked. He passed me the book, saying one word - 'read'. I took it, and started to read aloud.

"Soul-readers are humans that are able to see, or read, souls. They have the ability to track down a person's 'soulmate' and to sense people's emotions. For unknown reasons, a soul-reader rarely finds their soulmate, or when they do, their soulmate is some sort of criminal.

When soul-readers first appeared, they were praised and sought after by people searching for their soulmates. However, as time went by, many despised the thought of having their futures set out before them and revolted. Female soul-readers were claimed as 'witches' and were burned at the stake, while the males were secretly captured and slaughtered, or sent of to war in which they would never return. 

Eventually, the slaughter was stopped, but not before thousands of soul-readers lost their lives. Now, soul-readers are rare. And while they are accepted into society, they tend to keep their abilities to themselves, only using them on close friends and family.

"Information from the G.A.P.H..." I finished reading aloud from the book before turning wide-eyed to my best friend. I knew now why he made me read this page. "So, you're a.."

"Soul-reader, yes I am." He finished, his back tense and his face uncomfortable. He took a deep breath before turning his face to me, looking me dead in the eye. "I thought you should know, since... well... I know who your soulmate is."

~Dun dun DUUUNNNNN.... what will happen next? Comment what you think!~