Soulmates

6

Ethan looked everywhere. Maybe she went to the pool? Or the spa? Or to get food? Nope, his keys were missing. He was extremely worried about finding her, but now he had no way to leave. He opened his phone and got an Uber to pick him up. They expected a huge tip because he was coming from a 5-star hotel. Poor Mr. Driver, five stars though. He called Dianna and asked her to ask Naomi if something had happened. But wouldn't she at least wake him up? She said that she hadn't gotten a text or anything, but he'd be the first one to know.

He was so caught up in finding her that he didn't even look on his arms. Well, now he knew why she left. He ran into his apartment building, grabbed the key out of the light shade that was on the wall, and bolted to his desk to grab a pen.

"Hallie?" he wrote on his hand, really sloppily and hardly readable.

"I'm not doing this," she responded.

"Please, let me talk to you."

"Your car is parked at the bar. I gave the keys to Ronnie so talk to him if you want them back. Bye."

He sighed and walked to the bar, writing on his arm the entire way.

"So," Ronnie started as he saw Ethan walk in, "I'm assuming you and Ms. Flirty are a thing now?" he glanced at Ethan's arms, all of the tattoos forming a sleeve.

"Yeah, good luck telling that to her." He grabbed a beer with the cap still on from Ronnie on his way out the door, keys in hand. Maybe he'd go to Dianna's to try and talk things over with his sister. He'd drink once he got to her house because he'd definitely still be freaking out.

He went to put the car in drive, but his tattoos were fading.

"What?" he spat out loud. He really needed to talk to someone.

He drove towards her apartment and that's when he saw it, her car in the middle of the road, crushed and practically inside another car.

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He stopped in the nearby parking lot, running out to talk to the police officer who was there. There was a grim atmosphere with both the fire and police departments as they directed traffic and moved the wreck out of the middle of the street.

"Hey, what happened?" He called out frantically. His tattoos were just silhouettes of the dark black pictures they once were.

"There was a drunk driver... I can't disclose the rest of the information." He was obviously upset about it and who wouldn't be? From the sight in front of them, it looked like there was possibly a fatality.

"Do you know which hospital the woman was sent to?" he solemnly asked.

"Yeah, Memorial up the street."

"Thank you," he said as he sprinted back to his car. He couldn't think about what she had done, he just needed to see her.

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"Go away," she said when she saw him enter her room. She had an IV in her arm and even through the drugs she was distant.

He didn't say anything right away, he looked at the smudged pen marks on her hands and wrists, they were faded but they weren't gone.

"I should have died," she said bitterly when there was too long of a pause for her liking.

"Just... stop talking." He just wanted to know she was okay, and now he did. All the other emotions flooded into his head as he started thinking about what happened. He wanted to hate her for doing such an awful thing. But he couldn't. "Ouch!" he started screaming, bruises appearing all over his body, the exact same ones she had.

"Wait... you still care about me?" she asked when she realized what was happening, the tattoos showing back up on his skin.

"Yeah, crazy isn't it?" he put his head down on the arm rest of the chair as she dozed off to sleep. He watched her lovingly and prayed that she'd never run away from him again.

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"Excuse me," a young police officer said, waking up Ethan. "Can I speak to you in regard to Ms. Hallie Brooks?"

"Uh, sure," he said groggily. He didn't even know that was her last name until now. They walked out into the hallway and started talking.

"We take DUIs very seriously here, and it's even worse since people were injured and one boy was killed."

He didn't know the severity of the situation, he had guessed, but he wasn't positive until then. He wanted to know who he was, but he also didn't want the name to haunt him.

"Since she wasn't a repeat offender, she's facing a three month sentence and a thousand dollar fine. Do you know if she'll attempt to battle it in court?"

He couldn't see her doing it, she'd probably just suck it up and plead guilty, but he wasn't going to speak on her behalf. "I'll ask her when she feels better."

"Alright, thank you. Don't let her watch the news, the story is going to be featured tonight and I've heard that can be hazardous to recovery."

"Thank you, officer." He walked back into the room and held her hand. He wanted to hug her, but still didn't know if she was up for that. Plus, her injuries made it even worse.

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He woke up to her crying.

"Hey what's- turn that off!" She was watching the news. Ethan snatched the remote from her and turned it off, but it was too late, she had begun hysteria.

"I killed someone. His name was Jacob and he had just started college... he had so much to live for and I-"

Ethan shut her up with a kiss. "It's going to be okay."

"No, it's not!" she screamed, pushing him away. "He's not going to come back to life and it's all my fault!"

Her heartrate was accelerating on the machine and so the nurse came in.

"Alright Ms. Brooks," she said, "we're going to give you something to calm you down, okay?"

She asked Ethan to leave so that she could sleep for the rest of the night. He kissed Hallie as she dozed off and left the hospital.

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He showed up the next morning with a bouquet of flowers and was greeted by the same officer he had talked with.

"Now the judge will be in charge of your sentence once you recover, you understand that we want you to have a speedy recovery but cannot be lax about the situation, right?"

"Yes, officer." She didn't have that fighting spirit that she normally did, she looked exhausted and on the verge of tears.

"Alright, I will bring your statement to the precinct, I sincerely wish you a speedy recovery." He left the room and nodded to Ethan as he left.

Ethan sat down in the chair next to her bed, setting the flowers on the side table.

"You're back," she whispered, a tear falling down her cheek.

"Of course, Hallie." He took her hand and gently held it.

She chuckled, realizing that was a mistake and coughed in the pain. "It's weird hearing you say my name."

"Well, I hate to tell you this, but generally the people who stick around tend to use them."

"You say you're going to stick around, but I'm facing jail time. You don't want that... you deserve better than me."

"Well, sadly the universe did not give me Emma Watson, but I think this'll do."

"Seriously... months. It's not too late... you still have a say, the ink can fade."

"I'm sticking by you.End of discussion."