Falling

She could still remember it- the first day she fell.

Falling was a blessing, people always said. A special, beautiful part of human biology that was yet unexplained. So few people ever experienced it, that rush when you see the one you're destined to be with. Soulmates are rare after all, even though everyone supposedly has one less than ten percent of the population ever meet theirs.

But if two do happen to be near each other, all it takes to trigger the fall is a single nanosecond of eye contact.

Of late people were calling the fall "falling in love"; it was more romantic, they said. It certainly did sound that way if one wasn't paying attention, but in love or not falling was falling.

Where you fall doesn't get rid of the nausea, or the vertigo, the general discomfort of knowing you are being pulled somewhere by forces beyond your control. It really had felt like falling off of a building at the time, like she had stepped off of an edge without noticing and suddenly found herself speeding towards something she had never asked for.

Not literally, of course. She had been rooted to the spot, unable to breathe, much less think about walking towards the man she had accidentally locked eyes with. He seemed to be in much the same position, his drink even dropped out of his hand because he had apparently, like her, lost all motor functions.

They stood there so long that people caught on to what had happened, and soon they were in the center of a ring of tipsy party-goers congratulating the both of them on their luck.

"His name is Mason!" Someone from the crowd yelled to her as someone else pushed the man, Mason apparently, towards her. He seemed to gain a small semblance of himself back at the touch, and a smile split his face.

Her heart had nearly stopped right there. His smile was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and she couldn't tear her eyes away. Normally she wouldn't have looked twice at him, she was pretty sure; not that he wasn't attractive, but the tall, dark, and handsome aesthetic had always set her on edge.

"Hi," he finally forced out, eyes scanning over her like she was some precious treasure he had just found, and she couldn't help the thrill that ran through her at the idea. He was gorgeous, perfect, and looking at her like she was something special to him, like he was feeling the same way she was.

There was something bothering the back of her mind even as they began to dance, but she ignored it. Her head was spinning, her heart pounding, all she could think about was him, and it was wonderful. At least it felt wonderful- she was so off balance she couldn't really tell if it was actually a great feeling or not, she just knew he was the only thing that made her feel stable, so she ignored the niggling feeling while she learned more about the man she was destined to be with.

Hours later they exited the party, leaning on each other not just because they were slightly tipsy but because they both still felt the aftereffects of the fall.

"When can we see each other again?" Mason asked, running a hand delicately down the side of her face. She leaned into the touch- her head almost stopped spinning when he was cradling it. She must have said something, answered in some way, but she didn't remember; she only knew when he pecked her on the cheek and looked at her with a shy little smile, but then he was gone.

He was gone, and it felt like he had taken all of her organs with him; everything but her heart, because she could swear the beating was now echoing around in the empty cavern where her stomach used to be, fading to nothing in moments.

"Katie."

A man's voice, one she recognized. It sent her whipping around, needing to see him, but nearly hoping she wouldn't.