Writing Practice

Red String

Original Short Story
Soulmate String AU

Story

Red string was everywhere.

It covered every desk, the floor, and the people in the crowded lecture hall alongside me. I brushed one string off of my head with a sigh. Damn, this really could be annoying. I should've taken online courses.

My own red string was wrapped in a loop around my pinkie finger. Like most other people's strings, it too led outside the lecture hall. There was only one other couple in the room who's strings led to each other, and they were sitting side by side further up. Thank God I was ahead of them, I can't imagine how anyone around them is able to work with their distractions.

In my world, soulmates have been a thing for the last few centuries. Still relatively new when you think about how long humans have been around for. Each person had their own string, and on the other end was their soulmate. All they had to do was follow the string. However, it can prove more difficult than it seems.
My plan was to finish college and save up some money before going on some journey to find my soulmate. Or maybe I'd let fate untangle our string for me. Whichever one was most available to me.

Like everyone else, I was curious about my soulmate. After all, we don't get any choice in the matter, and the red string appears when both soulmates are born. Sometimes it can take a number of years. Mine had been with me since I was born. I wanted to know more about them. As strange and unlike me it was, I was genuinely excited to meet my soulmate.

The professor dismissed us with a wave of his hand, and I found myself getting caught up in the crowd of people and string as we left the lecture hall. I kept tripping. Thankfully, I managed to keep my balance and not fall face-first into the linoleum tile. Stepping outside of the building was like taking a breath of fresh air, both literally and figuratively. I deeply breathed in the late summer air and let it out in a sigh. The quad was covered with red string as well.

It was unusual for people to be able to see the strings of other soulmates, but it wasn't unheard of. And it was typically in different amounts. Most people were only able to see a couple of other strings. I was one of the few who were able to see everyone's. It proved to be quite the hindrance. It also meant I had to walk through them without tripping over them and making an embarrassment of myself before I got to my dorm.

In the busy quad, I didn't notice it at first. But then the familiar feeling of my string on my pinkie was gone, and I jumped in surprise. I turned around to find my string had fallen off and was beginning to be pulled away into the crowd and their various soulstrings. My heart seemed to stop as my stomach dropped. I had never heard anything like this. Strings falling off?
I regained my bearings and tried running after it, but all too soon, it was lost in the many red strings I could not differentiate between. When I thought I found it, it turned out to be someone else's, and I struggled on even as the hours passed and the quad eventually cleared.

It was long gone.

With a cry, I dropped to my knees under my favourite tree, sobbing into my hands. I had never met my soulmate before, yet it felt like a part of me had been so heartlessly stolen from me. There were occasions where people were born without soulmates, but there had never been a case where someone lost their string and subsequently, their soulmate. All my plans and dreams to find them and live a happy life together were dashed so quickly. And there was nothing I could do about it.

I don't know why I was brought back to that fateful day as I sipped on a cup of hot cocoa, looking out my window on a cold winter night. I had graduated from college a few years beforehand, making it just over six years since I lost my string.
Life seemed duller since then. It was like every day passed by with no hope of a brighter morning. I didn't want anyone knowing what had happened, so I kept it to myself, even from my family and closest friends. Only my dearest cousin, Madison, knew. I still pondered if I could have prevented my string from falling off my pinky, and if I had, would I be spending this night with my soulmate?