MUKE short stories

09 ≛

age: 14-15

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As a child, Luke knew about soulmates the way he knew about birth, death, about driving a car. He knew there were such things but he didn't know why they happened or how.

His family would try to explain or they would speculate about his soulmate or his numbers.

Some would encourage him to get a girlfriend before the age of fourteen when he'd start filtering people, he'd be romantically involved with based on their number.

They started to learn about soulmates in school when he was ten.

It was simple when he'd turn twenty-four, there would be a ten-digit number tattooed on his wrist. His soulmate would have the same number on their wrist. They could be older or younger by two years, so he could have to wait until he was twenty-six to find her, him or them.

There was a possibility he'd meet his soulmate sooner. Luke also knew that it was possible to meet your soulmate later in life. You didn't have to marry your soulmate but you will meet them and they will be important to you.

Statistically, in more than ninety-eight percent of cases, the soulmates would fall in love.

Luke's dad told him some people didn't want to meet their soulmate, some people didn't want to fall in love with anyone, and people who believed soulmates were a conspiracy theory.

Before he even got his first tattoo, Luke decided soulmates were okay, he was a shy boy, only held one girl's hand and she was the one to suggest it.

Sometimes he thought about his twenty-fourth birthday, he wanted to visit as many places in Sydney as he could to see if he could find his soulmate as fast as possible.

Other times, he wondered if he would meet someone on his fourteenth birthday and they would have the same first digit, they would lose contact and meet again once it'd be official.

Or maybe they would fall in love and just know.

His brothers called him stupid but he was his mum's son. Luke believed the numbers and percentages and he knew it was most likely his soulmate will be his one true love. Liz also told him that statistics had shown he'll meet her, him or them before he'll turn sixteen.

Luke trusted those numbers and decided he wouldn't think too much about his soulmate until his twenty-fourth birthday.

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Everything Luke hoped for turned out to be wrong when he got his first number.

He tried to hide it from his family for at least a day but his brothers pinned him down to reveal a small circle, a zero tattooed on his pale wrist.

For some reason, there was a Facebook page for their school where people would post their numbers and people tried to find their soulmates.

Luke didn't want to know who could be his soulmate just as much as he didn't want to know.

He knew immediately it wasn't Calum. Calum's first digit was three but he was dating a girl with a number six tattooed on her wrist.

Calum's sister said if you'll spend your entire life with your soulmate so you might as well date other people before you get tied down.

It's not like he didn't found other people attractive or fun to be around. Luke just knew none of them was his soulmate.

A few weeks after he turned fourteen, he kissed a girl with soft lips and number zero and two already marking her skin.

She was nice and calling her his girlfriend made Calum, his brothers, and others stop asking questions.

When they were alone, they talked about life and dreams.

They both wanted a lot of kids, both wanted at least one dog. Neither of them planned on moving out of Sydney.

She wanted to be a teacher, Luke wanted to sing.

So, for a year, they'd hold hand, kiss, and go on dates. Watch movies together.

She turned sixteen a week before Luke turned fifteen.

When Luke woke up on his birthday to a breakup text. She told him she found someone with numbers zero - two - seven on her wrist.

Luke up with a nine next to his zero.

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thoughts on the story so far? the soulmate alternative universe?

Luke's idea of a soulmate?

his first try at love?

are we missing Michael already?

thank you for reading and showing my work the love ♡

Love, Lucija ♡