Soul Watch

Chapter 4

"Where is she?" Monique checked her watch, and with the other hand, she held onto her wide-brimmed fedora hat as the wind viciously blew at it.

"The cows await," Poppy said as she tied her hair into a messy ponytail.

"Sea cows!" Monique yelled over the billowing wind.

"This isn't a good day to wear a short skirt!" Leah screamed from behind us. Being the smallest and shortest, Leah was always forgotten. We turned around to see her holding her skirt down, Marilyn Monroe style. Poppy whistled at her, and all of us burst out laughing.

"It's not funny! Where on earth is Crysta?"

We were all outside the aquarium on Saturday. Crysta was late, which was unusual. She disliked being late and detested people who made her wait without a valid reason. "Someone better be dying" was always what she said when she had to wait for someone.

"I'll call her!" I yelled over the wind as I took out my cell phone. Just as I placed the phone to my ear, I heard Leah scream.

"Oh, my gosh, Leah. I'm so sorry. I swear I didn't see you!" Crysta screamed at Leah, her hands cupping the sides of her mouth. Leah waved her away.

"I'm sorry, guys!" Crysta turned towards us, hands still cupping the side of her mouth. We stared at Crysta in the white dress I picked out for her. Her usually unruly hair was in a neat French braid, and her thick eyebrows were tamed and drawn properly, framing her face. She wasn't wearing a lot of makeup with the exception for the touch of gold on her lids and poppy pink gloss on her lips. Even her bare arms in the sundress seemed to have a gleaming almost golden sheen. Needless to say, she was the prettiest we have ever seen her. Poppy was the first to break our stupor.

"I'm not worthy, my goddess." She faked bowing.

Crysta flushed. "Oh, come on, guys. It's not that different."

"You hardly put makeup on, and you're in a dress!" Monique was still shrieking, but strangely enough, the wind was just now a slightly stronger breeze and not typhoon like anymore.

"How are you feeling?" I asked as I tucked pulled my gray parka tighter around me.

Crysta bit her bottom lip, "As ready as I ever will be. Today's the day." She looked down at her soul watch. 0000 days 00 hours 37 minutes 54 seconds, I expected her to freak out again or rant about not being ready, but Crysta smiled, her lips pulling at the side. And that smile was the most relaxed smile I had seen all month. That was how I knew she was ready.

I looked at the other girls. Leah and Monique looked near to tears, grabbing each other's arms. Even Poppy grinned wholeheartedly at Crysta, her scarlet lips pulled over her teeth. I looked back at Crysta. "Come on, guys! Let's go see the gudongs eat sea grass!" She led the way to the glass doors of the aquarium.

"They're called dugongs!" Monique yelled after her, exasperated. Poppy patted her shoulder. "Let's go see the sea cows then." All four of them started forward as I brought up the rear. I looked at Crysta, throwing her head back, laughing at something Leah said.

For the past month, I had watched her go through more emotions than I thought humanly possible, and now that she was finally going to meet her soul mate, she looked the most relaxed and calm I had ever seen her. Somehow, even though she had no idea what or who was coming or how he was going to look like or what was going to unfold, she welcomed it with open arms, diving headfirst into the clouds as she took the first step into the aquarium.

* * *

This was probably the best favor Monique ever asked of us. The aquarium was beautiful, to say the least. The moment we stepped into it, we were surrounded by water from all four sides. All kinds of sea life were swimming around us.