Melody - JATP x Soulmate AU

Chapter 25

With two days left, I should tell my dad what's actually going on. How do I tell him, though? Hey, dad, somehow, I was cursed by a ghost that I've never met and, in two days, I'll be dead and in heaven because it will make my mark disappear? That would go over so well. Plus, how to break to him that my soulmate is a ghost and that's actually why this is all happening... Man, this is not going to be an easy conversation.

Feeling another jolt spread pain across my body, I close my eyes and try to wish it away quickly, like it's something I can wish away just by thinking about it. Lo siento, mamá. I'm sorry, mom.

Opening my soulmate diary, I close my eyes and think about everything I wish I could experience with my soulmate. Strolling on the beach, family dinners, movie nights, joking about our parents; the things I'll miss when I'm gone.

Dear soulmate,

Wherever you are, please know there's nothing else I'd rather do than meet you. I just hope you live an awesome ghost life without me. There's only forty-eight hours (or maybe even less) until my mark has completely faded, and I'm starting to lose hope. It's already pretty faded compared to what it used to look like.

So I took a chance on love
I took a chance on us
And look where it landed
I left you in the dust

Either way it would've happened
We will never cross paths

I keep reading on my wrist
The word Melody
Playing in my head
Hoping to see all the signs
For a remedy
To the hurt I'll give

I'm sorry to whoever is stuck soulmate-less in this world, whether they're a ghost or a living human. No one deserves that.

Heading downstairs, I look around for Carlos and dad, hoping only to see the latter on the main floor of the house. What I'm about to tell dad is going to crush him. He lost the love of his life a year ago and now he's going to lose his daughter, too.

"Julie, what do you want for lunch?" My dad points to a few boxes of leftovers in front of him. "I've got spaghetti, arroz con pollo, even a few empanadas tía Victoria managed to sneak in our fridge."

"Dad, I need to talk to you about something." I try to keep a straight face, but my solemn tone seems to give away the graveness of the topic.

"Mija, what is it?" His demeanor changes to match mine, but he has no clue why. I'm about to break his heart.

"Can we go outside?" I ask, leading him to the back door that leads to a path that connects the back of the house to the studio and concrete patio. "Dad, for the past couple weeks, I've been getting some pretty bad jolts from a curse that was put on myself and a few ghosts. They've been eating away at my mark so that I will, eventually, die because it's gone."

"Mija, a curse?" He doesn't seem to believe me, but a curse is the best way to put it.

"Yes, papí. In two days, I'm going to die because of this curse." Saying it aloud makes it feel so much more real than it ever has. He pulls me into a hug before I can finish the last word, slowly smashing each part of my body, but I don't care.

"I can't lose you, too." He mutters so quietly I almost don't hear it, but I think that was the intention.

"If I find my soulmate, this is all reversed, but that's a shot in the dark." With that comment, he looks me in the eye, as if he has a plan.

"We can just sign you up for as many as we can. There's more of a chance we'll find them if we do that than if we do nothing." Shaking my head, I take a deep breath, knowing death is inevitable.