The Soul Catcher (Harry Styles)

48 - Epilogue

"I got a river for a soul and baby, you're a boat."

- One Direction, Drag Me Down

______________________

A few decades later

"Elaine, sweetheart, could you please pass me the salt?"

Elaine immediately reached for the pink saltshaker and handed it over. "Of course, Mrs. Twist."

"Oh, dear, I have told you to call me Anne." My mother's tone was soft.

I watched the exchange with mild amusement. Jonas, Gemma and Robin all had smiles on their faces, and, catching my eye from across the table, my mother winked at me.

They were a bunch to deal with.

It was interesting to experience the changes in my mother's and Robin's behaviour. Both acted old, but they surely didn't look a day over 40. Gemma saw them like I did, too, simply because that was our memory of them.

Jonas and Elaine didn't. The first time after seeing my mother, Elaine had smiled so brilliantly at me and said "It's nice to see that your mum has lived a fulfilled life. And she still looks pretty good for an 84-year-old woman." I had just stared at her in confusion.

To watch my family get along with my afterlife-wife truly warmed my idle heart. Elaine, and even Jonas, had been welcomed with open arms.

The little twinkle in my mum's eye expressed how happy she was for me. She absolutely adored Elaine, and there were no words needed to tell me that she believed in soulmates.

Elaine and I were the living - ehm, or whatever you might call it - example of it.

Many, many years had passed. We had caught too many souls, and I wished I could say it had gotten easier, but it never did. Each soul had a different story to tell, and one was sadder than the other. It wasn't a competition, but sometimes it sure felt like the souls were trying their utmost best to win the award of "most horrifying life story."

Even though so much time had passed, and my mother and Robin were nearly withering from age, Elaine and I were still young.

Our youth and stamina surely had many advantages. Lots of advantages. Actually, so many that Gemma had moved out only a week after living with us.

My earnest talk with Jonas was still fresh in my mind, although years upon years have passed. But there was no interrupting faith's plan, not even when it was my own sister.

You surely shouldn't waste your time on earth looking for your other half. They truly might die young, as in Cassie's case. After a long night working her shift in the bar, Cassie had told me that she had died in 2004.

During one of our soul-catching-tours, Elaine and I had brought back a young man in 2021 - Cassie's soulmate. It was no other than my old X Factor friend Louis. The look on his face had been priceless, but, according to Elaine, so had mine been.

It was mesmerizing to see my friends grow into different people. In some way, afterlife was just like life on earth. Yet, it was different.

Afterlife shouldn't be feared, but shouldn't be invited upon oneself either.

Needless to say, Elaine and I were allowed to spend time apart. And like any other couple, we did. At the end of the day, or whatever time frame conformed to Shimmerland, we would find our way back in the other's arms.

I had blanked out, my gaze on my wife without really seeing her, as Gemma snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Keep your little friend in check."