A Cluster of Stories

Soulmate

ANNA KEY
2-29-98
SEX: F
HAIR: BLACK
EYES: GREY

Great, February 29, 1998. Aren't I lucky. The best birthday in the world. I couldn't help it, how the hell am I not supposed to worry? All of my other friends have already found their soulmates. Meanwhile, I'm over here freaking the hell out about my birthday and my soulmate.

My eighteenth birthday is today. Jeez, this should be fun. I'll never find my soulmate.

I toss my information packet to the side. I stare up at the ceiling. White, grey, dark grey, medium grey, black. All the same colors every damn day, it's so boring.

How weird. Some have timers, strings, strange birthmarks, lookalikes, dates, the grey effect. There's a whole different range of ways to find your soulmate. My case, however, is the literal worst. A rare case where it's a combination of these. I have both the Date and The Grey Effect.

You might think, "What's the big deal? Everyone has a soulmate, why are you so stressed, you just need to have the same cases, right?"

Yeah, sure, whatever you say. Keep this in mind, what if your soulmate is angered easily? What if your soulmate is easy to resort to abuse? What if your soulmate is an addict and they die before you? What if you die before them? Not so easy to say that anymore, is it?

What are the chances I'm going to find someone with grey sight, not only that, but their birthday needs to be the same as mine! Bullshit, right?

You're probably wondering how I know if I have the birthday effect. Let me explain to you. When you're born, your parents have the option of drawing blood to test for these different cases.

My parents decided to do that.

My levels for the Date were high. Obviously, since I saw no color, I had the Grey effect.

People are always talking about it. I hate it. They talk about a "blue" sky and a "orange" sunset. A yellow house, a green field, purple fruit. Right in front of me too. I don't know what these "colors" are supposed to mean. I've never seen them all my life. It's ridiculous.

I have a grey sky, a grey sunset, bland houses, boring fields, colorless fruit, grey rainbows. I hate it. It's so unfair. Why me?

Pissed off, I grab my bag and head out of the house. I blast my music and take a walk to the nearest coffee shop.

It's cold out side. My feet are making crunching noises. It must be Winter. I enter the cafe and feel the warmth envelop me.

The smell of ground coffee beans fills my nose. There's hustle and bustle of people with their soulmates.

The regular workers greet me as I approach to make my order.

"Black coffee please." I smile.

"That'll be two dollars please." I reach into my pocket and grab out money to pay for it. I give it to him and nearly walk away.

Nearly.

The money I handed him falls on the counter, he drops the drink he was about to give to another customer.

A strange sight fills my eyes for an instant. What is this?

I fall back, in shock.

"What the hell was that?" I breathe, scrambling to my feet. I look around, grey, grey, dark grey. His eyes are wide, staring at everything as if an imprint was left on it.

"Did you see that?" He asks, eyes as big as the moon. I nod. He hops over the counter and grabs my hand.

A sight I had never seen before appeared before me. The walls, floors, my clothes, they weren't grey anymore. They... They all had color.

Something wet fell on my cheeks. I was crying? Why?

"What's your name?" I manage to choke out, still looking at everything around us.

"Jace, and yours?"

"Anna." We don't look at each other. Everyone claps as they realized what happened.

After all this time, I had finally found them, my soul mate.

***

"Hey, Jace. This is what they call purple, right?" I ask, laying with him in the park. He laughs and pulls me closer, his (what I've learned to be) blue eyes look into mine.

"No, silly, it's a tree. That's called green." I smile and stare back up into the sky.

I want to hold onto this forever.