The Soul Catcher (Harry Styles)

30 - Soulmates

"Someone has to die in order that the rest of us should value life more."

- Virginia Woolf

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I hated to admit it but I thought Elaine was right.

It wasn't common for me to get headaches – and that fact shouldn't have changed with death. No, my current headache was simply the Council's call.

How could I not have made the connection earlier?

I was about to simply ignore them, but the nagging pain made it impossible. Faintly remembering George telling me that it will eventually change into something other than pain, I just hoped they would have a small assignment for us so we could go back to earth afterwards.

"Let's go," Elaine said, motioning to the bridge in front of us. A half-smile was playing on her lips, but it seemed to be out of place.

"I'm sorry," I exaggeratedly sighed, my feet sticking to the ground.

"Hey, it's not your fault." She took my face between her hands, the cold having a major effect on them. "The Council calls, we obey."

"They better not sent us to Italy again," I mused, praying that it was simply a little kid that had no idea what to do. We could handle that within minutes.

Elaine shuddered next to me. For a moment I thought she was cold, and I had already wrapped my arms around her shoulders and tugged her into my chest, before I realised that it probably was the memory of what happened in Italy that had made her shudder.

But now that she was already in my arms, it was hard to let her go again. I knew once we had crossed that bridge, there was no way we could openly be together anymore.

As if she was able to read my thoughts, Elaine pulled away from my embrace and sighed heavily.

My body was aching from the loss of contact, and I couldn't fight my hands that itched to caress her cheeks. I let my thumbs trail over her cheekbones and slowly leaned in, savouring the taste of her lips on mine once more.

I made no attempts to deepen the kiss, only relishing the simplicity of it.

It was sweet and tender, our feelings being transmitted in such a gentle gesture. We were both reluctant to let go, but we knew we had to.

"Let's go," I mumbled, my lips only inches from her. Slowly opening my eyes, I gathered enough courage to completely pull away.

My hand reached out to take hers, the movement so familiar and naturally, that I needed to remind myself of the fact that we couldn't even hold hands in Shimmerland.

Some might say there was a certain thrill to being caught, but I couldn't feel it. I felt anxious, but I was rather pissed. Why wasn't I allowed to be with the girl I loved?

I didn't want our relationship to be a secret, but for both our sakes, we had to keep the Council in the dark.

"Promise we'll go to Egypt as soon as the assignment is over?" Elaine whispered, right on the edge of the bridge.

"I promise. We probably won't be in Shimmerland unless we're needed." I bit my lip, for once really fearing our future.

It basically took a lifetime to be reincarnated and I had already made some friends in Shimmerland. On earth, we had no one but ourselves. Things would only be far more complicated than I would have thought.

I had the bad feeling things wouldn't turn out how we wanted them to be.

But that was for later to worry. For now, we simply took a step apart and crossed the bridge, the sight in the afterlife nothing new.