I Ran Over My Soulmate

Chapter One: Red String of Fate

"Capella, are you ready?"

I nod shakily, gripping my damp hands on the steering wheel of my parents' old Toyota. Most sixteen year olds, in my position, would be psyched at driving for the first time with a permit, but not me. Driving scared the heck out of me. I'm not sure why, though. I just had a bad feeling in my gut whenever I sat in the driver's seat and clicked the seatbelt in place. Maybe the thought of maneuvering a metal barrel that could kill anyone, including me, was frightening.

I glance at my dad beside me in the passenger seat. He buckles up and beams at me, seeming to notice my nervousness. "It's ok, nene. You'll be fine!"

"Thanks dad." I give a small smile back, his words of reassurance slightly raising making me braver. I gather my courage and pull out the driveway, slowly making my way through our street.

I glance at my dad and his thread. It extended from his little finger almost to the floor of the car, but was cut off. It hung limply, as if completely severed in half.

I turn to the road and take a left, glancing at the barren sidewalks. Mom's death had hit my whole family hard, but dad had seemed to be the most affected. He hasn't been the same since her death a year ago. Instead of his bright, goofy self, he's now a lot quieter. He seems to think and keep to himself a lot more.

I think it was around the time of mom's death that I started seeing it. The vermilion thread that hung from two people's fingers.

The red string of fate.

I knew the legend. The two people who were tied to the ends of the string were soulmates. They were destined to be together; maybe not exactly forever, but together nonetheless.

I look at my own string. It seems endless; it's so very long and winding and even tangled in some places. It's a very unusual string. Most people's make it obvious who their soulmate is.

I've been looking for my soulmate for a long, long time in curiosity of who I was to be with, but the way my string is makes it nearly impossible.

Hmm. Who is on the other side of my string; my one and only? I sigh dreamily.  He's probably handsome and muscular and kind and dashing and rich-

And oh, we'd meet in such a spectacular way! I can picture it now: I'm alone in a dark alley in the middle of the night, unarmed and lost, when suddenly, an evil man comes out of nowhere and demands money! I start freaking out, and the man whips out a switchblade, when suddenly, a beautiful guy in a thousand dollar Italian suit beats him up and picks me up bridal style, the depths his eyes flickering with the passionate flame of love, as he carries me off to a far away kingdom where we would get married and have ten children and live happily ever af-

"Capella!!!"

My dad snaps me out of my daydreams and I slam my foot on the brakes, but not before hearing somebody yelp and a sickening combination of a thump and a crunch.

The world stays eerily still for a couple of seconds, as if it is still processing what happened.

And then the earth starts turn in again.

"Oh crap..." My dad rushes out of the car, whipping out a cell phone. I whimper, a little nauseated, as I scramble out with him.

Oh no.

Lying face down, a few yards away from the car, was a man. Luckily, there didn't seem to be any blood, but his arm was bent in an odd shape, almost disfigured,  and he wasn't moving.

Did I... Oh God. Nononono.

I just ran over someone.

I ran over a person, an actual fucking human being.

Now, I consider myself a pretty optimistic person. Others easily agree that I always look at the bright side of things. But this was different. I could have just killed some guy, for all I know. Directly ending a someone's life doesn't have a single good thing about it that I can focus on.

And what I see, which isn't really much since he's face-down, the boy is young.

I barely manage to not spill my guts on the street.

My dad curses and jogs up to the man, checking up on him. The man doesn't move at all, and my dad brisks back to me.

"I-Is he okay?" I ask my dad.

He gulps and nods. "I checked on him. He's unconcious and probably has a broken arm, but other than that, he's alive." 

I stare at the guy lying face-down on the ground in front of me.  More importantly, the string wrapped around his finger.

I sigh in relief, my nausea slightly getting better. It isn't cut. He really is still alive, at least for now.

Hm. There's something strange and sort of familiar about his string. It's kind of hard to explain how it is. I guess it's just really long; all tangled and winding, almost like...

"Mine," I whisper in awe, staring at his- no, our- thread. Sure enough, even though long and sort of impossible, we are connected.

I can't believe it.

I just found him.

I just found him.

My soul mate, the one and only I am destined to meet and be with for the rest of my life.

A flurry of emotions wash over me as I stand in front of him, blocking out the sirens and yelling in the background as I attempt to convince myself that this isn't a dream.

I honestly thought it that it was impossible before, the whole soulmate thing. But this was the real deal right in front of me. I had finally found him by...

...running... over... him...

Crap.

Did I....

... Did I just run over my soulmate?