It was common knowledge that when you are born that you have a timer on your wrist that counts down the time. What time exactly people wonder… When the timer reaches zero you meet your soulmate. Many people cannot wait until they meet their soulmate. But when you meet is up to the timer and how you meet is by chance. You’re left guessing what your soulmate looks like, their personality, if it’s a boy or girl, their age? But most soulmates are around the same age. There are no more labels since the timers, so no one is called gay, lesbian, bisexual, and straight. Everyone accepts that love is love. No one really knows how the timers can to be, when they started and who programmed them. Some books describe a time when people ‘dated’ other people and if it didn’t work out they ‘broke-up’ but if they found the person they wanted to spend their life with they got married. So people back then didn’t always marry their soulmate but still fell in love. I wonder what it would be like to fall in love back then. But as I look at the timer I see the glowing purple numbers 1year, 25days, 8hrs, and 10secs. I sighed taking off my headphones; right now I’m home alone. Mom and Dad are at work and my younger sister is out with her soulmate. Yep you heard me my younger sister has a soulmate before me. I’m 18 and I haven’t met my soulmate, I have another year to wait. Most kids nowadays meet their soulmate at 14-16 years old with the occasional 20 year old because they lived across the country or in another country. But when you live in a small town in the middle of Nebraska it’s almost expected of you to have a soulmate in the town and by the age of 13. But no I’m one of the only kids in Linicon, Nebraska who doesn’t have a soulmate. I mean I already get looks for my genetics which causes me to have one sky blue eye and one light grey eye. I got off my bed and walk to my bookcase, scrolling through the titles, when I reach my old favorite. ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ by John Green. It belonged to my Great-grandma, the pages are dog-eared and the cover is bent but still in perfect reading condition. I move my caramel color hair out of my face and sat back on my tie-dye bed. I understand why Great-grandma gave me this book. Mom and Grandma love the stories of first hand experiences of finding a soulmate but me not so much. I love the stories about trying to find love or falling in love with a glance. I lay back on my bed and replaced my headphones over my ears. I scrolled through my music playlist and found my pre-timer music list. Books, music and movies are labeled as pre-timer era and timer era. Great-grandma gave me all her cds and music devices, I love listening to them. I drain the battery on the iPod almost every week. As I’m reading about Hazel and Gus’s first meeting, while listening to the song ‘Lego House’ by a singer called Ed Sheeran, I hear the door downstairs slam.
“Iza!!”
I sighed, ‘Well my day was peaceful so far.’
“What Shelly?”
My door opened and my 14 year old sister flopped onto my bed. Her platinum blonde hair flared out around her head and her sky blue eyes glared at the ceiling.
“I don’t know what to wear Iza.”
I looked at her puzzled, “What do you mean?”
“For my date tonight I don’t know what to wear.”
“You were just on a date with Justin why are you going out again?”
She sat up and glared at me, “Just because you don’t have a soulmate doesn’t mean you can be jealous of me.”
I scoffed, “Who said I was jealous of you, I’m just stating why are you going on so many dates.”
“Fine then don’t help me,” Shelly got up and slammed my door when she left.
I sighed again, ‘Just because I don’t have a soulmate doesn’t mean that you get to be a witch to me.’
I sat up and packed my Doctor Who bag with my journal, pens, The Fault in Our Stars, and my iPod with my headphones. I left my room, putting on my slip on shoes, swinging my bag over my shoulder. In the kitchen I wrote on the chalkboard telling Mom and Dad that I would be a Chris’s house and eat dinner there. I left and started walking the two blocks to my best friend Chris’s house. Chris is another kid in Lincon that doesn’t have a soulmate yet. We are both seniors in Highschool and basically inseparable.
Most people thought that Chris and I would be soulmate but no we are more like twins than lovers. Chris has dark brown hair and forest green eyes. We are both 5foot 8inches and we can finish each other’s conversations. I walked up to his house and knocked on the door. Immediately I was engulfed in a hug…
“Izzy!! I missed you so much we haven’t hung out in forever.”
When Chris finally let go I noticed that he was wearing the same plaid shirt as me.
“One we saw each other 2days ago and two why the same shirt?”
“Well Izzy-Bella if you must ask. I knew today was a plaid day because you’re upset and two days is too long without my twin. So come on in and I’m gonna assume that you’re staying for dinner.”
“Assume away,” I laughed, stepping into his house.
Before we headed upstairs his mom greeted us. She has Chris’s brown hair but dark blue eyes.
“Hello Isabella it’s so nice of you to drop by. We’re having lasagna for dinner tonight.”
“I love your lasagna Mrs.Barns thanks for letting me stay.”
“You’re welcome dearie just go hang with Chris and I’ll call you guys down.”
“Thanks mom,” Chris stated as he headed to his room.
“Thanks again,” I followed Chris and closed his door behind me.
Chris’s bedroom is like mine, we both have a bookcase, a beanbag chair next to the bookcase, a queen-sized bed with tie-dye sheets, and a desk with a Toshiba Laptop. But Chris has pre-timer band posters all over his walls, Mom would kill me if I had all the pre-timer stuff Chris has. This is also another reason I like Chris’s house. His Mom and Dad don’t care that we don’t have soulmates, they just like that we have each other as friends. Now my Mom and Dad want me to have a soulmate as soon as possible. They hate that Chris and I aren’t soulmates, they keep bringing up that I should leave so I can find my soulmate and settle down back in Lincon. But I don’t want that, I want to go to college and have a job. I don’t want to be in Lincon for the rest of my life.
“So Izzy-Bear what’s the problem? Is Shelly being a witch again?”
“Yeah I questioned why she was going on so many dates with Justin and she got prissy at me and said ‘Just because you don’t have a soulmate doesn’t mean you can be jealous of me.’ She just irks me so bad.”
“Hey it’s Spring Break and we have two more months until graduation. Then we are technically legal and we can move to any town you want. Mom and Dad said they will help us pay for the apartment.”
“I know Chris I just need to find out how to tell my Mom and Dad the news.”
Chris gave me a look and sighed, “Izzy-Bizzy just tell them either tonight or tomorrow.”
“But you know how my parents are… If I mention moving out of Lincon they assume it’s to meet my soulmate and settle down. Not me going to college or me getting a job it’s only about getting a soulmate.”
I sat next to Chris on his bed and he started braiding my hair.
“Izzy-Lizzy you know that if your parents start something you can move in with me. I mean you’re my twin, my partner in crime, the Isaac to my Gus!!”
I laughed, “Only you could quote The Faults in Our Stars making me laugh and cry at the same time.” Then I stopped, “Does that mean I’ll be blind and you’ll die first?”
“Well we’re both blind to love… so does that count?”
I stayed at Chris’s house until 8:30 then headed home. When I walked through the front door my parents were sitting in the living room.
“Isabella Marquis where were you?” Mom asked glaring at me.
“I wrote a note on the chalkboard telling you guys that I would at Chris’s house.”
“Do not talk to your mother with that tone of voice young lady. Your sister was upset because you were yelling at her for actually spending time with her soulmate.”
My mouth dropped, “I didn’t yell at her I just asked why she was going on another date if she spent all day with him.”
Mom stood up and spoke into my face, “You have no right to speak to your sister like that Isabella. When you finally have your soulmate then you will know how your sister feels but until then do not question your sister.”
My heart stopped, here was my mom telling me that I didn’t have any rights in their house until I met a person that was supposedly my perfect match.
Tears started falling from my eyes, “Fine if that’s what you want then I’ll be back tomorrow to get my stuff and I’ll be out of your life.”
“What are you blabbing about Isabella?” My Mom questioned her face getting red.
My voice rose as the tears fell faster, “I’m leaving this house and after graduation Chris and I are leaving Lincon! We are going to college and getting jobs before we meet our soulmates! I’ll be back tomorrow with Chris and his Dad to get the rest of my stuff.”
My head snapped to the side, my cheek burning, Mom was breathing heavy.
“If you leave this house you can get your stuff tomorrow but never come back.”
“Fine with me,” I walked back out of the house and ran to Chris’s house tears falling down, stinging my red cheek.
I knocked on Chris’s door and his Dad answered.
“Isa…” He stopped when he saw my cheek, and then yelled up the stairs. “Chris!”
Mr.Barns took my hand gently and led me to the couch. Chris bounded down the stairs and stopped.
“Izzy… what happened?”
I took a shaky breath, “My parents and I got in a fight. I told my parents what we were going to do after highschool and my mom freaked out. She told me that if I left I should stay gone. We can go get my stuff tomorrow though.”
I sat in between Mr.Barns and Chris for an hour while I calmed down. A week later I was still living with Chris and his family. His mom told me that if I wanted to I could take their last name because my old parents disowned me. So Chris and I made it official we are now twins. The funny thing is Chris and I were born two days apart. So in true twin fashion we started speaking at the same time, finishing each other’s sentences, and wearing similar clothes. To decide what college to go to we put up a map of America on his bedroom wall and each had a dart. Chris and I both closed our eyes and threw the darts. When we opened our eyes we laughed, both our darts landed in Ohio.
“Okay Izzy-Dizzy we need to…”
“Look up the different…”
“Colleges in Ohio…”
“Mostly ones with a good writing program,” I said pulling out the desk chair.
“But of course Izzy-Bizzy, we both took so many English and writing classes in highschool why not continue the dream to become famous writers.”
So after looking at so many different colleges we decided to go to Ashland University. I liked the English program and Chris liked the Teaching program, so we told Mom and Dad what we were going to do. They said that they would help us pay for an apartment and our books for classes. I glanced at my timer 1year, 1day, and 3hours. I couldn’t help but wonder if my soulmate was at the same college or not. But whatever if I wanted a college degree my soulmate would have to accept it.
Eleven months later Chris and I were enjoying our college classes and we fit in nicely to college life. Chris met his soulmate here at Ashland, in the bookstore, see we went to get the poem book we needed for class. We head over to the poetry section and there is standing a boy around our age (19years old) with blonde/red hair reading the book we need. Chris stops and glances to his timer it read 10seconds. Then blondie looks up and his light green eyes met Chris’s. He smiles and walks over.
“Hi I’m Ryan,” he smiles.
I glance at their timers and they both reach zero… I smiled and pat Chris on the shoulder.
“I’ll be over at coffee shop bro take your time.”
Chris blushed and nodded, “Okay Izzy-Bella,” he holds out a hand to Ryan. “Hi I’m Chris.”
Ryan, who is around 6 feet tall, takes Chris’s hand and kisses it gently. I roll my eyes as I sit at a table in the coffee shop with a view of my twin and his soulmate.
‘Of course Chris gets a romantic soulmate,’ I chuckle to myself and glance once more at my timer. 26days, 4hours, and 32seconds…… I sighed I wonder who it will be.
25days later………
Chris and Ryan are currently talking about where to go for lunch. Yep Ryan moved in this Chris and I. I don’t mind Ryan’s cool, he has a whole bunch of pre-timer stuff too. He has all the seasons of a pre-timer show called ‘Supernatural’ oh my gosh the first time we watched it we freaked out we got scared within the first ten minutes. Apparently his great-grandpa gave them to Ryan because he wants to become a mythology major. So we are now walking to an Olive Garden for lunch, I wore my favorite blue/green sundress, white flats, and my hair brushed into a fishtail braid Chris did for me. My timer read 5minutes and 14… 13 second, my heart thumped hard in my chest and my hands were shaking. What if my soulmate doesn’t like me or what if it’s a fluke and I don’t have one? I shook my head, ‘I’m being ridiculous.’ We stopped at the crosswalk and I looked around not that many people were out. The crosswalk sign changed and I walked out in the road first. Then the car came out of nowhere going above the speed limit, Chris screamed my name and I looked back.
Everything was going in slow motion. I heard the screams and the tires screeching, but a hand wrapped around my wrist and our bodies fell out of the path of the car. I landed on top of someone and my eyes were clenched shut. A soft male voice started talking.
“Hey are you okay?”
I opened my eyes and I met a pair of hazel eyes, a soft hand brushed my loose hair away from my face.
“I’m okay…”
He chuckled, “Well fancy meeting you here.”
I got up and he stood up with me holding my hand. He was around 5foot 11inches, his black hair was a contained messy and his hazel eyes sparkled. He was wearing a blue plaid shirt, faded blue jeans, and cowboy boots.
“Hi I’m David.”
“I’m Isabella or Izzy for short,” I quickly glanced down and my timer said zero.
“Well Izzy I have to say I never thought I would literally fall for a girl.”
“Maybe the situation called for it,” I joked.
“Defiantly, I wouldn’t pick a better way to meet the girl I would fall for anyway.”
“Do you mind getting lunch with my brother, his soulmate and I?”
“Not at all, I would be delighted.”
A few weeks later David and I knew everything about each other. We both love pre-timer things; he also wanted to be a writer. He loved that I wanted my college degree and a job. David respected my choices and I loved how sweet he was. The four of us loved going on double dates and David read ‘The Fault in Our Stars’. He told me that even though we didn’t fall in love slowly he was happy that he didn’t lose me before he got to know me just for myself not just because we were soulmates and I could agree more.