Soul-Sight

In a time where once you make contact with your soulmate for the first time, your sight changes and you can see color for the first time, follow Violet in her life, where she's always been different.

“Xander,” calls my mom picking me up, “Cass, is going into labor!” Finally! Mommy’s best friend, and our neighbor, has had that baby in her tummy for FOREVER. She puts me in my car seat and we head to the hospital.

1 Hour Later

“Mimi, you brought the one year old?!” I hear Cass ask Mom in the other room.

“I couldn’t leave Xander at home alone, and he’s extremely advanced for his age, already speaking and thinking clearly…” drones Mom, knowing Cass is only acting rude because of hormones and pain.

“Whatcha thinking about, lil’ man?” asks Cass’s husband, sitting across from me, trying to make sure I don’t hear.

I have been wondering a lot lately, trying to make sense of different things, “How come I can’t see colors and you can?”

“Xander, you know that’s because you haven’t met your soulmate, yet. Once you make contact with your soulmate you’ll see color too.” He tells me. I’ve heard this a thousand times but it still doesn’t make sense. Why would a person be able to make the colors appear? How do you know when you can see colors? What do they look like?

“How come Mommy can’t see them? Wasn’t my dad her soulmate?” I ask.

“Once the person leaves your life, things go back to normal, to black and white.” he says uncomfortably. He briefly changes the subject and then goes into the hospital room with the others leaving me to think to myself.

14 Hours Later

“Here she is.” says Cass, “Violet.” She holds her down to me, I touch her little baby hand, and suddenly everythings different.

1 Week Later

“She’s a see-er!” says the nurse to Cass.

“What! But how is that possible?” she asks bursting into tears. She wants her child to experience the amazing moment when she meets her soulmate.

“Well ma’am, there are rare cases where we’ve had children who are born with sight.”

They don’t know, I realize, and they aren’t going to.

About 14 Years Later

I quietly crawl over the roof to his house, hoping not to wake either of our parents downstairs.

“Violet? What are you doing here, it’s 2 am?” he says.

“I was bored.” I defend myself, with my signature mischievous grin but brown flashes over my line of sight as my side bangs fall from behind my ear, and I tuck it back in place. He sits up and reaches under his bed.

“You just wanted some of the candy didn’t you?” he teases, tossing the bag to me, and causing my smile to widen even more.

“You know me so well.” I say catching it mid air and sitting on the bed, “so, Xander, how’s life?”

“It was better when I was asleep, you insomniac!” he teases again, and collapses down and turns. Only he is allowed to make fun of my disorders, just about anyone else would have gotten b***h-slapped, but not my best friend.

“Oh come on.” I say, nudging his shoulder. He doesn’t reply. ‘Oh, well,’ I think lying down next to him and snacking on candy.

The morning finally arrives, as the alarm clock flashes red and blares some radio music. I wake up to find Xander's arm over me, and I ease it off, and sneak back over the roofs to my room. Just in time, as my parents enter as soon as I am settled, to get me up for school. Within an hour, I’m ready and we head out the door. I meet Xander in the driveway, we all hop in the car, and his mom drives us to school.

Science is a bore.

Math is a annoying.

Then, third period, I have photography with my two best friends. I spot Xanders red, curly hair across the room and stroll over to them, to find they’re already arguing.

“How do you two manage to have so many topics to debate over.” I tease.

“Because he refuses to accept defeat.” sighs Eliza (my second best friend) very matter-of-factly.

We grab the cameras and head outside to take pictures. Eliza and Xander always ask me for my input on their pictures since I’m the only ‘color see-er’, and I’m cool with it, especially since people rarely make fun of me about it anymore. Once all the photos meet the class requirements, and I make sure they’re aesthetically pleasing, we head back inside, upload our photos, and the bell rings for lunch. The three of us head out together, Eliza and Xander bickering, as usual. We sit in the middle of the field, and snack, chat, and tease each other until the bell rings and it’s back to boredom. Photography is the only class I share with them since Xanders a grade above us and Eliza is in all the advances classes, whereas I take the standard classes (which is fine with me to wait, since they’re always complaining about how hard it is).

Social Studies is agonizingly dull.

In P.E. we play football, but my team doesn’t even pass to me once.

In English I’m glancing at the clock waiting for school to end. The bell finally rings at 3:00. Finally.

I rush out of the classroom and to my locker, next to Xander, all ready at his, and Eliza is walking over from the other end of the school.

By The Lockers

I’m already at my locker when Violet hurries over to hers and smiles at me. This is it. I have to tell her today. She’s gonna hate me. Knowing I’ve lied to her all these years, always embellishing and asking her about colors, about the pictures I take in Photography. But then again, we’re supposed to fall in love. She deserves to know that, and she deserves to know the real reason why she sees colors.

We walk and talk until we're outside the school. I’m working up my courage. Stalling. We’re walking home together, and drop Eliza off at her her house. Stalling. One block left to our houses. We’re about to cross the street when there’s an awkward silence. How do I tell her? I look up, into her eyes.

The moment feels right, I pull her towards me, and kiss her.

I Don’t Understand

We’re about to cross the street, a block from our houses, when suddenly he pulls me towards him and kisses me.

“What the f**k?” I ask pushing him away from me.

“Violet… there’s something you should know.” He says backing away farther into the street.

“What? What are you doing?” I ask/shout, confused.

“You are’n-” he starts, and that’s when a blue car speeds around the corner, from out of sight, and right into him. He flips over and into the air, the car still speeding off into the distance.

“XANDER!” I shout in distress. Quickly running over to his side and whipping out my phone to call 911.

An ambulance and three cop cars arrive promptly and the cops question me about what happened to him and I explain leaving out the part about the kiss. Mimi and my parents meet us at the hospital. He has to survive this.

The doctors are working furiously, he’s bleeding internally, most of his bones broken. ‘How did this happen’ I think, sobbing into my parents’ hugs. A nurse walks over to Mimi (Xander’s mom)’s side and whispers something in her ear and she bursts into to tears. We’re finally allowed at his side. Somehow he’s still conscious through all this.

His mom and mine are on the right side of the bed, my dad’s near the bottom, and I’m on the left. His mom takes his hand, kneeling by his side, and he takes my hand in his and looks right at me.

I lean closer and he whispers so that only I can hear: “Violet…”

“Shh, save your strength…” The heart-beat beeping is speeding up

“No… you aren’t a see-er…”

“Yes I am. Shh…” It’s too fast.

“I love you Violet…” and then he looks looks at his mom and speaks to everyone, “I love you all… Thank you.” That’s the last thing he says before we hear the flatline. Suddenly everything changes. It’s like a filter has been put on the world. I look around to see if anyone is as stunned as I am.

“XANDER! XANDER!” cries his mom frantically. My parents call in the doctors.

“I’m sorry ma’am… there’s nothing we can do.” they say after trying to defibrillate him.

So it’s just me then, and then I realize the world is different because I’m seeing it differently… everything has been drained of it’s color. ‘There’s no time for this now’ I scold myself and break into tears with the rest of them.

About 1 Year Later

I think about that day every day, I have for a year. I constantly try to make sense of the events that took place. I constantly hear him saying his last words. If only I hadn’t pushed him away.

Mimi has lost her husband and her child, so she moved away four months ago. This place has too many bad memories for her, I guess, it does for all of us.

Eliza and I are in our sophomore year of high school now, we’re still best friends, but now our trio’s down to two.

I’ve figured some of it out… Xander was my soulmate, he knew, and no one else did. Also he was about to tell me when it happened. I run through the memories, and realize how many times he must have almost revealed his secret.

Even though we think about it constantly, Eliza and I rarely mention him.

I miss seeing color. I miss him. I guess those things went hand in hand as it turns out though.

About 3 Years Later

I’ve decided to go to New Zealand for college. I want to get as far away as possible from this place. Nothing is here for me now, Eliza’s family moved away, and I want a fresh start. I’m at the airport, and I’ll arrive there by tomorrow. I grab a quick breakfast sandwich at the even-more-overpriced-than-usual Starbucks and get to my gate just in time. My parents had earlier dropped me off here with fake smiles, holding back tears, hiding their fear and sadness that my leaving has brought upon them. I board the plane, thinking of them and within twenty minutes I take off. I’ve been having second-thoughts, but no turning back now.

I have an online pen pal that I started writing a few months ago when I got accepted at the University. She’s going to be a Sophomore at the same school as me, and we’ve facetimed a lot. She’s also going to pick me up from the airport and we’ve arranged to live in the same dorm.

20 Hours Later

The jatter of the landing wakes me up. I check the time and it’s about 4:30 am. Just on time.

“Allison!” I spot her curly hair and white shirt, as we discussed, from across the way and I make my way through the crowd. She smiles and greets me. She reaches to help me with my bags. As her hand brushes mine we both jump back. Then I recognize realization on her face and she smiles at me again.

I’m still confused. What just happened? Then I come to the same conclusion, I can see color. I’ve made contact with my soulmate. The moment every child hears about has happened. I’ve gotten another chance? How can this be? I’ve rarely heard of someone getting two soulmates. I’ve never heard of someone having soulmates of different genders, I’ve always thought it was gay or straight. Then I remember reading somewhere in a recent history book that before we developed soul-sight, as it’s called, people could have all kinds of preferences, like people could be Bi or Pansexual. Is it possible that I’m like that? Apparently it must be.

I smile back at her, gazing into her bright and beautiful green eyes. Suddenly I have no second thoughts, I’m glad I’m moving here. I follow her to her car in the darkness. The world looks different, it’s beautiful, although still dark outside, it’s happy. Something it hasn’t seemed to be in a very long time.