"It's You"

It was a humid summer morning, rainclouds hanging threateningly in the sky, some blotting out the sun. The loud cries of birds and the humming of traffic is what awoke Arabella.

With a groan of annoyance, she slowly opened her eyes the wrist with her lovers saying staring right at her.

‘It’s you’

It was such an odd saying, and although she had spent countless hours and countless days pondering the circumstances of which she would meet her soulmate… she couldn’t exactly figure out what would bring her soulmate to say these words to her… Would they know who she was right away? Or would she be like those people who ended up giving up on finding their soulmate and settling for someone else?

“I’m not going down that dark path today!” She muttered to herself as she lightly smacked her cheeks to get her attention drawn to something else.

“Might as well get to work early today…” She thought aloud to herself as she stretched, letting a content sigh as she did so.

It didn’t take very long for her to shower and get dressed, a pair of nice shorts and a t-shirt being her attire for the humid day.

Looking at the clock it read 8:00, she still had an hour and a half until her shift.

“I’ll visit that nice café for breakfast.” Arabella thought to herself. She often passed a quaint little café that supposedly sold the best pumpkin bread, but due to her waking up so late they were either sold out or she was scrambling to get to her shift.

Exiting her apartment, she prepped herself for the noise of the outside world, her ear filters being a much-needed relief from the loud and sudden noises that made up the city. She would’ve never been able to survive without them.

After an uncomfortable 30-minute walk in the humid weather that left her feeling sticky and gross, she entered the cool café, the smell of pumpkin and other sweets permeating through the air.

Walking up to the counter, she ordered a slice of their pumpkin bread as well as a coffee for that morning boost.

Walking to a small table that was located by the window, she settled down with her breakfast. The calming air of the café allowing her to relax.

Looking out the window as she ate her pumpkin bread and sipped her coffee, she started people watching. Eventually an elegant looking man caught her attention, his blond hair shimmering in the morning sun, he exuded an air of confidence.

Her eyes followed him, though after she heard loud pops and people began screaming, she could no longer see him, her eyes widened as her brain tried to process what was going on around her.

Red.

So

Much

Red.

Bolting out of her seat, Arabella scrambled outside in search of the man, her brain still trying to understand what was going on. She cared not for her life at this moment, something told her that this man was in trouble.

Nearly tripping over something in her panic outside, she looked down only to see the golden-haired man lying in a pool of his own blood.

Letting out a strangled scream she dropped down to the ground, her heart racing as she tried to wrap her head around all the blood.

“Stay with me!” She squeaked out as she tried applying pressure to the man’s wounds, proving futile to focus on one she quickly shifted to finding the one that was leaking the most blood.

Looking up to see his face, he looked as though he had seen a ghost. A wet laugh escaped his mouth before he coughed up blood. He almost looked… sad?

“It’s you.” He weakly spoke, she thought she could almost hear sirens in the distance.

No.

No, it couldn’t be.

He couldn’t be her soulmate, he was dying, she wasn’t going to lose him just moments after finding him… was she?

“What’s your name sweetheart?” The man questioned after groaning loudly in pain.

“Arabella…” She spoke breathily, shock hitting her like a freight train.

“You’re doing great, the medics should be here soon,” Arabella said, trying to hold herself from laughing at the whole situation. This had to be some sick joke? This had to be some sick joke that life was playing on her. She’d be waking up any second… right?

The man said something, but she couldn’t hear what he had said.

“I’m sorry… what?” She questioned as she pushed down harder on his wound.

“Lucio… I’m Lucio. Nice to finally meet you, soulmate.” Lucio, even in his weakened state, flung his arms about in a grand gesture, she would have thought it funny and adorable had it been when he wasn’t bleeding all over the place. It only made her feel sicker.

“So, where would you take me on our first date… hmmmm?” Arabella mustered the ability to be slightly seductive and pull somewhere deep within her, her charm.

Lucio weakly grinned as he thought for a moment, surely taking him much longer than normal to answer such a question.

“I’d get us dinner reservations for one of the fancier restaurants… I feel really tired…” Lucio slurred, sounding more out of it than he did only moments ago.

“They’re almost here! You can make it. Fancy places like that aren’t always my thing, maybe we should go out to a nice dance club where we can dance our worries away.” Arabella replied as she kept putting more and more pressure on his wound in a vain attempt to save him.

Pushing himself into a sitting position, despite her cries not to, he leaned against her, his breath barely there.

“I’m dying, I know that.”

“Stop being dramatic! You’re not you’re going to make it.”

“Mourn me, but not too much, I’d rather see from where ever I’ll be the beauty before me flourish like the elegant flower she is.”

And as if a light switch was flicked, his body felt so much colder. He leaned against her, limply.

Sound was coming from all around her, she could hear voices people shouting about we got another one.

It didn’t matter anymore.

The person she had been looking for.

Was dead.