Best Australian Yarn: Soulmates by Sabrina Franco

In the tapestry of destiny, soulmates emerge as threads intricately woven, their hearts entwined. “Who is my soulmate?” A question that all dreamers ask, searching the ether for an answer. The lore of soulmates is something that all children are taught by their parents from an early age. The world is black and white until you meet your soulmate, and then the world is flooded with colour. However, once you lose your soulmate the world returns to shades of black and white. My name is Venus and my story is one of loss and sadness, but also fleeting moments of happiness.

Sleep. Eat. Work. Sleep again. This is the endless monotony of my life, or at least it was until I met him. I was at work, placing books onto their shelves when the store door opened with a jingle and in walked a man wearing a long coat and a button-up shirt. He ran his fingers across the spines of the books, picking some up at random and flicking through them. He slowly approached the desk, picked up a last book and placed it in front of me. He looked up at me and I could see flecks of gold in the green of his eyes. Then I saw the dark brown of his hair and the blue of his coat. As my eyes beheld the vibrant spectrum of hues, I experienced the wonder of seeing colours for the first time. And it was beautiful. Loving someone from the moment you see them is like discovering a missing piece of your heart and realising that they’ve been there all along, hidden in plain sight, completing you in ways you never thought possible. And I never thought it possible. But here he was, greens and blues and browns, proving me wrong.

“Hi,” I said, wishing I was smart enough to come up with something better.

“Hey.” He replied, and I was immediately thankful that he had nothing better to say either. I suddenly realised that I was supposed to be helping him buy his book.

“That’s a good one,” I said when I finally looked down at the yellow book and put it through the scanner. He handed over the purple and blue notes and my mind began to go one hundred miles a minute as I searched for change.

“This is actually part of a series, my favourite series. It’s the last instalment so I’m guessing you’ve read this author before?” I placed the change down on the white counter. “I don’t want to spoil it for you but the ending is just, ugh, so good. I cried. Multiple times. I should probably stop talking now.” I laughed nervously but he smiled and seemed bemused by my endless chattering.

“Why don’t I call you once I finish it, then you can tell me what you think about the ending without spoiling it.” He grinned. I blushed and when the receipt slid out of the machine I scribbled my number below the name of the store. He took the receipt and the book and turned to smile at me once more before he left. I put my mouth over my hand and screamed into it until I ran out of air. How could I possibly wait until he’s finished the book to talk to him? Luckily I received a text from an unknown number a mere 15 minutes later with a picture of a book sitting on a navy bedspread and a message saying “just got home and about to start reading ur book” I smiled and put my phone down, feeling like I would not able to wait for the day he finishes it. The rest of the day passed as slowly as all the days before I met him had, without anything extraordinary happening until the next day. I received another text from the same number containing a picture of him holding the book up, paused at about halfway and a message saying “halfway there! see u soon”. I checked the store to make sure that no one was watching, then jumped up and down at the prospect of meeting my soulmate again in just over 24 hours. The next day I was anticipating the text that came at 10:00 in the morning. “finished. im coming to ur bookshop then we can go out for coffee”. I jumped even higher than yesterday and screamed even louder than the day before. A blonde customer shot me a look but I ignored them. The rest of the day passed in a blur of giving out incorrect change, going to the wrong sections to find books and other mistakes. The whole time I kept an eye on the red clock as the black hand slowly edged closer to 5:30, closing time. At 4:00 I received another message “im outside”. I ran out of the mercifully empty store and saw him standing across the street. I heard police sirens in the background but thought nothing of it. He stepped out onto the empty road, a smile on his face, just as a black car came speeding down the street straight towards him. Time seemed to slow down as the car made contact with his body. The colours didn’t fade all at once, the green of his eyes went first, the dark brown of his hair faded next and the blue of his coat faded to a dark grey. The last colour to go was the red of his blood on the street. And just like that, I lost him, my soulmate, the person I was destined to be with, who was supposed to die by my side after a long and happy life with me. A police vehicle pulled up behind the stopped car and I could hear loud voices coming from walkie-talkies and then it all became too much for me. The voices got louder but I couldn’t tell what they were saying. It got hard to breathe and even though my breathing was speeding up I couldn’t breathe I couldn’t breathe I couldn’t breathe.

At the back of a parked ambulance, I came to my senses, a blanket draped around my shoulders. Once he realised I was no longer in the midst of a panic attack the paramedic in the front sat down next to me.

“Did you know this man?” I nodded.

“He was my soulmate,” I said. The look of pity in the man’s eyes intensified. Suddenly I realised how undeserving of that pity I was. I didn’t even know his name for crying out loud! I didn’t know anything about him at all. And now he was dead. Because of me. He was coming to meet me. And all the promise, colour and love that could’ve been had died with him. I need to know him, but how can I do that now that he’s gone?

Answers come in the form of a news story on my phone late that night. Man killed in car chase. A stupid, short headline for something that has had so much impact on my life. I scrolled down and found the date of his funeral. I also found his name. Andrew. This tiny insignificant fact has just made my day, my week, and maybe even my year. Andrew. My soulmate. I wrote the date of the funeral down in my diary and closed my eyes, just for a second, and before I knew it I was asleep.

The day of the funeral arrived and I got in the car, wearing a black dress and holding a bouquet of grey flowers. When I arrived I took a look at the people sitting in the chairs carefully set out in rows. Only 7 people were sitting in around 20 chairs. This was possibly the saddest funeral I have ever attended. I sat at the back and let the words wash over me. Throughout the service no one seemed to cry except for me and a lady seated at the front. At the end of the funeral everyone left except for the crying woman. I took a seat next to her and she turned around to face me. She had all a mess of tears running down her face. I got a tissue out of my bag and passed it to her.

“Thank you,” she sniffled.

“It was a beautiful service.” I told her.

“Thank you again.” She said, then paused. “I’m sorry, I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Andrew’s sister.”

“I only met Andrew a few days ago, but he seemed like a lovely person.”

“He was.” She sighed, then started to cry even more. As tears fell from her eyes I could see decades worth of pain behind them.

“Could you tell me about him?” I asked, scared that her answer would be no, or something worse. She looked up at me, confused.

“I only mean that, I only knew him for 3 days and I would like to know a bit more about him. Because he was my soulmate.” A tiny gasp escaped her lips.

“You mean, it happened, with the colours and everything?” She asked. “But that’s so rare!” I nod.

“It was beautiful, I don’t know how to describe it.” She smiled at me and shifted her body to face me completely.

“Andrew Carter was…. is my older brother….”

And as I listen, and learn about Andrew, I start to see flecks of gold in her eyes, and there we sit for what feels like an eternity, two broken hearts telling tales beneath the glittering sun.