Through Your Eyes

Chapter 4: Reese

Things were a little rocky at the start there, but I finally convinced my overly cautious soulmate to show me her house. Once I stepped in behind her I was blown away by her fancy-looking apartment. This girl seemed at least a couple years younger than me. Maybe 22? 23? So how did she already have such a nice place?

I placed my boots in the entranceway and followed her inside. The whole space certainly had a modern feel to it. The walls were a perfectly pristine shade of white; everything shined, and not a single piece of furniture looked out of place. Valarie either loved to clean or had a lot of extra money to hire others to do it for her.

"Wow, this is nice!" I told her, voicing my honest opinion for once.

She placed her clunky purse on the counter and grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge. Tossing one over to me she said, "Thanks. I didn't really plan on having anyone over so I haven't gotten a chance to clean. Hope you don't mind."

This was 'not clean?' What kind of clean freak was she? The whole area appeared perfectly spotless! I twisted open the bottle and took a few sips while debating what to do next. What did humans do after meeting their soulmates? On those ridiculous soulmate matching TV shows there'd be massive celebrations on screen and everyone would be all excited, but they never explained what happened next.

I obviously knew my own plans for my soulmate, but what was the normal reaction? Should I ask her out on a date? Try to learn more about her? I had absolutely no clue how humans handled this! Back in hell soulmates who found each other would just go about their days as normal but stick close together for protection. Not much else changed. Were humans the same?

There was only one way to find out.

I twisted the lid back on and traced the smooth surface with my finger. "Sooo... what's next?"

"Well I still have to go to work today and I'm a total mess, so I'm gonna go get ready and then leave for that," she said with a sigh. "I guess you can just stay here and wait for me if you have nothing else going on." Her tone almost sounded judgemental, but I chose to ignore it.

"Sweet! Thanks for letting me stay!" I excitedly spun around to examine where I'd be spending the rest of my time. As I remembered the point of my previous question, I glanced back at her and asked, "But... when are we gonna actually hang out if you're working all day?"

Valarie placed a finger on her chin while thinking for a moment. Then she answered, "How about I bring some dinner home after work? We can figure this all out then. Oh and for lunch you can just make something out of the fridge as long as you don't make too much of a mess."

"That's perfect, thank you."

She nodded in response before rushing to what I could only assume was her bedroom or bathroom to get ready for work. I strolled over to the white, velvety couch centered in the living room and leaned over it to gaze out the glass wall. This building towered over all the other ones nearby, so I had a great view of the city. The sky shone bright and sparkly, while the bustling world beneath it disrupted its serene sense of calm.

I circled around the couch and checked the glass coffee table, noticing a random stack of self-help books neatly placed on one end of it. After examining all the titles I wondered how exactly she got her hands on all this money. Could she be as messed up in the head as I was?

Satisfied with the results of my first search, I laid back on the couch and stretched out my limbs a bit. I'd have to wait a few minutes for Valarie to leave before I could explore the rest of her house. I was actually quite excited to unearth more about her and see more of this place; it was a lot fancier than any of the houses I'd robbed. Having lots of money for a comfortable life and nice place to live was one of the few things I actually cared about—and why I chose this job specifically.

Devils who wreaked havoc on Earth made way more than those stuck working in hell. None of us could ask for a better job, except for how easily one got laid off. Every evaluation at the end of the year presented a new chance to lose this job, so all of us worked especially hard to not let that happen.

As I thought up some fun ways to commit crimes with my new soulmate, she rushed out of her bedroom in a dark blue uniform, buttoning it as she ran. While I stared at all those badges I realized that convincing her to join me might be tougher than I initially thought.

The universe had a hilarious way of pairing soulmates it seemed—a cop and a criminal. I almost laughed at the irony.

"You still good?" She checked on me one last time.

I leaned over the couch and smiled. "Yep, I'll manage. Have fun, officer!"

She gave a small wave before locking the front door behind her. With the apartment to myself it was time for the real fun to begin!

I already had a general sense of where her bedroom was, so I snuck inside and looked around briefly. Most of the room was taken up by her huge king-sized bed, but what really caught my attention was a well organized bookshelf leaned up against the light gray wall. I approached its shelves and started examining the academic awards displayed near the top. She sure did well in school; the shelf contained honors awards, diplomas, and even a small trophy from winning the spelling bee in elementary school. A small smile sneakily crept onto my face as I realized she kept something so small and insignificant. How cute.

The walls of the bedroom were completely blank, leaving the rest of the space rather empty except for a small nightstand tucked into the corner. As I approached I spotted a small picture frame sitting atop it beside an alarm clock. In the frame stood Valarie and who I could only assume was her sister because they shared a lot of similar features. The poofy hair, dark eyes, and caramel-colored skin. They were even wearing the same white sundress in the photo, smiling happily at each other.

The picture raised a lot of questions for me. Where was this sister? Were they really this close? Would it make her harder to manipulate? These were all important things to find out to help with my plans moving forward.

The only room left to explore was the bathroom, which wasn't all that exciting. Minus the shiny stone backsplash, the room almost felt like a hospital with how white, blank, and clean it looked.

I returned to the kitchen and grabbed an apple out of her fruit bowl to munch on while I plotted. Tonight when we ate dinner together I would need to prioritize learning as much as I could about her to figure out how best to manipulate her. I also needed to uncover this sister mystery and just learn more about human soulmates in general.

Things were already getting so complicated. I could only hope things went smoothly once Valarie returned.