The Writer's Block: A Collection of Short Stories

A Knife to the Heart

There is a certain bliss in knowing for certain who you belong with. My sister Anna disagrees. She likes the mystery. She likes the human experience of heart break and the lessons you learn from it. I personally think that's ridiculous. Why would you put yourself through the pain when you can just pull out a knife and know for sure? When your soul mate can't physically harm you, it takes a lot of the trial and error out of relationships. It's become common practice to pinprick your date, just to save the time.

It wasn't always this way. No one knows exactly when it happened but some event a hundred years ago changed the way our bodies reacted to love. They named it, "Soul Matching". 2018 must have been a chaotic year. I'm sure it was an adjustment but humans eventually adapted, as we tend to do. I, however, had no luck in the love department. Not for lack of suitors, but because I'm gay, and there hadn't been a single soul match between two men in the United States since Soul Matching happened. It's been really hard on our community. One gay guy who went to my high school killed himself because he soul matched with a woman. I don't think I would have had the guts, but I believe in soul matching and I would have married that woman. It would have worked out, because Soul Matching is absolute. Scientists believed that the lack of homosexual soul matching had something to do with population needs. They believe that soul matching stems from a new evolutionary trait that is trying to correct the population trends among the human race. Im not so sure about any of it. All I know is that I trust the Soul Matching.

Anyway, my name is Drew and this is my story. I enlisted in the United States Marines right out of high school because in 2110, we went to war with Russia. The war had been going pretty well for our side, for which I was grateful. After 8 years, we finally had Moscow surrounded. The evening before the assault, thoughts of home had kept me from my sleep. It would have been just my luck to die right as the war was about to end, keeping me from seeing my family.

I partly enlisted to find my soul match. The United States hadn't had any homosexual soul matches, but there had been cases in other nations. Very few, but some. In retrospect, it was a pretty dumb decision to join the military based on such a trivial matter, but I was too broke to travel and it seemed to be a good option. I had no idea how crazy things were about to become.

The assault was brutal. Soldiers on all sides shouting at each other to get down or take cover. Our planes rained bombs further within the city and our tanks blew holes through buildings. It was both terrifying and beautiful. The British, French, and Germans were assaulting North, East, and West, while we came in from the South. The Russians had no help from the Chinese because they were busy with South Korea and Japan. They were trapped.

As we pushed further into the city, a few of us were assigned to lag behind and sweep over our entry path to make sure no Russians were still lurking behind us. I was more than a little relieved to be away from the front. It helped with the nerves. As I was sweeping through an alleyway, I heard the cries of a woman. She shouted in Russian and her fear was evident. I pulled my Russian dictionary out of my pack and was able to decipher a few words. Help, baby, and pain were the three most distressing to me. I had to help her, or her baby could die. As I followed the cries, I came to a small ramshackle house on a small dirt road just outside the alley. I raised my gun and cautiously entered the home, making sure to peacefully utter the Russian phrase for "Here to help".

Suddenly I felt a brute force slam into my right side. I had been set up. My gun flew from my hands and discharged violently. Unfortunately, the woman had been in the way and she died right before my eyes. I was devastated, but had no time to regret my mistakes. The Russian soldier that tackled me pulled a trench knife from his waste and made to plunge it into my heart. I grabbed his wrists and pushed as hard as I could. Just as I was losing my strength, I wiggled my leg free and was able to shove him off of me.

We both got to our feet as quickly as possible. He came at me with unbelievable speed. It took everything I had to dodge the blurring metal knife that he swung violently. I slapped his hand away when he got too close and tried my best to keep him away. He was smart. He was watching my reflexes and monitoring my fatigue. He waited for the right moment, ducked, and swiped my legs. Faster than I could react, he had my arms pinned with his knees and the knife was coming down.

This was it. I was going to die on the last day of the war. I was so close to going home and seeing my family. Now, instead of returning alive, I would return in a coffin. I closed my eyes, ready to embrace the impact. It never came.

I opened my eyes and the soldier was using all of his strength, trying to push the knife into my heart. I felt nothing and it resembled a knife trying to enter stone. The soldier let the knife go and he quickly got to his feet. He stumbled backwards, never taking his eyes off of me. I sat up and met his eyes. He was clearly confused. His brow furrowed as he contemplated what had just happened. His eyes widened and he began to pace, running his hands through his hair and shouting, "NIET NIET NIET", the Russian word for "no".

I stood and he became aware of my presence once again. It was then I really saw him for the first time. Bright green eyes hid behind his dirty blonde hair. His jaw was square and his body was muscular. He had to have been at least 2 feet taller than me as well. "Do you speak English" I asked. He nodded. My heart was pounding. I didn't know what to say. What COULD I say? We were trying to kill each other not even a minute before and now we are soul matched.

"Are you gay," I asked. He skewed his face in confusion.

"Gay?"

"Do you find men attractive"?

He looked away, perplexed.

"Yes. Since very little," he responded in a heavy Russian accent.

We were silent for a while. Staring at each other in awe, bewilderment, and disbelief. I stepped closer and slowly lifted my hand to touch his face. He jerked away and grabbed my wrist violently, but he softened when our eyes met. He took my hand and placed it on his face.

"My name is Yvgenny" he said gently.
I breathed in relief.
"Im Drew".

We hesitated. We stared into each others eyes even more. Such familiarity and warmth. It felt like we had known each other our whole lives. Overcome with emotion I plunged my lips against his. He recoiled at first, but soon relaxed and kissed me back. It was like fire roaring within me. It felt so right and so warm. It felt like sunshine on a breezy summer day. Like a cool drink of water after a long run. Like... love.

We pulled apart.

"What about the war? We can't be together now" he said with pain in his voice.

"To hell with this war. Nothing else matters now. Let's run" I said as my heart beat quickened.

He smiled, and it was then I realized that his smile was all I ever needed.