Writing prompts

Soulmate-time counter

Everybody's born with a clock on their wrist that counts down to the moment they meet their soulmate

I looked at the clock again. 23 minutes, 42 seconds. Class would end in 19 minutes.

I took a deep breath. 'Okay, calm down, Cassidy. There's nothing you can do to stop or accelerate this. Just... Calm down'
Talking to myself didn't work. I was still on the edge of panicking.

'Whyyyy? I don't think I'm ready yet! I mean, I'm only fifteen! Couldn't I meet my soulmate when I'm like, twenty? Like most of my class?'

Zach, my best friend, nudged me back into reality. He was the only one who knew what's about to happen in *time check* 19 minutes.

"Hey, I know you're nervous and all, and I get it. But freaking out about it isn't gonna help", he whispered. "please try to calm down, okay?"

I nodded, then tried to do as he said. It didn't work.

'What if they don't even WANT a soulmate? What if they already are in a relationship and would see me as a burden? Worse even; what if they want a soulmate more than anything in this world? What if they've been dreaming about this moment their entire life, and then get disappointed when they meet me? Oh, dear God, please don't let it be the case! Like, I don't have a problem with them not wanting to be in a relationship with me, I'm not even sure if I want one myself, but...'

"Cassidy, why aren't you doing the exercises?" I heard a voice behind me.

Quickly, I turned around to face my math teacher, Mr Forster.
"Uh, I..." I tried to find an excuse, not really found of the idea of my class finding out about me meeting my soulmate in a few minutes.

Mr Forster looked down at my wrist, where my counter was. A small smirk appeared on his face, then he turned around and walked to the back of the class, where some students were chatting rather loudly.

Okay, Mr Forster knew. Great. Well, better than having the entire class knowing.

I looked down at my counter again; 14 minutes.

The 14 soon turned into a 10, which then became a 5. At 4, the bell rung.

Every student quickly left the classroom. I stood up, nervously.
Zach, who was the only other person in the room except for me, gave me a reassuring grin.

"L-let's go...", I said waking out of the room.

3 minutes, 30 seconds.

The two of us went to the cafeteria. There were a lot of other students in there. One of them was my soulmate.

2 minutes.

Since when does time pass so fast? Zach turned towards the queue, giving me a silent question when he looked at me.

1 minute, 45 seconds.

"Can you... Can you get something for me?", I asked. Something told me that I wasn't supposed to go there.
"Of course", he answered. Then he walked away, leaving me alone.

1 minute, 30 seconds.

Maybe I should've asked him to stay-I didn't feel like I could face this alone. But he was gone, and every fiber of my being told me not to go after him.

1 minute.

Slowly, I began walking towards the centre of the cafeteria. I stroked my hair, then immediately stopped, afraid that I might look stupid doing it.

30 seconds

Maybe it was a bad idea to wear my typical hoodie today. After all, I was gonna meet my freaking soulmate!

15 seconds.

I began to breath faster. Holy sh**! This was actually happening!

10 seconds.

I don't- I'm not ready for this!

5 seconds.

I tried to steady my breathing. No success

4 seconds.

I abruptly stopped.

3 seconds.

I looked around; somewhere here was my soulmate, possibly feeling the same way I do right now.

2 seconds.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

1 second.

I opened them, just in time to see a figure on my left, only centimeters away.

0 seconds.

They bumped into me.

I stumbled a bit, then fell to the ground. I could see that the same happened to them.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?", I heared them ask.

"Y-yeah... I think so...", I answered

"Here let me help you", they said, offering me their hand.

It was at this moment that I finally got to look at them; kneeling in front of me was a dark-skinned girl around my age, with black, bushy hair, freckles and beautiful, chocolate brown eyes.

"T-thanks", I stammered, taking her hand, and letting her help me up.

"Uh, I- I'm Cassidy by the way..." I introduced myself. "And you?"

"My name's Jane! Nice to meet you!", she answered, grinning

I smiled back. This turned out better than I expected