Calming A Racing Heart

Chapter Seven

          Joshua leaned back in his chair dumbfounded. This was the last thing he had expected to hear. Was this some kind of Joong Soulmates, fated to love you, fairy tale?

          "What kind of shit is that?" A slight edge of anger colored Joshua's voice. "Do you really expect me to believe that? Do people still believe in souls in this day and age? If this is some kind of joke you people play on the rest of the universe, I don't appreciate it."

          Joshua's anger propelled him to his feet. He started to leave, but Larcin's next words stopped him in his tracks.

          "The emptiness, that hole you've carried inside you all your life, it's gone now isn't it." Larcin looked at him, his voice carrying a conviction that was mirrored in his eyes.

         "How....?"

          "On your sixteenth birthday your heart started racing at an incredibly fast speed, so fast you could barely breath. It's back to normal now. True?"

          Joshua slowly slipped back into his seat. He appraised Larcin coolly like he would some con man trying to put one over on him. He decided to hear him out, see how far this would go.

           "No one knows about that. How could you possibly know?"

           "Because I experienced the same thing. Probably at the exact same time as you did. I'll even wager that we were born on the same day." From his comm unit Larcin flashed Joshua a copy of his ID. By galactic calculations both birthday dates were the same.

          "All of our people go through this."

          "OUR people? So, you think that because I had these strange medical anomalies, I'm one of you?"

          Larcin was at a loss how to explain to Joshua a concept that was fundamental to the lives of every person on his planet. He looked around the café to be sure that no one who was not privy to this information could eavesdrop on what he was about to say. The café was mostly deserted at that time of day so he continued.

           "It goes deeper than just the physical. The truth is you were born with only half a soul. The emptiness you felt? That was the place that the missing half of your soul should have been. I was born with the other half. That's why we were born on the same day. That's the connection we share. We each possess half of the same soul."

           "This is crazy. You are telling me I'm not even human?" Inside, Joshua was reeling, trying to make sense of what Larcin was telling him. Too many things were falling into place for Joshua to totally dismiss what he was hearing. Outside, he desperately held on to his professional demeanor.

         "And the rest of it? The racing heart, the longing?" Joshua demanded.

          "When we reach the age of sixteen the 2 halves of our soul begin to call out to each other to be reunited. The racing heartbeat I guess is to urge us to go out and find our other half so we can become a whole entity. That is one of the signs it's time for us to start searching for our other. The longing draws us together. When we finally meet, our heartbeats will go back to normal. Usually, when two halves find each other it's a joyous occasion. "

            "But it's different with us?"

           "You could say that. Most of the time the pairings are a male with a female. They end up falling in love, marrying, forming a family unit. Same sex pairings like us are far less common."