Chapter 3
This time, I do kick the truck again, but I don’t care about the pain. I set off at a run, back the way I came, nearly suffocated by the need to get back. I can’t be like Lav. I can’t be like Lav. I can’t be like Lav.
0000 d 00 h 01 m 04 s. I panic and run faster, my nerves stretched past the breaking point. I already know I won’t see her. I’m going to turn out just like Lavender. Faster and faster. I can’t feel my legs anymore. 0000 d 00 h 00 09 s. In a last ditch effort, using the last of my energy, I veer off to the right where I can see what looks like an abandoned farm in the distance.
And then, all the wind is knocked out of me as a dark form barrels into my chest from the left. “Ah!”
My wrist buzzes, and a sensation passes through me unlike any I’ve ever known. Without looking down, I know without a doubt that my wrist now reads 0000 d 00 h 00 m 00 s. How is this possible?
I look at the mass of limbs that sits on my chest. It’s obviously a girl, so I know it must be her. She’s the one. She disentangles herself from me and sits up without my help. I stare at her.
The first thing I notice about her is the scar. Jagged and loud, running down her face with blatant obviousness. From her forehead to her chin, her face had -recently, it seemed- been torn open. Framed by pale, wispy blonde hair, her scarred face is still beautiful. Light green eyes look up at me, filling with tears. Why?
I stand and offer a hand to help her up. She refuses with a stubborn shake of her head. I frown. “What’s your name?”
She looks up at me, frightened. Frightened? What on Earth could have put her out here in the middle of nowhere, running just as fast as I was, dressed in black, and now nearly in tears? She silences my internal thoughts when she answers my question in a small voice. She hangs her head low. “Alice. I’d like it very much if you would just leave me alone. It seems I’ve just missed my timer.”
For some reason, a smile breaks out on my face. “No, Alice, you didn’t.” I lift my wrist and grab hers, putting them side-by-side. She looks up at me wide-eyed.
“You-you…?” Alice’s look changes from scared out of her mind to plain bewilderment. “But… I thought for sure… You can't possibly be…”
She trails off as her tone drops to one I can no longer hear or understand. I tip up her chin so that she’s looking at me again. “Hey. Alice, whatever happened, that doesn’t matter right now. Okay, soul mate?” The beginning of a smile forms on her scarred face. “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”
She tenses then, and shakes her head. “I can’t. Not now. They’re too close. But... maybe, in time … um. What’s your name?”
Her words confuse me, but I nod my head slowly. I understand not wanting to share. “Ohio.” I supply.
She smiles at me. “Come on, then. We’ve got to go. The only thing I can tell you as of now is that the Council is after me. We have to go. We have to go now, and run as far away from Redsaw as possible. Will you come with me, Ohio?”
I thought about it. About leaving Asher, and the Redsaw Print, my mother and father, and the town I had grown up in. How could I leave that for Alice, a girl I literally just met? And, not just leaving, but to run away from the government for an unknown cause. Why would I do that? Because she’s my soul mate, I realize. That’s why. I put down a solid resolve then: I would trust this girl no matter what. So I nod and offer yet another smile.
She grabs my hand and starts to pull me back towards town, but I stop her and tell her about my truck. She frowns. "Can you change a tire? Back at the farm over that way," she gestures behind her, "I saw some tires. I had to stay there a couple days, so I did some exploring."
Two hours and two tire changes later, we were headed back towards Redsaw. From the seat next to me, I hear Alice sigh. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she says. A pause, and then, "Will you really follow me? You don't even know why I'm running. I could be an ax-murderer for all you know, yet you choose to come with me and leave all of this," she gestures around her again,"-behind. You don't even know my last name, for God's sake! It's Kilter, by the way."
I file that information away; apparently she's religious, she likes to use hand gestures when she talks, and her last name is Kilter. Alice Kilter.
"Because," I answer, using my reason to myself from earlier, "you're mine, and I'm yours. That was proven a few hours ago when our clocks stopped together. I promise I'll never leave you. That's how love works, right? I don’t love you yet, but in time, well… We stick up for each other and trust each other; no matter what the situation may be."
"Yeah. I… I just haven't had anyone to do that for me in a long, long time."
I think about that. I have a family back home and a best friend, plenty of other friends, and a sister who love me. And here was this girl, alone, who had been living in an abandoned barn for who knows how long, obviously broken over some horrible past, and I had the opportunity to love her. How could I not take that offer?
I reach over to the console and cover her small hand with mine. That prompts another smile from her, the corners of her disfigured lips turning up ever so slightly.
I slow a bit, coming back to the intersection where I had first turned. "So, where are we going, exactly…?"
"Um. Honestly? I don't really know."
"But you're the one that's been running away from the Council, not me! Don't you have any idea where we should go?"
Alice looks out her window. "Do you have any goodbyes to make before you leave? If so, you need to do them now. I have somewhere in mind, but…"
I nod. "Yeah, I guess I should tell my parents that I'm not being shipped off. They must be worried out of their minds... And if we're going somewhere too far away, than I should at least call Asher."
Frowning, she asks, "Why would your parents be so worried?"
Oh. I hadn't meant to say anything, and I can feel that spelled out on my face. I guess I'll have to be the first to open up. "Ten years ago, my sister… she didn't find whoever her person was. They've been nervous wrecks ever since- as if they could have bad enough luck that I wouldn't have found you."
"Wow. I, um. Well… my sister was sent to the Hospital too. Eight years ago. I wasn't supposed to have a soul mate either- it's basically a curse in our family. That's why I was so surprised when I ran into you. So that's my big secret. Mostly." Her cheeks flush, as if it was embarrassing.
How could we have such a big thing in common? It's mind-boggling to me to think that a situation so rare could be the exact same as hers. And the curse? I decide to ask more about that later. She's revealed enough for now, even though curiosity gnaws at me. So I change the subject. "Where are we going, then? Illinois? Florida? Washington? Texas?"
"No," she says, smiling, "Switzerland."
I balk at her. "Switzerland?"
"Yep. My family owns a lodge there."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, don't I get any say in this? I mean, I agreed to leave Redsaw, but I didn't agree to leave the U.S.! Can’t we just go somewhere remote like the wilderness in Montana and be hermits or something? I can’t leave the whole country with no reasonable explanation to my family.”
She sighs, and opens her passenger door. “Alright. Bye, Ohio. It was nice to meet you. I’ll always remember that I do have a soul mate.”
I reach to grab her arm and stop her, but she’s out now. "Stop! Come back and talk to me. Please. Don't leave me already."
Alice stops and turns back to me with a wistful look of hope lighting her twisted features. "Don't leave because of me. But if you will, than… I suppose we can stay somewhere a little less safe. In the U.S."
I'm so happy I could jump out of the car and kiss her. But that would be unacceptable behavior for soul mates this young, and who were only Matched today. So instead, I do get out of the car, but instead of kissing her, I spin her around. "Yes!" I exclaim.
"Alright, alright. Come on, let's go tell your parents. We still have to go."
"Yeah, okay." I open her door for her and she blushes. I've never made anyone blush before.
I smile. This could be okay.