She's back!
That's right, after a well-deserved month off, Taylor's back with -- a new story?
Yup.
She's doing it to us again.
Starting us on a new journey before she finishes the other one!
Oh, Taylor, you're going to drive me nuts!
I guess this means we have to wait for her to finish editing the stories she's teased us with, huh?
Okay, okay.
Enjoy!
- Kendra
The Pianist's Wife
Part One:
About Time
The definition of Soulmates according to humans:
A person who is ideally suited to another.
My definition:
Two souls who have been together since the beginning of everything.
I remember the purple sky. A small soul in my arms. And, the stars shone bright. A yellow bird feeder was to my left, still fairly full. An unused treehouse was to my right. Everything was quiet and still. It was the perfect night for a soul insertion.
I entered the house without opening the door. I stepped over the scattered pile of pregnancy tests that spilled out from an upended trash bin. I picked one up and read it.
"...Negative..."
Of course, I didn't really need to read it.
I had seen Laura Pierce kick over the trash bin. I sat with her against the cold tiles of the wall. I even wept with her as she curled up and sobbed into her hands. I rubbed her back, though she couldn't feel it. Oh, if only I could speak to her. If only I could tell her that in a few days’ time I would be delivering the soul of her son.
Silent as a whisper, I crept upstairs to the bedroom where Laura and her husband slept. In my hands, the soul had become warm and slippery. I struggled to hold on, my fingers clutching it tight. It was as light as a feather, rising and falling in my grip as I moved closer to its mother. I stared down at it, astounded by its eagerness. It wanted to be born.
I crouched beside the bed and stretched out my hand, my fingers passing through the silky fabric of her nightshirt. The soul leapt out of my grasp and settled comfortably into the cluster of cells that would grow to be a baby. A smile was painted across Laura's face. I stood and smiled back.
My next stop was four houses down. The soul in my pocket grew colder and heavier with every step I took. I tried to ignore it, but it was right. Without its mate, this soul would be lost. But they would find each other again. Soulmates always did.
So I kept walking, even as it rained, to the tiny house that would serve as this little one's home. It would be a girl this time. And her mate would be depending on her.
I remember the door was purple. There wasn't much in to see the yard. I entered this home in the same way I'd entered the last one. Alice Harris slept soundly on the living room couch. There was no pregnancy test nor had there been any thought of a child; just dirty floors, cracked walls and a beaten down teenager.
I crouched beside her. I stretched my hand. This soul fought, not to escape my grasp, but to embrace it. It didn't want this life, but it had no choice. A single shove was all it took to get it inside of Alice's waiting womb. I left as quickly as I'd come, stopping only to look back at the door, then up at the sky.
The color purple gave me the reassurance that I needed. It reminded me that their lives, their joys, their suffering, would all be worth it in the end.
