Midnight

A Story by Megan

Inspired by Tumbler user mspoffin's post: "I had a dream where every person, at exactly midnight on new years following their 22nd birthday, they possessed the body of their soulmate..."

“Are you excited sweetheart?” I sighed, turning to face my mom.

“Sure, I’m pumped to have a stranger take over my body without my permission. And do whatever they want with it for an hour.” Mom frowned, pen and paper in hand.

“At midnight you’ll find your true love, your soulmate. You’ll enter each other’s bodies and use your time to find one another, not pull pranks. The New Year’s after your father and I turned twenty-two-”

“You switched bodies only to find yourselves transported to the opposite side of the room your body had been in, and when you got over the fear and euphoria of being in a body that was not your own, you walked to each other, or rather to yourselves, and you’ve been together ever since. I know, I’ve heard the story a thousand times.” Mom’s shoulders slumped a bit. “I know it worked out for you guys, and that’s awesome. I mean, look what came of it,” I said, gesturing at myself, earning a small smile from her tired face. “But I just don’t know how I can trust some mysterious force or higher power or whatever it is, or how I can be expected to suddenly fall in love with a random stranger.” I looked at her, pleading- for her to convince me or comfort me, I don’t know.

“Well, you obviously aren’t going to fall in love right away. But you can learn to love them with the comfort of knowing they aren’t going to leave you or fall in love with someone else. You are only meant for each other.” She kissed my forehead and I sighed again, taking the pen and paper from her hands.

“Yeah I guess. I’ll be in my room.”

“Make sure it’s clean! You want to make a good first impression!”

“Mom, it’s my soulmate. If you’re right about all this, I don’t think seeing my dirty socks on the floor is going to change anything.” I heard her laugh as I climbed the stairs.

Sitting at my desk, I smoothed out the paper. My name is Ashley Gwen Jamison, and you are at 182 Court Street, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA. Write down your name, address, and any other information that might help us find each other.

I stare at the message, wondering if the last line was too pushy, when my phone buzzed.

Message from: Jessica

“You ready?”

I picked up the phone, standing up. “I guess. Is my note ok?” I asked, sending her a photo of the paper on my desk. I moved to the window, looking at the house across the street. My phone buzzed again, a call this time.

“Yeah, the note’s good, cool if I steal it?”

I told her it was fine, and a moment later saw the light in her room come on. She waved at the window, then disappeared.

“This is so weird. Tee minus five until we find our soulmates,” she said, reappearing at her window.

“I know. It’s not violent, is it? The switch?”

“I don’t think so. Still worried about the desk chair thing?”

“Yeah, I mean, it makes sense to be there so the first thing they’ll see is the note but…”

“But it would suck if your soulmate fell out of a chair and gave you a concussion.”

“Exactly.”

We were silent for a minute, staring at each other across the street.

“I’m scared, Jess.”

“Me too,” she whispered back, hugging her free arm around herself. “Love you always.”

“Love you too.” We waved one last time before going to sit at our desks. I watched the clock tick down, closer and closer to midnight. I heard people in the houses around us celebrating the New Year, either already with their soulmates or young enough to not have to worry yet. As the seconds passed by, I tried to steady my breathing and became increasingly aware of the way my tongue was sitting in my mouth. Will their tongue sit differently? Will their- and everything went black.

My name is Jessica Ann Bennet, and you are at 183 Court St, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA. Write down your name, address, and any other information that might help us find each other.

I blinked rapidly, staring at the paper in front of me, trying to make sense of what I was reading. Suddenly I was at the window, looking across the street at my house, my body waving frantically at me from my room. Then I was running outside, through the house I knew as well as my own, onto the street.

We met in the middle of the road, panting frantically, looking at our bodies from this new perspective. I reached out to her as she reached out to me, and after a moment of nothingness we were back.

“It’s you.”

“It was always you, for me,” Jess said, a disbelieving look on her face.

“I love you always.”

“I love you too.”