The Matchmaker's Sister

Besides her ruining my first date, the fight she caused on our grandparent’s thirtieth anniversary helped us to notice something was really wrong with Lucy. 
We’re still not sure what triggered it, or why she chose the moment when our grandma and grandpa leaned in for a kiss before the cake was cut. But her eyes glazed over, like they did when she spoke to Stephen on our doorstep. 
“You weren’t supposed to marry him, Grandma.”
Not everyone had heard her steady monotone, so I can’t say the whole room fell silent at her words. As she continued, more and more people turned to stare at Lucy and the couple’s halted lips.
“1967. Your childhood vacation to Hawaii. The village boy with the nice eyes and the even nicer butt. You were soulmates.”
Now she had the attention of the entire room, which Grandma quickly stole back with her sputtering.
“How did you- I never told anyone…I…”
I saw Grandma’s hand raise, and I rushed to my sister’s side. I had nothing to say in her defense, or even a reason why I should be helping her.
“You little witch.” Grandma hissed.
“Maxine!” Dad grabbed his mother-in-law’s hand as Mom dragged us away from the disgusted gossip surging through my family.

We later found out that Grandma had truly fallen in love with a young Hawaiian boy she’d met when she was thirteen. Yet, they never went farther than a peck on the cheek, and she ignored his letters when she returned to the states. This was years before she met Grandpa, and she had never spoke of the relationship to anyone, even her parents. 
Lucy couldn’t say how she had known this information. The words hadn’t registered in her head before she was compelled to speak them. 

My sister isn’t allowed at weddings anymore either, as she always speaks up when she should have held her peace. Though her tendency to know a person’s soul mate has earned her the nickname “matchmaker”, she can’t choose who she will speak to, or how detailed the information will be. A person’s romantic regret or future love can suddenly pop into her head without warning, and she can’t prevent herself from speaking. That’s why I’ve forgiven her for ruining my date with Stephen. That night she told us that his romantic future consisted of one “lucky” unidentified girl taking care of his drunk dropout a*s, I wanted to kill my sister for scaring him with her “prophecy”. I was devastated when Stephen dumped me. Now, I understand she was just trying to protect me. I haven’t seen that lowlife since, and I don’t care.

Of course, I do wish that Lucy’s powers applied to her or me. When we try to date someone, she can tell the boy how bad his match is, but she never has any information for me or herself. It’s frustrating, but I understand that she can’t choose what she says. 
She cannot hold her tongue on her own, even though she has been banned from all family gatherings after she informed our grandpa he should have married a family friend. That, of course, did not go over well with Grandma.

Soon after she discovered her power, she'd try all sorts of methods to stifle herself. I’d often follow her on these excursions, doing my best to protect my little sister. Once, she tried to duct tape her mouth closed. I saw her squirm when she saw the couple kissing on the park bench. I saw her walk the other way, hesitant and jittery, constantly changing her pace to turn back. Then, she began ripping helplessly at the duct tape, too frantic to take it off properly. She gazed about wildly, finally spying a pen near the curb. 
With her glazed eyes contrasting with her distraught face, the message she scribbled on her arm turned to a messy scrawl from her constant attempts to stop the writing. Yet, she couldn’t prevent her staggering towards the couple and shoving her arm in their perplexed faces. 
The confusion didn’t last long, as the girl shoved her away once the boy began to cry. It wasn’t until she sat immobile on the pavement that I finally ran to her side.
She later told me that she had been overcome by a burning sensation in her mouth that spread throughout her face and body until she wanted to scream through the tape.

I fought with my parents often over their constant attempts to “treat” her after that. Last I heard, they were researching surgical tongue removal or possibly sewing her mouth shut. I took her away before our parents could hurt my Lucy even worse. 

We don’t stay in any town long. Usually, Lucy will piss off enough people or garner so much curiosity that we have to keep moving. It’s frustrating, but I would do anything to protect my sister. Besides, it’s helped me to indulge in my hobby. Since neither of us can keep a job, I turned what were once library investigations of historical prophets into follow-ups of the people Lucy “matches”. When things go well, I’ll congratulate her. Even when people stubbornly persist in their bad match, I still tell her the results. 
Unfortunately, this hobby can take me away from my sister. And while her general disillusionment has reduced her desire to leave the house, she will go out occasionally.

I suppose we have earned a reputation. Every so often, we will be approached by people who expect Lucy to give them their romantic future on command. 
Fortunately for Lucy, this time, she was able to tell a curious pair who was meant for whom. 
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the answer they were looking for. 
“No. I came here to know that Meg and I are soulmates.” 
Lucy’s prophetic voice would have already faded, and I can imagine her panicking to remain true to the vision she’d conjured in her daze. “But I’m telling you, this young lady is meant for someone else. You are smothering her so much she will never be able to find her true lo-“
“I am her true love!” 
The man apparently had issues with controlling, and though Lucy later detected his future was with a similarly domineering woman who would mitigate his vehemence, he would not give up his girlfriend, his prize, now.
I still don’t know how he did it, but he got Lucy to come with him and his girlfriend to an abandoned warehouse. Here, he revealed how much research he had truly done into Lucy’s gift. He knew her trigger- and there, he exploited it in his tantrum.
“TELL ME MEG AND I ARE DESTINED FOR EACH OTHER!!!” The man screamed before smushing his face into that of his writhing prisoner. As Lucy watched this horribly ill-matched couple kiss in front of her, her gift went haywire, and she couldn’t stop herself from repeating their proper romantic histories over and over. 
My sister’s protests only made the man angrier, and he showed her the gasoline he’d concealed in his bag. As he grew ever more aggressive with the poor girl and as Lucy prattled on, he lit the area on fire. Lucy still won’t tell me the full details of what she saw, but I think her prophecy paralyzed her in front of a blazing rape scene. 
I found her still raving in the inferno, staring at two burned crisps. 
I couldn’t risk the doctors getting angry when she was in this sort of state, so I took Lucy back to our apartment and nursed her back to health myself. 
The fire had only just reached her, so her slight frame wasn’t too badly damaged by the flames. Thankfully, my sister recovered quickly in all ways but one- she wouldn’t talk. I noticed that the burn marks were worst around her mouth, but my amateurish medical knowledge didn’t detect any debilitation. No, it seemed that even the prophecy that bound her had been traumatized by that scene in the warehouse. 
After a month, I began to give up hope my sister would ever speak again. 
And that’s when she said it.
“Naomi.” 
I was so pleased at her recovery, I barely noticed that she was speaking in the monotone of the gift, and that she looked slightly horrified.
“Naomi…your soulmate. You killed your soulmate. You killed Stephen-“
Traitor.
How could she even suggest such a thing? How could she? After all I did to protect her and support her, giving up all hopes for a normal life so that I could be at her side, she betrays me just like the others.
I covered the ungrateful wretch’s mouth and picked up her light, hollow body. I brushed aside the stolen diaries and copied family records as I laid the puppet on the table. 
I would ensure Lucy would not prophesize again. 

My little brother has wronged me quite a bit, though I still love him. Trevor embarrassed me in front of my ex which ruined my first date, but that wasn’t the worst of what he had done that day. My softball team lost the championship because of him.
I forgave him later though, because it isn’t his fault. You see, Trevor can tell the outcome of any game. He would win the lottery if he wasn’t too proud. Thing is, when he knows what will happen, he is compelled to say it right on the spot. So, when he stood in the middle of the softball field and told us we would lose, I just didn’t understand his gift yet…