The year is 2056. For 30 years now, every baby that is born is given a necklace, but with a catch. It's only half. The other half supposedly belongs to your soul mate, who could be anywhere in the world. 17 year old Willow Jackson didn't necessarily...
"Mom!" I yelled breathlessly, "Dad!" I tried to run into the house, but I felt a strong pair of arms holding me back.
"Honey, you can't go in there!" the stranger yelled. I struggled to get out of her grasp.
"Let me go! You don't understand, my parents are still in there!"
"The house is going to blow, we need to move back!" the stranger said, dragging me back with her.
"No, I need to save my parents! You have to let me go, plea-" I was cut off.
That's when the explosion happened and everything went black.
✵✵✵
"Willow?" someone said.
I couldn't see them because I was facing the wall. I didn't know where I was, but it wasn't my room.
"Yes?" I said barely audible.
"Can you please talk to me? I'm here to try and help," she said.
I turned around slightly to see who it was. It was some woman in a white lab coat-thingy and I didn't recognize her at all.
"Who are you?" I asked, turning back around. "And where are my mom and dad?"
"My name is Dr. Collins," she said. "Can you turn around and face me please?"
I did as she said, but I didn't look up at her. Instead, I started playing with the bottom of my pajama pants.
"You didn't answer my second question," I said quietly. I heard her sigh and that's when I looked up.
"About your parents," she started, "they didn't make it."
"What are you talking about?" I asked, "We were just at home watching a movie."
"You don't remember?" Dr. Collins asked surprised.
"Remember what?" I asked.
"Your house caught fire," she said slowly, "your parents made sure you got out, but they didn't make it out in time."
Now I remembered. The fire, the stranger holding me back, the explosion. Thinking back made me dizzy and I laid down on the bed and curled up in a ball.
"Where's my brother?" I asked after awhile.
"Pardon?"
"Didn't anyone tell my older brother? Sawyer Jackson?" I asked upset for no apparent reason.
"We didn't know you had an older brother," Dr. Collins said quietly. "How can we contact him?"
"He goes to NYU," I whispered.
"Do you know what dorm he's in? Or his phone number?" she asked.
"No, sorry."
"That's okay," she said. "We'll get him here. Do you need anything while we look for him?"
"No thanks," I said.
"Alright, well if you do, just press the blue button on this remote," Dr. Collins said showing me the remote.
"Okay, thank you."
I heard the door shut meaning that she had left and that I was alone. I waited a full minute after she left to start crying. It was just a few tears at first, then it turned into a waterfall. I wasn't trying to be loud, but I was. Eventually, I put my hand over my mouth to quiet it down.
Once I calmed down a little, I uncurled myself and sat up on the bed. I looked around the room and noticed that it was painted like the ocean. I also noticed that my forearm was wrapped up from hand to elbow. Must be a burn, I thought to myself. I got up and went over to the window. When I glanced out, I saw the Statue of Liberty in the distance, the torch disappearing into the cloud cover.
I laid back down on the bed and looked to my left. There was a chair with something very familiar in it. I scrambled out of the bed and picked it up.
"It couldn't be," I whispered astonished.
It was my mother's old Build-A-Bear monkey from when she and dad were first dating. He'd made it for her for their one year anniversary and dressed it up in some pajamas with an old car movie that I've never seen on them. She gave it to me for my 5th birthday, and I've never been more happy to see it in my life.
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There was a note under it.
Willow,
The EMT's from the night of the fire found this in a box that was mysteriously untouched during the fire. It was the only thing in it and they thought you might want it since it wasn't destroyed.
-Dr. Collins
I put the note back on the chair, grabbed the monkey, and laid on the bed. I pulled up the covers, clutched the monkey to my chest like my life depended on it, and fell asleep.
✵✵✵
I heard someone knocking on the door and I mumbled "come in." While this mysterious person was coming in, I was waking myself up and I quickly hid the monkey under the pillow. When I completely woke up, I faced the window so I wouldn't see the person who walked in.
"So you don't wanna see me?" he asked. I recognized the voice immediately and jumped out of bed and tackled him in a hug.
"Sawyer why didn't you just say it was you?" I said.
"I figured you would know," he said. "Is it true?"
I pulled away to look at him because I couldn't bring myself to say it. So I simply just nodded. He hugged me again tightly. I felt his shoulders shake and I knew he was crying, and that made me start crying again too.
"What are we gonna do now?" I asked between tears.
"Ssh," he said, seemingly not crying anymore. "We'll figure it out later. Right now we're just going to rest. The doctor said you have a pretty bad burn on your arm. Just focus on getting better for now."
"Okay," I said, pulling away from the hug. "You're gonna stay here with me, right?"
"Of course," he said sitting down on the bed. I sat next to him and laid my head on his shoulder.
"You know, we haven't seen each other in a couple months. Anything new in your life?" I asked.
"Actually yeah," he said.
Then he started talking about his life at college and he asked me about school. We even talked about the necklaces, the ones we were given when we were born. Sawyer said that when he graduates from NYU that he's going to go find the other half, his soul mate.
