My Soul-Mate Ch. 02

Annabelle slowly handed it to my mom, but she withdrew with terror on her face.

"Don't be afraid, mom! She would never hurt you!" I told her.

My mom's eyes darted between my eyes and the phone, and slowly relaxed. She held out a shaky hand and Annabelle placed it in her hand. Her fear was replaced by wonder and her shaking stopped. "Can she hear me?" My mom asked.

I smiled. "Yes, yes she can. You can talk directly to her and I'll tell you what she says." I told her.

"I don't even know what to say. I guess I can start with asking if you love my son?" My mom asked.

Annabelle looked up at me and smiled.

"She doesn't have to say. The answer is yes." I told my mom.

"I wish I could see her. Is there any way I can?" My mom asked.

I shook my head no. "Only I can see her. She can interact with small inanimate objects but can only interact with bigger objects if she's touching me." I replied.

"Why don't you hold her hand and try?" My mom asked.

I looked at Annabelle. I took her hand. "Try and touch my mom's hand." I told her.

Annabelle nodded and stretched out her hand, touching my mom's palm.

To my surprise, my mom reacted.

"Oh my god!" My mom shrieked, amazed. "I felt it- I feel you!" She told us.

"That's incredible." I replied. I was not aware that other people could feel Annabelle if she touched me. "Mom, I need you to do me a favor. Delete the texts you sent me after you overheard what I said on the phone. No one else can know about this." I told her.

My mom handed me her phone absentmindedly, entranced by Annabelle's touch.

I opened her phone and went to our conversation. I deleted what was necessary and handed it back.

My mom tore her attention from Annabelle and looked up at me. "What will you do about Heather?" She asked.

"Tomorrow I will break it off. You know the truth now, so there's no reason to keep up an act." I answered.

"I-I see. This is very hard for me to understand, but as long as you are happy then I am happy for you." My mother told me.

"I'm glad that you believe me." I replied. I had a sudden idea. "Come with me, I want to show you something." I told her.

My mother nodded and stood up without hesitation. Annabelle read my mind as to where we were going and smiled.

I lead my mom out the door and to my car. I instinctively opened the door for Annabelle but remembered my mom was here. I turned to Annabelle who read my thoughts and de-materialized. My mom needed the front seat this time.

"Annabelle normally gets the front seat but one of the perks of being a ghost is she can appear and disappear at will." I told my mom.

My mom got in and shut her door. I did the same.

"Where are we going?" My mom asked.

"Well, first we're going to Safeway for some roses, then it's a surprise. Just please trust me." I replied.

My mom nodded.

I started up the car and put it in reverse. We headed to Safeway, where I picked up a dozen roses. I then headed for our real destination. After ten minutes of driving, we pulled into the entrance.

"Why are we at the graveyard hun? Is this where she's-you're buried?" My mom asked, correcting herself as she spoke. Talking directly to someone you can't physically see could be hard.

"Yes. We're going to visit her grave." I replied.

I pulled into a parking space, then got out. My mom followed my lead and Annabelle appeared beside me. She reached out her hand and I took it in mine. I held the bouquet of flowers in the other hand.

"I came here twice before after she anchored herself to me. Mostly to give her body, her bones peace and justice. I bought a bouquet then too. The next time was to ask the groundskeeper to maintain her gravestone. I had it replaced with a new one." I explained.

"That is sweet honey." My mom replied.

I nodded, taking her through the old cemetery to Annabelle's resting place.

I knelt down at Annabelle's grave and placed the roses down. The previous roses were almost completely withered away.

My mom looked at the inscription and read it aloud. "Beloved wife and daughter, taken far too soon. You go to prepare a place for us." She read aloud. "Was she married?" My mom asked.

I smiled. I had the groundskeeper add 'wife and daughter' instead of just daughter.

"Yes. To me." I replied.

"How can you marry a ghost?" My mom asked.

"Well it's honorary. I couldn't exactly find a priest to marry us." I replied.

"That makes sense." My mom told me. She looked around for Annabelle then realized she couldn't see her.

"I'm happy for you two. I can never begin to comprehend what you two have but I am willing to accept that. I can see that Colton loves you, Annabelle and you must feel the same way. I'm sorry for what happened to you. I'm glad to see you found more than peace in my son." My mom told us.

I looked at Annabelle and smiled.

"Shall we get going?" I asked Annabelle.

She nodded.

We walked back to and got in the car in silence. I didn't attempt to break it, because my mom had so much to process. Annabelle had de-materialized so it was just my mom and I in the car. I started the drive out of the graveyard and onto the highway.

"So this means no grandbabies?" My mom asked, joking but I knew she was sad.

"Unfortunately not. I know this is not the idea you had for my life. Ultimately we don't get to choose what hand we're dealt, only the cards we play. I chose to play this one." I told my mom.

The next few seconds played out in slow motion yet it was over in a few seconds. In the blink of an eye, it was over. I was laughing with my mom when I saw a black car traveling towards us on the passenger side. It was fast, way too fast. I didn't have time to react. The black car was like a bullet, aimed straight for us. I closed my eyes as my mom turned to look at what I was looking at and screamed. Then, the car struck us at what must have been sixty miles an hour. I lost consciousness as soon as it impacted.

EPILOGUE

"Tell me what happened." Sarah asked. She was trying to mask her horror.

"The victim is twenty year old Colton Wilcox. The victim and his mother were headed to an unknown destination, when a car car failed to stop and hit them on the passenger side. She unfortunately received the full force of the impact, and was pronounced deceased on impact." Dr. Madison responded grimly.

"Oh my God. Is he in a coma or just unconscious?" Sarah asked. She ran a blue gloved hand down his shredded arm, being careful not to actually touch him.

"He is in a coma. His heart kept stopping inexplicably when he first arrived, and he had lost a lot of blood. I honestly had no idea how he was still alive. I ended up giving him a blood transfusion, which stabilized him somehow. His wounds have also stopped bleeding, which is good but we have no explanation as to why. There are a lot of things that don't make sense with Colton. It reminds me of that other victim that came through that got attacked by an animal, I can't remember his name though." Dr. Madison replied.

A cold chill ran down Sarah's spine. "Do you mean Blake?" She asked.

Dr. Madison nodded. "Yes, that's the one! It's not entirely similar, there are noticeable differences. Colton isn't recovering nearly as fast, and we haven't noticed an anomaly in his blood, aside from it seems his blood is attacking itself. Once we gave him a transfusion it strangely stopped." He responded.

Sarah had an uneasy feeling. She didn't know if he was a werewolf, but she had a way to tell.

"I can take over from here, and change his dressings." Sarah told Dr. Madison.

Dr. Madison nodded. "His girlfriend is outside in the reception area. I'll go inform her of his condition." He replied. Madison then left the room.

Sarah remembered that Blake had told her that he had a weakness to silver, and had seen how it affected him. Luckily, she was wearing silver earrings. She removed one, and held it to Colton's skin. There was no effect. Puzzled, she returned it to her ear. She had no idea what Colton was, but was skeptical about him being something supernatural.

Sarah decided to not tell Blake, unless something changed. She undressed his wounds, cleaned them and tended to him for the rest of her shift. All the while, she couldn't shake the instinct that something was different about Colton.

Sarah decided to draw his blood and test it to see if there was anything she could find out. She wrapped rubber tubing around his forearm, and found a vein in his elbow. She pierced his skin with a syringe and started drawing his blood. When his blood entered the syringe, Sarah gasped in shock.

Colton's blood was as pitch black as night.

~~~~~~~~~

My Soul-Mate will continue. Colton and Annabelle's story is not over. Thank you once again for reading, and be on the lookout very, very soon for My Darkest Hour Pt. 2!