People were always shocked by my wrists, usually there’s only a timer on one of them, on the wrist of your good hand, but I was born with two.

The first; on my right wrist; counted down to two days after I turned 27: October 15th 1990 at 2:36:14pm exactly, that was when I met John; he was all blonde curls, brown eyes, and smiles; shocking to my dead green eyes and light pink hair, I always hated the idea of soul mates and the timer; people change; people change each other, surely people can become soul mates as they get to know each other, no one could really predict that; could they? My mind didn’t change after meeting John; although I love him dearly, but he did change my definition of soul mate. We are best friends; have been since that day. Our relationship has gone through romantic points, but we were never sexual, John isn’t into that kind of thing, and our romance never lasted long which worked fine for both of us. People always say he brings out the best in me; I find myself inclined to agree.

The second countdown, on my left wrist, has been counting down to John’s 43rd birthday, 2 months after I turned 50, December 21, 2013 at 9:53:52, 2 minutes from this moment, I stand next to my best friend at his party; the stone cold look in my eyes is off-putting to some; especially next to his bright face and kind smiles, I don’t really care. John is so happy, I smile slightly to see him still so excited about everything after all this time; he’s so excited to get to know who my other soul mate is finally, never jealous; I love that about him. I do not share his excitement, I don’t need anyone else, people don’t interest me; and I have no interest in a different soul mate. I glance down at my wrist; 58 seconds, I inhale suddenly as John grabs me by the arm and drags me across the room to a crowd of his friends. I had forgotten; there’s some kind of performance, a magician or something, he thinks the performer might be my soul mate; we wade through the crowd carefully, John still holding my arm tight; he’s nervous.

24 seconds, we’ve gotten as close as we can to the stage; but not close enough to really see anyone on it, John is getting worried. 21 seconds, my best friend pulls me close and tells me that he loves me; I nod and whisper back that I love him too; and that he’ll always be my soul mate and best friend no matter what. 9 seconds, John finally loosens his grip, he holds my shoulders, looks me dead in the eye, and then spins me around 3 times; something he always liked to do ‘for good luck.” 3 seconds, I look straight ahead. 2 seconds, I can’t move; my feet feel like they’re glued to the ground. 1 second, is this what it’s like to be nervous? 0 seconds, and suddenly a girl is in front of me; much younger than me, she can’t be over thirty, she is small but strongly-built; and her skin; hair; eyes; everything is dark. The look in her eyes is not nervous; she is not scared; she is not happy or sad, she looks fearless; but as she looks me in the eye I can see her weakness, I know this girl. Her name is Helena Owen and I have known her for three years; she is one of John’s closest friends and was always very understanding of my relationship with him.

I reach out, and I hug her, because that is all I can think to do; she hesitates, but hugs me back; firmly, I look next to me and see John, his mouth is open in shock; and it makes me smile.

I push the girl back slightly “Hello, my name is Abigail Edra,” I say; smiling slightly at her, she knows my name of course; but somehow it’s like we’re meeting each other anew; she nods “I’m Helena Owen, but my friends call me ‘hell’” she replies in a softer voice than I could have imagined to come out of a girl who looked this strong; even after knowing her this long it still shocks me every time I hear it; I smile at hearing her introduce herself with the nickname I gave her; but that is not who she is right now “It’s nice to meet you Helena, I’d like to introduce you to my other soul mate; this is John.” I look over at my best friend who still looks to be in too much shock to speak and Helena laughs richly “Well John, you always said I had something in common with you that you couldn’t describe.”