Soulmates.
It's something that's been known to the world for as long as anyone, scientists & historians, can recall. It's a simple thing: each person is born with a part of an image somewhere on their body & it will only complete once you both meet your soulmate and accept the bond. In rarer cases, some even share scars on each other's bodies.
The chance of you finding your other half has decreased as the world's population grew, with some never finding their other because of distance & time. Then there are the cases where even when a pair find each other, they do not bond. It may be age, social commitments, or something darker, but the number of these cases has increased & there have been several successful cases of marriage and family with mix-matched couples.
There were several governments that tried to pass laws that would have forced pairs to stay together once they discovered each other, but after several cases of domestic abuse showed that forcing this caused harm it was dismissed.
But even with all the odds against pairs finding each other, it does still happen.
Sometimes at the oddest of times...
Heathrow Airport, 6:30 PM
Sophia Lewis was waiting with several others for their direct flight to JFK airport, an overpacked duffle at her feet & a half charged phone on her lap that's currently playing her preferred choice of music while she lazily read the magazine in her hands. She's not sure why she picked up the tabloid, but it was the only thing she could pay for with the cash in her pocket without pulling out her wallet. That was not something she wanted to do until she was well away from the cold walls of her hom- no, not a home anymore, not Her home anymore. It was a house that gave her none of the comfort she had while growing up after the passing of both her mother and sister. With the final barriers removed between herself and her father, it gave him full access to do whatever he wanted to do & allowed him to try and take what's not his to take.
Her mother's family connections brought her future husband into her world and for the rest of her life he played his part: a seemly loving husband to their two daughters and herself while helping her run the various charity events that Maria championed since her teenage years. But soon after she and her eldest daughter, Emily, were far more consumed with their events, William's attentions turned to Sophia & his youngest soon learned of his darker side.
The abuse started small and non-physical with it being more emotional & mental: comments on her grades, her appearance, her choice of friends, etc. Then when she started showing signs of 'non-human' like abilities it changed to far more violent means of suppressing anything that would cause the families' image, and therefore his, to become tainted. But he would do it ways that prevented Maria and Emily from believing her when she tried to go to them for help.
"I simply cannot believe you would say such things about father Sophia."
"He's been nothing but kind to us all & I Will Not hear another word about this daughter."
Then things started to change for the worse, for herself, Emily, & her mother. In one of the many times they were out working in both their jobs and the charities, they became ill with a disease that still confounded the medical professionals that attended to the pair. Sophia knew it was not natural, this illness that bedded the only two people she had left in this world, & knew it was the work of her father. The only problem was that she had no proof to prevent him from staying away from them & thus keep them from ever recovering.
William played the part of a dotting husband & father, but Sophia knew better. Knew he arranged the events that finally took her mother and sisters' lives. Knew that he kept them from recovering & thus put the power of the family fortune in his hands solely. Once they were buried, his reign of terror grew far darker and dangerous for Sophia. She couldn't go anywhere besides school or home, wasn't allowed her cellular phone in fear she would be able to make contact with anyone he disapproved of, & her every action was controlled- all the way down to when she could eat and socialize with the friends of her late mother who wanted to be sure she was holding up after the premature death of Emily & Maria.
So many times she wanted to cry out to them for help, to beg them for release from the living hell she's been resigned to after the dirt covered the coffins. But she still bore scars from the one attempt of escape that has left her with marks that run along the left side of her body & the fear of the man whose gripped her shoulder enough to bruise it for days after.
The only thing that had kept her going was the small design on her hip that seemed to grow and colour in as she aged: half of what appeared to be a large flower, something not native to England, that while pastel in colour was still beautiful to her. She didn't know what to think of the small, pink & white scars that appeared randomly over her body but always put them to her past abuses finally making an appearance. She, like any educated child of the world, knew of soulmates and their place in both modern and historical lives. But she also knew of the statistics that prevented so many from finding their other half, prevented so many from truly feeling whole. She had never asked if William was her mother's fated spouse or if she, like so many, had given up the hope that she would have ever found them & went with someone she truly believed loved her.
Three years had passed since her mother & sisters' deaths and when Sophia had finally passed all her exams, she happily accepted the degree that would mark her legally as an adult. She wasted no time in talking with her own solicitor that in turn talked to her mother's former one, gaining her rightly due inheritance. She had wasted no time because she knew that as soon as William learned of her plans to flee, he would have her killed or worse: tied down to one of his associates to keep control of both herself and the small wealth left to her by her grandparents and mother. He had easily squandered the amount left to Emily and always told her how eagerly he awaited to use hers to make his life better.
When she told her story to the solicitor, he wasn't keen to believe the 18-year-old at first. That is until she willing exposed her scars to him, her eyes glued to the walls as he had a physician examine them as well to prove her story. She swallowed her humiliation & shame for the chance at finally gaining the freedom that she so desperately wanted. She still recalls the looks on both their faces and their hurried steps to help her escape before William found out. She had to play everything close to the chest, still act like the beaten slave he believed her to be: she had to wait for three whole months until the newly given phone vibrated with an email from her solicitor telling her she was free.
He had set her up with a credit card, a passport, & a one-way ticket out of England. But she had to leave tonight & therein lied her problem: William was home with several of his cohorts and it made it virtually impossible for her to escape. But she refused to give up, refused to lie down and just let him win. So, after packing everything she could into the only bag she had, she inched down the stairs while basically holding her breath as she listened to the men in the parlor bragging about their latest idea working in their favour. She could see them moving around the room and the front hall, several going in and out of the door so much she would be surprised if William ever locked it.
Sophia had her hand on the knob and one foot out the door before a familiar hand gripped her shoulder. "Where the hell do you think you're going? Will, your pet is loose!"
She tilted her head to see Jamison, her father's right-hand man, leering at her with a sick look that promised pain. A look that mirrors William's when he saw her trying to leave his realm. A bloom of panic welled up inside her and as she struggled to free herself, Jamison yelped in pain & released her, his hand covered in welts as he started screaming obscenities towards her.
William lunged for her but she had already taken off, bolting down the darkening London streets. Fear kept her feet moving, hearing several labored breaths racing after her but not relenting as she went on, ignoring the pain that flares through her body. She bolts into a nearby shop, sinking to the floor as she tries to catch her breath & listens as the men rush past, waiting until she hears only the traffic before going back outside to hail a cab.
She urges the cabbie to go to the airport quickly, ducking down in the seat when she sees William and Jamison angrily looking around for her. She holds her side as the pain still flares while she slowly settles her rapid heartbeat, ignoring the cabbie's concerned gaze. The half-hour ride ended with her paying the cabbie with a wad of the big bills she had before bolting out the door, bag bouncing on her hip as she moved through the lines with cautious eyes glued towards the doors in fear of her father suddenly appearing to drag her away. Once she was through security & safely seated near her gate, she sat with a silent huff & thought on the trashy magazines she could see at the kiosk across the terminal from her.
After buying the magazine and sitting for ten minutes in relative silence, the boarding began. Sophia was still paranoid that someone would prevent her from joining the throngs of others around her, would prevent her from leaving the darkened world outside the hanger windows, but soon she was securely sat in her seat, an over stimulated child next to her with a harried looking mother trying unsuccessfully to calm them down before the flight began. She put in the ear buds and let her music mask her panic, closing both her eyes & the shade as the flight attendant started their pre-flight checks. Soon, the plane began its movements to take off & Sophia felt herself fall into an uneasy sleep, her adrenaline rapidly leaving once the doors were locked and sealed.
Despite waking a few times during the eight or so hour flight by both the child and attendant, she found herself surprisingly refreshed as she walked out of the airport into the late morning sun of JFK airport & her first time on American soil. Her solicitor had told her she would have a room booked at a hotel in downtown New York City and need only to find her way there, so she hailed another cab, still getting used to the variety of accents that surround her. She talked quietly with the female who drove the thirty-minute drive to her new, albeit temporary, residence & tipped her well once they arrived. Sophia had small list written down of everything she was told to visit for her 'trip' to the big apple, as the cabbie had called it, & for once, didn't have the normal panic she'd grown used to since she was young.
Walking into the hotel, she held her head high and made a promise to herself that she wouldn't cower and hide from the new life she'd been given. She didn't know just what her trip would mean in the coming days and weeks, but she knew that it had to be for the better...didn't it?