Everyone was born with a soulmate mark on their arm. They were the first words your soulmate would speak to you and once the words were spoken they turned from black to red.
Mary Connor frequently wondered what the words would be on her child's arm as she rubbed her swollen belly. It was something she and her husband James liked to speculate on. Mary secretly predicted the baby was a girl so she liked to daydream about helping her daughter through her first date, and where would she meet him, and what would her daughter's soulmate be like. The elderly lady next door waved to Mary and she waved back internally flinching at the woman's grey words. Grey words weren't common, and it meant that the person's soulmate had died. Mary looked at the red words on her arm and could only hope her daughter was as happy as she was, and sometimes fantasize that she could be happier.
Jennifer Reese sometimes wondered how terrifying the words on her child's arm would be as she glanced at her womb. It wasn't really something she had the time or the energy to speculate on frequently though. She was too busy trying to scavenge food for herself and the baby since her husband and soulmate Michael had died. Still sometimes when she couldn't sleep she liked to daydream about what she thought to be her son miraculously meeting his soulmate and spending the rest of his days with her. But that was a dream. As she walked through the shelter she passed one of the few women who smiled frequently and she waved to Jennifer. Jennifer tried not to flinch at the woman's red words. They were so uncommon. She stared at the grey words on her own arm and could only hope her son would survive and fantasize that he could be happy.
The black words Come with me if you want to live! terrified Mary Connor.
The grey words Yes! Just please don't hurt me! didn't really surprise Jennifer Reese.
Mary and Jennifer would never meet. Never even know the other existed. But they shared in each other's worry and pain from across time.
