The thing about finding a soulmate that drove some mad what that there was no way to know whether someone was yours until your eyes met. You could travel the world looking for the one, but could never know until you were face to face. As much as you tried not to think about it, there was always a drive to look everyone in the eye. At the store, at concerts, strangers on the sidewalk passing by, someone was always looking at you, trying to catch your eye. Sloane was shy, and avoided friends in the eye, let alone strangers. Many of her friends have found their soulmates already, and only at the age of 26, it was starting to seem like there was a building pressure to find hers.

She knew people who were in their 40’s who would attend Convention, and she did not want to end up like them, signing up for such a large event and parading herself around to look at so many people. It seemed to Sloane that many people focused so much on finding their soulmate, that they did not do anything else in their lives to make themselves a whole person. People had many friends from meeting so many faces throughout the years, and would only engage in work and social activities. Most people had a few part time jobs and would never stay at one for to long, wondering of their soulmate worked at the next job they would apply to. Because of this, many people worked as recruiters and in human resources. Only when people found their soulmate would they move to more rural parts of the country or work in more permanent or otherwise isolated jobs.

Sloane was not one for change. She was perfectly content working in the library of the Historical Society. Some people would come into the library not to rent a book, but to see if anyone new was at the library that day. Those few who did stay were older mated people who would speak to Sloane about their favorite books and ask her for recommendations. Sloane thought that one day she might work her way through the entire library. She had read books about sailing, faeries, law, history, and biographies from long ago. History always thrilled her to read. She liked to know how people filled their time before the Soulmate Program. Sloane read about wars that were fought over land, how natives figured about how to find and grow their own food, and about how different creatures used to like among the humans that were long extinct.

A particularity slow day was dragging on at the library, and Sloane was paging through a World War II text. Her coffee was sitting on the counter in front of her, having gone cold hours before. She was reading a section about the bombings of London in autumn of 1940, looking at photos of the destroyed homes, left to nothing but rubble on the streets. She turned the page and saw the face of a young man in a uniform. Her eyes locked on his and she saw something in him that made him feel like she knew him. A light feeling that started in her chest blossomed down into her abdomen, and up toward her shoulders. Sloane almost felt like she could fly. Unable to take her eyes off the soldier, her hand pressed to the counter in front of her, and she knocked the coffee over, sending dark brown stains across the top of the book. Sloane, however, could not move. She looked at the portrait and tried to catch her breath, each exhale making her feel such a strong sense of calm. “Fuck.” She whispered to herself, reading the name and date underneath the photo.

“Captain Stephen Hughes, 1940.”