The last two days have been a rollercoaster of emotions. I really don’t know how I feel. I’m terrified of losing my freedom, of losing control. That thought haunts me, I’ve hardly slept since my mark appeared.

 

There is a little excitement though. I mean, this is my soulmate. I’ve always wanted this, even if I didn’t imagine it would be like this. Someone who will love me, who will want me unconditionally, someone who I’m destined to be with.

 

I tried to research what was going on with our marks. They were so strange. A brand? A milk bottle? I still shudder when I think about it. I couldn’t find any mentions of anything like this online. 

 

Every mark was unique, that’s normal, but they do tend share some things in common. They’re usually just a deep, almost unreal, black, and mine was not. They’re usually more than just words, mine was not. It scared me, what did that mean? Was something wrong with me? Wrong with my mark?

 

I did find some stories about people having particularly unique marks, marks that seemed to change people. There weren’t many of them, and the ones I did find were hard to believe. Most commenters treated them more like urban legends than fact. A girl who’s mark looked like a circuit board started acting like she was an android. Another girl who had a bright pink bow around her neck and claimed she was a man before her mark appeared. There were more plausible explanations for these changes than, I don’t know, magic? but they stuck with me anyway.

 

Was I...

 

Was I going to turn into a-

 

No

 

I don’t want to even entertain the thought. Those stories had to just be misunderstandings or fakes. There’s no way.

 

Maybe Catherine would have an idea of what’s going on.

 

I need to get going, she said she wanted to meet at the cafe at-

 

Shit! How is it already 2:55. I’m gonna be late. 

 

My anxiety rose with each step on my walk to the cafe. Is my life over? Would she be nice? Would she like me? How would she treat me?

 

Before I knew it, I'd arrived.

 

“H-hi. You’re Catherine?”

 

She was tall, well taller than me anyway, 5’11“ if I had to guess. Long black hair in a chunky side braid. She was wearing a denim jacket over a tank top and I could see tattoos poking out from her left shoulder. She was thin, lean, I was jealous. She has sharp, but not unfriendly. facial features. She didn’t exactly look inviting, but she didn’t make me feel unsafe either, at least not immediately. 

 

She was hot, way hotter than me.

 

“and you must be Madeline?” She looked me up and down and didn’t seem impressed. I felt a little less comfortable.

 

“Y-yes”

 

“Sit down, we have a lot to talk about.”

 

Why am I blushing?

 

“So umm, what do we umm-”

 

She interrupted me, “When do you want to move in?”

 

I couldn’t help but shift around uncomfortably in my seat. Just like that? No “nice to meet you”? No “let’s get to know each other”? No “How are you feeling about this”?

 

She must have picked up on my discomfort. 

 

“Look, I’m going to be honest, I don’t really want this. I like being by myself, and I don’t need a pet, but we don’t really have much choice here. You’ll move into my second bedroom to satisfy the law and other than following a few rules in my house, you get to keep your freedom. Sound good?”

 

Oh, well that’s a relief, I think? Why do I feel hurt though? I’ll still get to live my life, be my own person. That’s what I’m supposed to want, right?

 

“Oh I guess that works, I mean, I didn’t exactly want to be a pet”

 

Am I not good enough for her? I should be happy, she’s treating me like a person, like an equal. 

 

But... she doesn’t want me? Why doesn’t she want me?

 

“Yeah, I figured you didn’t”

 

Am I not attractive? Is it my body?

 

“Well my lease doesn’t end for a few months”

 

Is it because I’m fat?

 

“I’ll buy it out, it’s fine, I have money”

 

Why was I tearing up? Why doesn’t she want me? Shouldn’t I have been happy? No, I was happy. I don’t want to be some stupid sex pet. I was a person.

 

“Oh o-okay, then I guess I can move in whenever?”

 

This was ridiculous, I was happy, this was good. This was what I wanted.

 

“Here’s my number, text me your address and I’ll get movers scheduled”

 

She didn’t want me. My soulmate didn’t want me.

 

“O-o-okay I w-will”

 

My chest felt like it was going to burst open.

 

I needed to get out of here. I couldn’t do this right now.

 

“I’ll t-t-text you, I uhh, I have to g-go”

 

She didn’t even get up from her seat as I rushed off.