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bearsinpotatosacks · 1 year

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In a world where you start seeing colour upon seeing your soulmate, and stop when they die, Carole's beach day gets ruined by the worst realisation.

Words: 1687

@caveiratimida I wrote it

Hopping out of the car, she pushed her sunglasses on her head as she ran around to get Bradley out of his car seat. He'd been talking all the way here about the sandcastle he was going to build and all the ice cream they were going to eat.

Even though they'd already had two beach days while visiting Goose, he was still just as excited about this one, despite it being just a cheap day out idea to keep him occupied when she had no other ideas. Bradley must be a beach baby. It was unfortunate they didn't live near a beach otherwise they'd probably visit constantly, although that might be why he loved them so much.

"Momma!" Bradley shouted as she opened the door.

"Bradley!"

"We're here, we're at the beach!"

"We are, baby,"

As she unbuckled him, trying to avoid his kicking legs, she heard him start up a chant. His cute cries of 'We're at the beach' continued as she lifted him onto the grey tarmac of the parking space.

She reached over for her bag, a stripey pink and beige canvas bag with two rolled up towels in. There were also a few bottles of factor fifty sun cream, some snacks and drinks, a hat and jacket for Bradley, because she knew he'd get cold after going in the sea, and a book and her walkman for herself.

Turning back to him, he shone a sunlight smile at him, his eyes closed as he bounced in place. She picked him up and placed him on her hip, holding him with the arm not holding the bag.

"Got your bucket and spade?" She asked.

"Yeah!" He swung it around, hitting her stomach a few times. "I'm gonna build the biggest sandcastle ever!"

"Ever?"

"Ever!"

"That sounds like quite a feat," she said. "We better get started."

The beach was only across the street. Luckily they'd arrived just in time to get a space, and looking at the beach, before it clogged up with people.

Approaching the road, she checked both ways before she crossed. Flashy red trucks with people hanging out the side drove past. Palm trees with swaying green leaves lined the top of the beach. Reddish-brown tiles led to the sand, flecks of it sitting in the cracks, she bet it would burn to walk across there barefoot.

As they reached the beach, she began to scan for a free space. She didn't want to sit too near to the ocean where you could sink into the sand if you weren't careful. But too near the steps was also a bad choice, far too many people walking behind you, and that wasn't even taking into account how easily Bradley could run into the road from there. No, the middle would be perfect.

She spotted the perfect space a few paces away and set Bradley down so he could run ahead. He kicked some sand onto her toes, making them rub against her wicker sandmes as she followed him.

There was so much he had to learn about the world, it excited her as well as making her nervous. He was starting school this September and would start to learn about how and why the world worked the way it did.

She'd looked at the curriculum for the one her and Nick had picked but still had some questions. Because, sure, they told you the subjects but never told you how they'd be taught specifically. She hoped they'd changed things when she was in school. Everything was black and white when she was a kid, literally and figuratively.

She'd only started seeing colour seven years ago, when she met Nicky in that bar after only being in Annapolis a few weeks. She'd always joked her bright fashion sense was due to her not actually being able to see the colours she was wearing. But apparently that didn't stop others from being coordinated, so she just admitted that she loved bright things, and her Nicky was the brightest thing out there.

But she did wonder how much correcting of the school's curriculum she'd have to do in terms of soulmates. Her school had made everything seem so basic. You met your soulmate and everything would go from black and white to colour. You'd marry and have kids and love happily ever after, until either you or your soulmate died, and the other would go back to seeing everything monochrome. And her school had made it even more basic by reminding them that only girls had boy soulmates and vice versa.

All of this was blown out of the water by the time high school rolled around, with people rushing around trying desperately to see if their soulmate was one of the hundreds of students in their school. Dramatic break ups filled the halls as people realised that their partners weren't their soulmates. Others bargaining with themselves insisting that sometimes colour would come slowly, when in fact, for most, it didn't.

School didn't teach a lot. Apart from the obvious, boys could have boy soulmates, girls could have girl soulmates. They also didn't tell you that there were such things as platonic soulmates and having more than one, something she'd found out about Goose and Mav upon meeting them.

Nick had actually admitted to her that he could already see some colour when he'd seen her. Apparently he'd first seen blues and yellows when Mav had pulled over to help him fix his car only a week prior to them meeting her. She’d filled in the picture with reds and greens as soon as he'd walked in the bar. And for her, the entire world seemed to turn real.

School would also deny that there were people without soulmates, when there were. There were people who were born seeing colour and some who saw it gradually throughout life with the realisation that they were their own soulmate.

Bradley didn't care about most of that, yet. He had questions, sure, about what different colours felt like, and she'd answer every time with patience. But mostly he couldn’t care less.

"Momma, come on!"

Broken from her thoughts, she hurried on. She set the bag down and took out the towels, flicking them out onto the sand. Bradley had set up nearby and was already scooping sand into the castle shaped bucket. It was lucky she'd put suncream on both of them before they left.

She considered her book as she lay down on the towel but decided not. For now she just wanted to relax and take in the scene.

Replacing her sunglasses on her eyes, she looked around at the beach. To her right, she saw a couple rubbing suncream on each other. One had tattoos all over his back and red raw skin, the other was picture perfect, could've been a model. Further along, someone was having a barbecue, the scent lingered on the air and made her stomach grumble.

To her left was another family, larger and louder. One of the parents was playing frisbee with two of the kids. The other parent was sleeping on a deck chair, book strewn across her chest, two more children chased the tide as it went in and out.

She scrunched her toes in the yellow-white sand and sighed, this was perfect. The crystal blue ocean lay out endless and deep ahead of her. Sunlight sparkled like broken glass on its surface as boats far off bounced on the waves and surfers swooped around, chasing the perfect one that never came.

The blue continued on into the sky as it became paler and paler as it rose. A plane left trails in the sky, far too big to be a jet but it still made her question where Goose was. Maybe he was in a lesson, maybe in the gym or perhaps in the air. If he was in the air, was he high enough to see her and Bradley as tiny, indistinguishable dots in the sand?

Bradley's bright red swimsuit stood out against the red. He was crouched over his sand castle, now three towers wide, as he made indents for doors and windows. Occasionally he'd reach around for a shell or maybe a stick, he always decorated them highly, and always insisted that she take a polaroid of it when he was done. Not that he had to convince her, she was always one for taking photos to capture the memories.

She softened her focus again as she lay back on the towel. The sand under the towel was surprisingly compact. Heat from the sun warmed her skin just right, by the end of this holiday she'd have a wonderful tan to brag about at work. Maybe she could have a little nap, Bradley was well behaved enough that she could nod off and still be there half an hour later.

Yes, maybe a little nap, then get an ice cream, then come back to read her book. At some point she'd paddle in the ocean, perhaps go for a little swim.

Then everything dimmed in colour, just as she went to close her eyes. In fact, it didn't just dim, everything had turned monochrome and her heart skipped a beat.

Ripping off her sunglasses again she glanced around at the beach. The aquamarine ocean was just a multitude of grey. Yellow sand almost white. Bradley's swimming costume a rich dark grey and his skin a lighter shade.

She tried to hold back a sob as his focus went away from his sandcastle. Her eyes were locked on the sky as she tried to force herself to see the limitless gradient of blues but instead saw only more and more grey.

And she knew this could only mean one thing. One thing she always feared, something she'd almost had to accept was likely to happen with a husband in the navy.

Nick, her loving husband, her goofy Goose, her soulmate, was dead. And sitting in the washy world of grey, she felt her heart break until part of her wished she'd gone with him.

I posted this idea like 4 hours ago and liked it enough that I wrote it in full. I don't like soulmate AUs as an aroace because they hinge on someone being with someone and perfect for someone. And I know people say platonic soulmates but sometimes I don't want anyone so I put that idea in here to satiate myself. Hope you liked this!

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