The Soulmate Paradox

Always and forever, in this life and the next

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Jared entered the time machine with hope in heart and a gun in hand. This time, he would kill his wife before she could discover the winning lottery ticket.

A bit of an extreme solution, but after reliving their seven years of marriage seventeen times, he had more than enough.

When something seems too good to be true, it is.

He started at the beginning each time, her wedding day. Their guests gushed over pearl-studded centerpieces and just like the candles aesthetically placed inside mason jars, it was the last time his light flickered. Extinguished and discarded the next morning.

His mother-in-law didn’t help. She was a popular podcaster and insisted on having him on her show right after the wedding night. She wanted to know his feelings about the consummation, and it felt really awkward. But he had no choice because they had paid for everything, even his suit.

Can’t you do anything right?

He recoiled, remembering her catchphrase.

Aurora was always three steps ahead, and messing with timelines was a surefire way of gaining momentum. The initial plan was to ruin her life — a colossal karmic intervention. But the numbers changed everything. Money could soothe away decades of degradation.

Aurora had replaced Jared’s bullets with blanks. After seventeen tries, she didn’t believe he had what it took to shoot her, but she wasn’t one to take silly risks — except to have fun. And Aurora very much enjoyed Jared’s schemes. She felt more alive than in any other timeline.

When he’d echoed, “Till death do us part”, a part of him meant it. Her eyes twinkled with wonder, eager to start the adventure of a lifetime, which he mistook for domesticity.

She was the shadow to his soul, a curse enclosed in the blooms of hope.

And she’d follow him, always.

But he had become scared of his shadow. Jared understood the concept of yin and yang, but experiencing it in his daily life wasn’t something his teachers had prepared him for.

His wife was different. She had survived the multiple traumas inflicted by her mother. She was harder than steel.

“So, what will it be this time? Another failed attempt?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Aurora notices subtle differences in Jared’s body language. Straight spine, arms crossed across his chest, and feet firmly placed on the floor. His almost confident tone is exceedingly unnerving.

“Did you…”

“Yup, cracked the multiverse.”

“Took you longer than I thought,” Aurora replied. “Let me show you some cool stuff. Check the gun in your pocket.”

“How did you do that?!” Holding a banana, Jared was more curious than furious.

“With the right focus, you can vibrate objects between universes.”

“Could we vibrate your mother?”

As she launched into an animated monologue, Jared pulled a knife from his boot. He’d spent lifetimes waiting for this moment — for her to miscalculate.

A simple stab and twist. Surprise paired with satiation.

Bathing the steel in blood, Jared glimpsed respect in Aurora’s tears.

“One down. Seventeen more to go.”

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Author’s Notes:

I co-wrote this story with Smillew in increments of 50 words on Notes.

If I had to pick a preferred niche, I’d label it subversive. But I don’t get to experiment enough, because I need my writing to always be a certain way.

Which is one of the many things I enjoy about this process. The next bit can feel like a wrecking ball, changing the course, your plans, and ideas.

And sometimes it is exactly what you need.

I particularly like how this one plays on the idea of relationships, and words like ‘always’ and ‘forever.’ Promises can mean more than one thing.

In my head, they continue chasing each other across timelines, wanting to draw blood first. This game becomes life, passion, ambition—everything.

What future do you predict for these two characters?