Everything is black and white until you touch your soulmate

I lay on my bed thinking. When will I meet my soulmate? It's been 22 years, surely I'd have met her by now. Alas, I have not. The world is still black and white, and until I meet her, it'll stay that way. No, it's not a metaphor. The world is literally black and white. And until I make physical contact with my soulmate, it'll stay that way.

I'm so alone and it's not fair. All of my friends have met their soulmates. They can all see in colour. Color. I can only imagine what it might look like.

I can only imagine...

I sigh and get out of bed. I head to work.

My job isn't actually that far, so I can just walk there.

I cross the street.

I should have looked both ways.

A car hit me, and instantly, I black out.

I start remembering. Remembering my life. The happy memories, the sad and angry.

Then, everything fades away.

I wake up blinking. Everything is so bright.

I sit up. My whole body is sore. I don't know where I am. I look around, but everything is still too bright.

My vision clears. Everything is still black and white. I don't really know what I expected. I look around I see I'm in... an office? Why the hell am I in an office?

I walk up to the front desk.
"Excuse me?" I ask. It feels weird to talk.

Nobody answers.

"Hello!?" I yell. Two seconds later, somebody pops up in front of me, causing me to gasp. The person behind the desk chuckles.

"Hi! My name is Robin Lawson! How can I help you?" Their voice is annoyingly cheery.

Thier eyes are round, their hair is shoulder length. They have a pointy nose and dimples.

"Um... where am I?" I ask. Robin gives me a look that says

Son how dumb r u

"You're in the afterlife. Didn't you know?" Robin asks. My eyes widen.

"This is a prank, isn't it?" I ask. Robin shrugs.

"I'm afraid not. I know how you feel, though. Why just a few hundred years ago I died and came here too. Things were different then, though." Robin pulls out some paperwork.

"It says here you died in a car crash? Is this correct?"

"I-I don't know." I say.

"You were there. How can you not know?" I narrow my eyes.

"Listen here. This prank has gone on far enough. I want to go home." I say. Robin frowns.

"I do too. I can't, though. My home was destroyed a few hundred years ago. So, let's not even get into the discussion about being 'homesick' because I beat you by a few hundred years."

"Prove that I'm dead." I say. Robin shrugs pulls out a letter opener, and before I can process anything that's going on, Robin throws it at my heart. I'm still conscious. I look down at my chest and pull the letter opener out. I start to shake.

"Um..."

"There. Proof." Robin says.

"How can this day get any worse?" I mumble.

"Okay, so let's look at your file shall we? Depending on how you lived your life, we'll sort you out to the right section." Robin says.

"You're a few hundred years old!?" I ask.

Robin rolls their eyes.

"I couldn't have made it more obvious."

"You look like you're... what? 20?"

"20? Oh my, age has treated me well, hasn't it? Anyway, let's continue.

"When you were 10, you were pet sitting for your neighbour and the animal got away?"

"To be fair, that dog was an escape artist. Also, I found him an hour later." I protested.

"When you were 12, you helped your grandma clean out her basement?" Robin asks.

"...Is that good?"

"According to this, if you hadn't done that, she would've fallen down carrying a tv upstairs and died, so yes. I'd say that was a good deed."

Robin lists all the good and bad things I've done. After a few hours, Robin closes the file.

"Well, I do believe I know where you're staying." They say with a smile.

"What places are there for me to stay?" I ask.

"The Christian equivalent of Hell and Heaven, and a place like the fields of Asphodel." Robin informs me.

"Okay..."

"According to your life, you've done a mixture of good and bad." I gulp.

"So, you're going to be staying at 'the fields of Asphodel'. It's a bit crowded, but you should fit in just fine."

"So... what's it like? Life down here?" I ask, unable to keep the question to myself anymore.

"Life down here is death. But, don't worry. It's a good death. You can get a house, a job, you can get married, you can adopt kids, basically everything down here is just like the upper world. You just can't have any kids, because that would be life and since this is the world of the dead, that'd be a problem."

I blink "wait, so... is there a chance I could meet my soulmate? If she's dead, I mean."

That felt so weird to say.

Robin smiles kindly at me.

"I'm not quite sure. I hope so, though. Because I still haven't met my soulmate yet." Robin tells me.

"Everything is still black and white for you?" Robin hums in agreement.

"I can only imagine the colour around here."

Robin puts their hand out.

"It was very nice meeting you, Charlie. I hope we can continue talking with each other."

I smile and shake Robin's hand.

"Yeah, I hope so too."

Suddenly, the black and white colours I was so used to, fade away. Something brighter and happier. I can't... describe it. I

Robin and I make eye contact. I let go of Robin's hand. We don't talk for a little bit.

"Is this... colour?" Robin asks, breaking the silence.

"I... I think it is." I say. Robin and I blush. I nervously laugh. I didn't expect my soul mate to be someone like Robin.

"Oh, um... I almost forgot." Robin hands me some keys.

"These are the keys to your apartment. The closer you get, the more they glow." I nod.

"Okay... thanks." I say. Robin grabs a small card and starts writing.

"Here, you can contact me with this number." Robin says. I take the card.

"Thanks." I say as I walk out of the room.

Well, death or not, this is going to be an adventure.     

Heyyy, guys! This book is going to be a bunch of stories I've had for assignments plus more so yay!

Stay awesome fabulous t-rexs!