Dylan. My left and right wrists have always had this name on them since I was born.
Everyone is born with two tattoos. One on your left wrist and on your right wrist. The right wrist is always the name of your soulmate. Your left wrist, your nemesis. The person who you hate more than anything else in the world. This is how everyone is. Everyone. Mine just happened to be the same person. Fantastic.
Everyone I know has already met their soulmates and their nemeses. Everyone tells me I will meet them someday, but I am already 18 and nothing. Why can’t I meet them already? I wanted so badly to meet my soulmate! And as for my nemesis, I want to kick his teeth in. I’ve never met him, but if he and I are truly as opposite as can be, then I want to hurt him as badly as possible.
Fast forward to April 27th, 2017. It wasn’t a particularly eventful day; there were no projects due, and no tests that day. I was walking to school and noticed that the house that had been for sale next door had been sold.
New neighbors. Wonderful, I thought sarcastically.
I had just gotten used to the empty house next door. The empty lot made a really nice buffer zone between my house and the house on the other side, where a very strange family lived. They seemed to be rednecks, judging by the sign in the window that had a picture of a machine gun and “This home don’t call 9-1-1” written on it, and the Confederate flag hanging in the front window. Well, even if my empty space buffer zone is gone, I have to make nice with whomever gets the pleasure of moving next to me and I can have a buffer zone of friends. I make a mental note to make cookies and take them over to my new neighbors.
           At school, I noticed a new kid around. He was tall and handsome, with dark hair and dark eyes. I desperately hoped his name was Dylan. I kept thinking about my tattoo on my right wrist. “Please can I meet my soul mate today?” I asked whatever god may have been listening. I wasn’t particularly religious, but if there was a god I needed his help at this moment. That kid was so hot! I walked into my fourth period and noticed he was there. Oh my god, please, please, please have his name be Dylan. I need my soulmate, I thought to myself. Mr. Garrison takes roll and I sat quietly waiting for a new name to be called, hoping his name was Dylan. I noticed myself glancing down at my right wrist.
“Dylan, Dylan, Dylan” I quietly chanted to myself.
“Dylan O’Connor” I heard the teacher call out.
“YES!” I silently screamed to myself.
I caught myself glancing down at my right wrist then back again at him. All of a sudden, a terrible thought flashed into my head. I slowly looked to my left wrist. My whole body went numb and cold with dread. “No,” I thought. “It can’t be. He can’t be my enemy, he’s perfect!”
Mr. Garrison finished taking role and began his lecture on the history of Central America. He talked on and on about Nicaragua and Cuba, and soon I lost interest. It wasn’t that Mr. Garrison was a boring teacher, it was just that I couldn’t stop staring at Dylan. Everything about him was incredibly attractive, from his perfect tan to his soft hair. Even the way he chewed on the end of his pen in between jotting down notes in his notebook gave me butterflies in my stomach. Eventually, after Mr. Garrison finished his lecture, Dylan raised his hand. “Yes, O’Connor?” Mr. Garrison asked.
        “Hey, I know we were supposed to get some work time for the rest of the period, but I brought in some Guatemalan food because I saw that today’s lecture was on Central America. Can we have a little party for the last few minutes instead?”
        “I don’t see why not,” said Mr. Garrison.
The food was delicious, and I was positive that I was the luckiest girl in the world for having this guy as my soulmate. But as we were eating, I glanced at my left wrist and again got a really bad feeling. I pushed the thought away as I swallowed another bite of the food. After class was over and we were packing up to leave, Dylan walked up to me. “May, right? Hey, I just wanted to tell you that you have REALLY pretty eyes. Like seriously, I was trying not to look at them all period. They’re beautiful.”
        “Hey, thanks! Yours are pretty nice too!” We started talking, and he was even better up close and personal. It was almost like he and I were the same person. We liked all the same TV shows, music, and games. He was really funny and although I tried not to laugh, his jokes were just nonstop. Eventually, I found out that he was, in fact, the one who had moved in next door, and I was even more determined to bring cookies over. We walked all the way home together, but we were met by the rednecks from the next house down. A boy about our age shouted at us from his front porch.
        “You! You’re lookin’ pretty good today, I’m likin’ the ponytail! You wanna come inside and have a little fun?”
        “Ew, with you? Gross!” I yelled back.
“I don’t take no for an answer, sweetheart,” the kid said with a toothy grin and wink.
“Leave her alone, man, what the hell!” exclaimed Dylan.
“Who the hell are you?” the kid asked.
“I’m the new guy. I live here, by the way, so it’s in your best interest to not piss me off.”
“Oh, what are you gonna do to me? You can’t weigh more than what, 150? And I’m 230. Physics, smart guy. Bigger is better. Einstein figured this all out back in the 60’s!”
        “Congratulations, you’re a moron. And if you to fight me, I can promise you you’ll lose.”
The kid let out a snarl, and rushed toward Dylan. He swung back for a vicious haymaker, and Dylan didn’t even put his hands up. My first instinct was to cry out, but I didn’t even get that far before Dylan caught the kid’s punch in one hand, then squeezed his fist in his own hand. There was a loud crack, and the kid dropped to his knees screaming in pain. But Dylan didn’t let go. Still using only one hand, he twisted the kid’s wrist around and pinned his arm behind his back.
        “Don’t bother her again, or else I might not be so nice.” Then Dylan shoved him away and turned back around to me. “Hey, are you alright? He didn’t upset you at all, did he?”
The truth was that the kid had really scared me, but I didn’t want to seem like a crybaby in front of Dylan, so I lied. “Nah, stuff like that doesn’t bother me.”
“Man, that’s good to hear. I’d have been TERRIFIED if you and I were in each other’s shoes.”
“Thanks for standing up to him for me. His whole family are morons and I hope they will leave me alone now.”
“Oh it’s no problem,” he said with a huge smile that made my heart do acrobatics.
“Hey, I need to go do some homework now, but I will catch you later, yeah?”
“Sure thing!” Dylan says with a wink.
We both turned to walk our separate 50 feet into our houses. I couldn’t believe I was living next to my soulmate. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.
I rushed home and start making chocolate chip cookies to take over to Dylan. While the cookies were baking, I decided to Internet stalk him. Dylan O’Connor should have been my soulmate. He was too perfect not to be. When the cookies were done, I quickly put them on a plate and ran them over to Dylan. I made sure to put a cute little pink bow on the plate as I ran out the door to deliver them. As I ran out the door, I almost plowed into the police officer standing on my doorstep.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, sir!  Are you okay? Do you like, want a cookie or something?”
“No worries, you’re fine. But I do have a few questions for you concerning your neighbor, Dylan.”
“Dylan O’Connor, the new one who just moved in?”
“No, Dylan Fuller, the one on the other side.”
“What are you talking about? The neighbors on the other side are the Stanleys,” I said with a confused look on my face.
“No, not on the other side of your house, the other side of O’Connor’s house.” A feeling of disgust welled up in me after the incident with the redneck kid. “Dylan Fuller has been charged with trespassing, and we’d like to speak with you as you may have been a witness.”
“Well, I doubt it. I never saw him do anything like that. I don’t know him at all, to tell you the truth.”
“Oh, that’s alright. Have a good day, ma’am!”
I walked up to Dylan’s house and noticed myself glancing at my wrist. Then I went numb as I glanced at my left wrist while a thought occurred to me. If Dylan O’Connor was my soulmate, and Dylan Fuller was a total jerk, he could be my nemesis. I kept glancing down at my wrists and wondering. I knocked on the door and swallowed the bubbling anxiety. Dylan opened the door and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Hey, I made you some cookies to welcome you to the neighborhood and such. So… welcome!” I said with a giggle.
“Aww! Thanks, May.”
“No problem! See you tomorrow okay? I really should get working on my homework. That test in Mr. Garrison’s is going to kill me tomorrow.”
“Oh no problem, we can walk to school together. I mean, if you want to.”
“Sure!” I said as I turned to go back towards my house. I couldn’t wait until the next morning. As I turned to leave, I got a really bad feeling, but couldn’t put my finger on the cause of it. So, I just shook it off and jogged back to my house.
Bright and early the next day, I woke up an hour ahead of normal so I could make sure I looked beautiful for Dylan. As I was sitting on my couch looking out the window towards Dylan’s house, I noticed that the redneck family were walking up the street. I ducked under the windowsill so that they wouldn’t see me. It was right about time for the Good Dylan to meet me. I wondered what had happened to him. But a few more minutes passed, and the Bad Dylan and his family kept on walking. As soon as they were gone, the Good Dylan emerged from his house. I ran out to meet him, and he surprised me with a hug. It was probably one of the best hugs I’ve ever gotten; warm and tight. We walked all the way to school together, and he made me laugh the whole way. School went by like a flash, mostly because I was looking forward to the walk home so much. Only two more periods left, then I get to see my Dylan, I thought. As I was walking through the hallway I see O’Connor talking on his phone by his locker. I ducked around the corner so I could surprise bear hug him after his phone call. As I was waiting for his call to be over I happened to overhear the end of his call.
“Dude, I am telling you. She is absolutely gorgeous. I freaking scored on this one!” I hear Dylan murmur into his phone.
When I hear that he called me hot, I couldn’t help but smile. A moment’s pause as the person on the other end of the phone was speaking.
“Well of course I am getting into her pants tonight! What else am I supposed to do with a hottie like her!? Have a romantic relationship?” Dylan chuckled into his phone.
My smile slowly dropped as the reality of what Dylan had just said sank in. This phone call had seemed to go completely against Dylan’s character and it surprised me. I pushed all my thoughts out of my head as I ran up behind Dylan and gave him a huge embrace. As Dylan was hugging me back, my mind flooded with bad thoughts and bad feelings. I continued to push them out of my mind.
“Hey gorgeous, ready to walk home?” Dylan asks with a toothy grin. “It’s been an insanely long day.”
“Oh, of course. Let’s go!” I say as I intertwine my fingers into his.
The walk home was amazing. Until we ran into Fuller.
“Out of my way, you fat tub of lard,” Good Dylan said. It seemed a bit out of character for him, but I was glad he wasn’t taking anything from that monster that day.
“Hey pal, I was just walking along this time. Why so mean?”
“You know the answer. You haven’t earned my respect.”
“What did I do? Aside from the whole trying to punch you thing, I mean.”
“You’re inferior to me. You’re short and fat, and you’re a stupid redneck. You just sit around snuggling with your guns, while I actually go out and score things. I got plenty of money, I’m a black belt in Taekwondo and Judo, and I’m much more attractive than you. So step aside, Tubbo, and let the cool people walk through.” What Dylan was saying scared me, and I wasn’t entirely sure I agreed with it. But if that’s what Dylan thought, then I thought it too. My mind crept back to his phone call and my whole body went numb.
“What about her?” the Fuller asked.
“What do you mean ‘what about her’?” O’Connor replied.
“Does she agree with you? You act like you speak for both of you, but the look on her face says she doesn’t condone the way you’re acting.” Fuller’s words hit me like an eighteen wheeler. This was way out of character for him, and I was very surprised he was perceptive enough to notice my facial expression.
“Why does it matter what she thinks?” O’Connor snapped. “She’s mine, I’ll decide who she agrees with. Come on, May,” and he tried to storm past Fuller. But the other kid caught him in one arm and stopped him dead. “You ever seen Pirates of the Caribbean? ‘People aren’t cargo, mate.’ When you first moved in, I got a really strong ‘manipulative self-obsessed asshole’ vibe from you. That was why I was trespassing, but now I know I’m right. What do you think, May?”
I was too stunned to even speak. O’Connor’s phone call came rushing back to me one more time. How he had been treating me like “cargo” and he had been using me, just for himself. He didn’t care about me or my feelings. My whole world had flip-flopped right in the span of a few seconds. With just a few sentences, my Good Dylan had become Bad Dylan and vice versa. “I… I agree with Fuller,” I stammered nervously.
“What the hell did you just say?!” O’Connor snarled.
“Told you,” Fuller said with a grin.
“You!” O’Connor snapped. “This is all because of you! I’ll kill you, you worthless piece of s***!” And it was right then that my opinion and feelings did a complete 180. O’Connor pulled a gun out of his waistband and aimed it directly at Fuller’s chest. I was too shocked and frightened to even scream. But Fuller just laughed.
“.22 handgun, not even worth buying. Not much more than a pea shooter in terms of flesh puncturing power.” The bang almost knocked me backward as O’Connor shot Fuller point-blank in the chest. I could still hear Fuller laughing, and I saw the spot of red on his chest. “Broke the skin, nothin’ more!” he giggled. At that point he grabbed the barrel of the weapon and wrestled it out of O’Connor’s hand and pulled him face-to-face. “Black belt or white belt don’t matter once you agree to play dirty,” he growled. He kicked O’Connor’s legs out from under him and then jumped in the air, landing on O’Connor with his elbow. All 230 pounds of Fuller concentrated into one point slammed into O’Connor’s ribs. I heard the sickening cracks as every one of O’Connor’s ribs broke, and almost threw up at the sight of the blood shooting out of his mouth.
That was four years ago. I haven’t seen O’Connor since, and Fuller and I have been best friends since right after that incident. Last I heard, O’Connor was rushed to the hospital and then moved out. The house next door was empty again, after only two days of having residents. I had Dylan Fuller as my best friend and now as my soulmate. I never had to worry about my tattoos ever again. My worst nightmare that the beautiful Dylan O’Connor had been my nemesis all along came true, but maybe it wasn’t really my worst nightmare after all.