Destiny's Fates

Chapter 12

An hour later, and I have gone through the entire pile of guys James had printed off. About 20 off them were dead. My coffee table was littered with paper, folded in half to mark that they were trash. Of the remaining 30, 12 I had met through work and could safely rule them out as my Fate. That left 18 men that I had never met.

“Okay, so what do we do from here? I randomly show up to these men’s houses and ask if they are my Fate?”

The guys all exchange a glance. “You know, that isn’t a bad idea, Doll. I could pull their current addresses from the police database, and we could go door knocking tomorrow. Of course you can’t say the word Fate, because if you do and he isn’t, they will think you are crazy.”

“And if you do and he is, then he will report us all to the Council,” Derrek said.

“Okay, so I am either crazy or dooming y’all to... What exactly is the consequence for breaking the number one rule?”

“No clue Des,” Chris said.

“I have never heard of it being done before, let alone what happened when someone did,” James answered.

“What if we said we were raising money for Special Olympics? Destiny works with those kids as a SPLA, so she could describe some of the issues they have in school. Then Destiny could get a feel for if they were her Fate or not. Plus, if they donate anything Destiny can donate to it to the program at her Clinic,” Derrek said.

“Okay, I think I have an old brochure from a previous fundraiser that we did at the Clinic. Let me just update the dates on it, and I can print off about 20 copies,” I said.

“Sounds great Doll. We can go door knocking tomorrow, after Church.” James logged back into his laptop and started writing down addresses on the papers. I quickly pulled up the old brochure and changed the year to 2023 instead of 2022. I checked the ink levels in my printer and then hit start. Derrek had apparently gone to the kitchen and brought out my trash bag, and Chris was shoving all the papers from my coffee table into it.

“Hey Love, where do you keep your extra trash bags?”

“Don’t worry about it. I can replace the bag.” I put my laptop on the coffee table and stand up, then walk into the kitchen. Grabbing a new trash bag from under the sink, I wave it in the air to get it open. Cherry chases the bag and tries to bite it. Laughing, I put the bag into the trashcan and snap the lid back on. I glance at the clock on the microwave. It reads 7:45. How do I broach the subject of them leaving? I need a good night sleep if I am going to attempt to meet my 4th Fate tomorrow. That is if this is all real and I am not just imagining it. As if sensing my tiredness, Cherry comes up to me. “Yip?” she says, asking if we are going to bed soon. “Soon Cherry, I promise. We can snuggle up in bed and watch TV.”

As if they heard me, Derrek and Chris walked into the Kitchen. “We are going to take off and call it a night. Just shoot me a text in the morning Des when you are ready to go door-knocking.”

“Where are y’all spending the night?”

“Chris and I booked rooms at one of the hotels here in town. I don’t know about James though.”

“Okay, have a good night then and I will see y’all tomorrow.” I follow them to the front door and shut it behind them. Cherry wines, almost as if saying “My friends are leaving me.” “Hush Cherry,” I say as I bend down and scoop her up. Where did James go? Did he already leave? He didn’t say goodbye, but then he didn’t say goodbye either when he went off to boot camp for the Police Academy. I wonder if that was because it was too painful for him. Both other guys I left, but James was the only one to leave me, to choose to part ways with me.

“Doll, can we talk?”