Other Half
December 8, 1999
When the next letter appears on Trevor’s wrist, he’s eight years old and sitting in class, learning how to connect his letters in cursive. The H forms neatly next to the C, lowercase and a little crooked. Trevor smiles, turns to the next page in his booklet and begins to practice the cursive A. He nearly jumps out of his seat when he glances at his arm and sees the next letter already forming, a tiny A, smaller than the hump of the H.
The next blank page of his booklet is covered with the letters Cha, connecting sloppily.
Next to it, he practices his own name, stumbling over the capital T he hasn’t quite mastered yet.
Miss Jennings smiles as she walks by, praises Trevor and asks him to go back to the rest of the letters. “You’ll need to know them if you want to write a letter to your soul mate.”
Trevor frowns slightly, but goes back to the alphabet.
At home, Trevor shows off his new letters to both his parents. They smile and nod, and tell him Tyler has new letters too.
Tyler, three years old, sits at the kitchen table. With spaghetti sauce smeared across his face, he grabs at Trevor’s wrist.
“Lemme see! Lemme see!” He exclaims, wiping sticky fingers on Trevor’s skin.
Trevor frowns but lets Tyler see for as long as he wants until he gets bored, not being able to tell what the letters are. He points to his own arm.
“Alyssa?” Trevor says. When he went to school, Tyler’s name only said Alyss in small, neat letters, connected and leaning to the left.
He almost jealous of his little brother, but then he remembers the doctor telling him how special he was. That doesn’t stop him from wishing for another letter as he lies in bed that night.
The next blank page of his booklet is covered with the letters Cha, connecting sloppily.
Next to it, he practices his own name, stumbling over the capital T he hasn’t quite mastered yet.
Miss Jennings smiles as she walks by, praises Trevor and asks him to go back to the rest of the letters. “You’ll need to know them if you want to write a letter to your soul mate.”
Trevor frowns slightly, but goes back to the alphabet.
♥
At home, Trevor shows off his new letters to both his parents. They smile and nod, and tell him Tyler has new letters too.
Tyler, three years old, sits at the kitchen table. With spaghetti sauce smeared across his face, he grabs at Trevor’s wrist.
“Lemme see! Lemme see!” He exclaims, wiping sticky fingers on Trevor’s skin.
Trevor frowns but lets Tyler see for as long as he wants until he gets bored, not being able to tell what the letters are. He points to his own arm.
“Alyssa?” Trevor says. When he went to school, Tyler’s name only said Alyss in small, neat letters, connected and leaning to the left.
He almost jealous of his little brother, but then he remembers the doctor telling him how special he was. That doesn’t stop him from wishing for another letter as he lies in bed that night.