The Big Fish by Madison Henley (best free e reader .TXT) 📕

God made our soul mates and soul mates do exist. They are the other half of us that we are missing. We may think that we are just one but God made us in twos. Our journey in life is to find the person that God intended us for.”

The class snorted at Meredith. Her talking pace had increased as she was getting excited on the subject she was talking about. Meredith was easily the smartest person in the class and everyone knew it.

“Good example Meredith.”

“Have you ever been in love?”

One of Meredith’s classmates called out from the back.

“You do not have to answer that if you are uncomfortable.”

Her professor insisted.

“Yes.”

Meredith stated.

“I have been in love. Not the young, naïve, love that is meaningless. It was true love. It made me wake up every day and see the beauty that life itself had. The sound of their voice filled my eardrums and it was like a soft melodic song….”

Meredith had to stop herself. Whenever she talked about Gabrielle, she just went on and on.

“Thank you Meredith.”

Meredith looked down to her paper and sunk lower into her seat.

***

Gabrielle released her frigid breath out into the air and watched as it floated into fog. She juggled alone towards the end of the soccer field. She focused her eyes on the ball, watching it every time she flicked it up with her feet but her mind was far from what he was doing. She just didn’t get Meredith. This wasn’t the Meredith she knew back when they were teenagers. Meredith would have heard Gabrielle out and given her a chance to make up for it. Now, Meredith refused to make peace. Gabrielle groaned out loud. This wasn’t fair. Gabrielle tried to convince herself that going back to Sweden a week early would be the fresh start of her life not involving Meredith. But now that she was back in Sweden, all her mind could think about was the tanned woman. Damn, Gabrielle couldn’t stop. It was like an addiction.

“Hey Gabrielle, pass with us!”

Gabrielle looked up to see three of her teammates all with smiling faces motioning her to come here. Gabrielle put on a fake smile and jogged over to them to go play keep away. Gabrielle listened as her teammates carried on long conversations in thick Swedish before tuning them out to continue to think. The entire practice, Gabrielle was out of it and it showed through her performance. She had missed easy shots and her tactics were all wrong. She was stabbing just about everyone and couldn’t ever retrieve the ball once being turned over because of her. The cold wind blew on Gabrielle's exposed, sticky skin that was drenched in sweat. She walked off the field with her back in a curve. She was tired, mainly because of frustration with her shitty performance but she managed to keep her mouth shut and not yell every expletive known to man until she was alone. If she could just make it to her apartment.

“Gabrielle, could you come over here for a sec?”

Gabrielle rolled her eyes at the sky before changing direction to walk towards her coach.

“Yeah coach?”

“Your performance was not too good today. I will blame it on the jet lag but I expect more from you okay?”

“Yes sir.”

“Alright, go shower.”

Gabrielle’s coach patted her on the back and Gabrielle jogged into the locker room. The steam from Gabrielle’s entire teammates shower filled the locker room. Gabrielle fought her sight through the steam and found her clothes. She changed quickly and decided to skip the open shower and chose the one where she would be alone in her apartment instead. Gabrielle drove home, fighting the urge to curse, scream, and cry all at the same time. Gabrielle gripped the steering wheel and pulled quickly into her parking space. She grabbed her gym bag and rushed into her apartment, desperately trying to escape the cold. She dropped her gym bag to the floor and rushed upstairs to undress before stepping into her steaming shower. She let the beads of hot water roll off of her as well as her stress. Gabrielle’s shower was quick and she turned off the knob and walked back into her room to change into a pair of sweats and a long sleeve t-shirt. She curled up into a ball in her bed and hugged her pillow. Gabrielle was just miserable right now. Her game was completely off at practice, her coach basically told her that she sucked today right to her face, and to top all of that Gabrielle couldn’t even share her frustrations with her girlfriend like she normally did. Meredith was always the one who would talk Gabrielle’s frustrations down and give her advice that would always work in her favor. Now all Gabrielle could do was lay in her bed, look out the empty window at snow beginning to trickle down and let her mind run wild. It was unhealthy, Gabrielle knew, to think such dark and crazy thoughts but it wasn’t like she could see anybody to discuss them. Gabrielle would never give anyone the satisfaction of having the key to her mind. Never. Gabrielle tossed and turned, stared at her ceiling fan, watched the clock, and tossed again. She pulled the white pillow over her face and breathed into it, pushing that deep dark thought that always seems to appear at her lowest moments further down her conscious. There were times when Gabrielle missed Meredith and wanted to be wrapped in her arms in the warm bed together rather than being alone