[Writing Prompt] You’ve had a glowing, yellow mark on your cheek ever since you were born. One day, walking down the street, you bump into someone. Looking at their face, you discover that they have the same mark on the other cheek
Herman And Clara
Most of the universe is made of matter. You know this already. It’s the stuff your looking at right now, the pixels on this screen, the screen itself – the keyboard I type on and the fingers that type.
But the universe is big into polarity, into two sides of the same coin, equals and opposites. The rules that define this place we all live in seem to have a soft spot for symmetry in most things. With matter it’s no different. Where, on the one hand, there is matter, on the other, there is anti-matter.
A piece of matter and a piece of identical anti-matter, would look almost the same to you. Their differences would be mostly of the quantum variety. Where the matter might have a positive charge, for instance, the anti-matter would have a negative. Some of the deep down quantum numbers might be different between the two. But, to the casual observer, Joe-Schmoe on the block, it’d be hard to tell the difference.
The thing is, matter and anti-matter cannot coexist. Should one come in contact with the other they undergo a destructive event known as annihilation, ceasing to be as distinct particles and releasing their cumulative atomic energies.
History lesson: when the universe came into existence in that Big Bang, both matter and anti-matter were created in equal proportion. When the Big Bang happened most of the matter touched most of the anti-matter and the two annihilated each other.
However, some matter did slip through, a lot, from out perspective. That’s how we have everything we know. That’s how we have bodies and houses to put those bodies in and a planet to build those houses on.
Now there are lots of smart people who have tried to figure out how that’s possible. After all, there should have been equal amounts of matter and anti-matter and so, in theory, both should have canceled each other out completely and there should be nothing. Except, here we all are.
One popular theory is that there was a tiny bit more matter made than there was anti-matter inside the Big Bang and, as a result, some matter survived, but almost no anti-matter did.
The theory I prefer, although don’t look for a research paper on it as it’s just my intuition, is that there was an equal amount of matter and anti-matter, and most of it did annihilate. But the universe is a big place, and there was a lot of stuff, and some of it just missed each other. Matter and anti-matter flying in every conceivable direction out into the universe.
That feels more like the universe I know and love – a place that prizes symmetry whenever possible. The problem is, if that theory is true, where is all the anti-matter?
I would posit it’s all over the place. That in some parts of the universe there are whole galaxies made of the stuff, and in those galaxies whole civilizations living there. I would posit that we don’t see a lot of anti-matter because our neck of the woods is, by overwhelming majority, made of matter and therefore it’s rare for anti-matter to last long enough to coalesce into easily recognizable forms.
But that’s the thing about this infinite multiverse of ours – if you give it enough time everything is bound to happen.
Clara is 24 years, 11 months and 29 days old. Tomorrow is her birthday. She decided to go to a Salsa class because why the hell not. She was born with a strange birthmark, bright yellow, on her right cheek. Doctor’s aren’t sure what it is, but it is benign and Clara doesn’t mind it.
Herman is 24 years, 11 months and 29 days old. Tomorrow is his birthday. Herman has always wanted to dance but never had the guts. He decides to go to a salsa class. Herman was born with a birthmark on his left cheek, also bright yellow, also benign. Herman is very sensitive about it but cannot afford the surgery to remove it.
The two live equidistant from the dance class. They each moved into their respective apartments only a week earlier, coming from widely disparate parts of the world. They both leave at precisely 4:13PM and begin their walk. Because of the difference in Herman’s leg length compared to Clara’s, Herman arrives 6 seconds earlier than Clara does. However, as if to unconsciously balance out the universe’s scales, he waits exactly 6 seconds at the entrance to the school in order to complete a text message he’s writing.
Catastrophe is momentarily averted when Herman holds the door for Clara very nervously, careful not to make contact with such a beautiful girl. Herman begins to sweat and wonders if they will be partnered together. Clara has not noticed Herman.
The two head upstairs and class begins. They change their shoes and start making the rounds. There are several other people in the class and they are paired off. The class continues for some time, partners switching every 15 minutes, until at last Herman and Clara are face to face.
Each stops mid stride and notices the mark on the other’s cheek. Each smiles, perplexed, and says they’ve never seen such a mark on anyone else. Herman feels suddenly at ease with Clara, and Clara feels inexplicably vulnerable beneath Herman’s gaze.
It is love at first sight.
The music begins, Oscar D’Leon singing Lloraras. The two hold eye contact, the energy between them rippling and fierce. They are both aroused, eager to begin. Herman steps in, Clara follows suit. They raise their hands up, inching their sweaty palms closer, one to the other, an inch, a centimeter, a millimeter, a micron…
Contact.
Two blocks of midtown Manhattan evaporate in a blazing ball of Herman and Clara. Ten miles away the energy that was Herman and Clara causes third degree burns to a US Postal Worker. Twenty miles away a woman walking to work is temporarily blinded by the sun-bright flash of Herman and Clara’s undeniable chemistry.
Salsa class abruptly ends.
If You Enjoyed This Story – Or Any Of The Hundreds Of Other Legends From The Multiverse – And Want To Give A Dollar To The Madman Behind The Curtain Who Writes Them All:
Subscribe to the RSS feed or leave a comment anywhere on the r/LFTM subreddit with “!subscribeme” or “subscribeme!”, and you’ll receive a notification whenever a new story or continuation is posted.
READ MORE FLASH FICTION
| ACTION | APOCALYPTIC | DARK | ESTABLISHED UNIVERSE | FANTASY |
| FUNNY MAYBE | HORROR | MISC | WTF IS THIS? | SAD |
| SCIENCE FICTION | SCIENCE FANTASY | TWIST ENDING | RANDOM |
READ LONGER STORIES
| THE DEMON’S CANTOS | INCIDENTAL SUPERHERO |
| BENEATH | THE HUMANITY SAGA |
| THE TRAVELER | I, LYCANTHROPE |