Chapter Text
Daniel is blind since birth. Nobody knows why, much less himself. But that doesn’t stop him from having a normal life. He did what any child: play, laugh, fight with his older brother for nonsense. Being blind only made him unique, special.
When he was 6 years old, his parents told him an unlikely story, in his opinion. Each person is born with a soulmate. Maybe they weren’t meant to be a couple, but to meet each other. And the only way to identify your soulmate is through your skin. If you write something in your hand, it will appear in the hand of your soulmate.
Daniel didn’t believe in it. He even thought that they were making fun of him, but it was impossible. He would expect it from his brother, but his parents would never do that to him.
Whatever it was, Daniel never tried it. It’s stupid. What reason would a blind person have to write on his arm, if he wouldn’t be able to read it later? He simply let it go.
Two years later, he unwittingly discovered his passion: painting. Ironic. He really wanted to learn to play the piano, but he didn’t want his parents to spend money on nonsense.
One rainy day, being bored without being able to do anything, he asked his brother’s for his set of watercolors. He laughed, of course, but didn’t deny it, and immediately they both started painting.
Daniel really didn’t know how to draw, but thanks to his other senses and the help of his brother, he managed to draw a pretty decent house, in the words of the eldest. He felt tremendously proud of it and, ignoring the stains of red paint on his skin, he grabbed another paper and repainted the same house, this time without help.
That same night, while preparing to go to sleep, he began to feel burning in the arm. It didn’t hurt; it just seemed to trace lines on his skin. Quickly, he grabbed a pencil and reflected on a sheet what he felt in his arm, at the same time reflecting it in his mind.
When the burning ceased, he tried to decipher the message. He was able to ‘read’ in both Spanish and English, but what he had just written was neither one nor the other. What was that?
Without thinking much, he got up with the paper in his hand and went to his brother’s room.
“Hey, Paco, are you awake?” He asked while knocking at his door. Almost immediately, the mentioned one opened it.
“Don’t call me Paco.” It was the first thing he said, giving a long yawn. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”
“Yes, but I need your help. What does this say?” He handed him the paper he still held in his hands.
“Hmm…” Francisco grabbed it and tried to read what was written on it. After a few seconds, he spoke. “I think this is Japanese, where did you get it from?”
“Well, I wrote it.” Daniel didn’t need his eyesight to know that his brother was looking at him confused and, probably, with a raised eyebrow. “Let’s see, the thing is that I started feeling a burning in my arm and it seemed as if it was writing something, so I tried to transcribe it as best I could.” As he spoke, he felt Francisco grab his arm and lift the sleeves of his pajamas. What was he checking?
“Wait a few minutes…” He mumbled, letting go of his arm. In the silence, Daniel heard the unlocking sound of his brother’s cell phone. It looked like he was looking for something. The intrigue was killing him.
After what seemed like an eternity in which Daniel played with his fingers and Francisco continued the researching on his phone, the eldest finally spoke.
“Okay, if we aren’t wrong, I think it says «Petechia».” Daniel was more confused than before.
“The what?”
“Petechia. That’s the name given to the small red spots that appear on the skin, because of a subcutaneous hemorrhage.” He explained calmly. Daniel just nodded, as if he understood something. Francisco sighed. “Look, bicho, I’m going to cut to the chase because I’m dying of sleep. I think this has to do with your soulmate.”
God. It had been a long time since he had heard about it. He had almost forgotten about it.
“Do you remember the mess you did with the watercolors when you drew that house? You stained your face and arms with red.” Daniel nodded again. “Well, I think those spots appeared on the skin of your soulmate. If they are your age, I infer that they got scared and decided to investigate about «red spots on the skin», and the first thing that goes on the Internet when searching for that is the petechiae. I suppose they wrote it on their arm to not forget that word. But well, that’s just suppositions.” He finished talking, giving his brother time to process the information.
"And how are you sure they're my soulmate?" He asked, incredulous, but at the same time, quite curious.
"When your soulmate writes something on their skin, it's transferred to you and you feel burning for every written thing. I also have something written by my soulmate..." He was silent for a couple of seconds. "«Buy milk». I hope they haven't forgotten when they went shopping."
"Also?..."
"Yes. You have written on your arm «petechia» in Japanese. Congratulations! Your first tattoo! However, calm down. As soon as they get it erased, it'll disappear on you too. Can we go to sleep now?”