'According to Greek Mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate beings, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.' — Plato, The Symposium

The sun seeps through the tall trees, brightening up the spring green pigment of the leaves. Wind wisps through your long brown hair as you drive down the empty road with the shadows of the forest dancing on your pale skin. The only sound that you can hear is the singing of the woods and the rustling of the airy foliage. You feel your nerves calm as you drive mindlessly mile after mile. Driving clears your head and thoughts. It allows you to forget who you really are. A foreigner. An outsider. A different kind of breed from the rest of the humans on this world. 

You step out of your car and move branches out of the way until you reach the edge of the cliff. At its enormous height, you sit on the grass and overlook the forest and river ways. For decades you have sat on this cliff whenever life started to become too difficult. You live away from humanity in fear of them knowing the truth about you—how you’re not really from their world. Closing your eyes, the very first memory that you remember is waking up in a field of blue sage flowers with no one around and with no recollection of how you ended up on this world. Fear didn’t stop you as you even went to the lengths of traveling into the city to see if anyone was looking for you—but no one came. No one ever came and by now—you know that no one ever will. You have lived for years on this planet but still retain the physical image of a young adult. 

It is hard not knowing your origin and you are haunted by the symbol on your left hand—three connecting circles that reflect on the top and bottom with a circle centered in the middle. You trace along the lines of the symbol and an overflow of loneliness makes it way into your heart again. Your solitary lifestyle is a means of saving yourself since you know that with your slow aging process, humans will start to become suspicious. You couldn’t risk forging any new relationships and chose to live alone.

You watch as the sun sets over the horizon, filling the sky in a luminous glow of pink and purple when you hear rustling behind you in the woods. You know the forest like the back of your hand. You memorized each tree, each flower, each budding plant, and know that this place is not a place that any human can easily reach by foot. Standing up, you hear the foot steps come closer and with you on a cliff, feeling trapped is an understatement. As the person emerges, you are awestruck to find a man—no older than how you look drenched in water from head to toe. He sees your face and expresses a weak smile before collapsing onto the solid ground. You haven’t faced another person in tens of years but know that you can’t just leave him there. You remember exactly how it felt when you awoke to no one and how utterly frightening the feeling was. The last thing that you wanted was for this man to feel the same way. Lost and alone.

Somehow, you find the strength to get back to your small home, deep in the woods. It’s an abandoned cottage that you found when you were wandering through the area. Slowly, you learned to fix and repair the aged structure into a place that you can call ‘home’. You do what you can with your eyes closed as you change him out of the wet articles of clothing. After placing a warm towel on his head, you step outside into the cool night air—just in case he turns out to be a complete psycho, you have the advantage of running through the forest away from him. Losing count of the hours that have passed since meeting the stranger, you open your eyes and find yourself seeing a pair looking straight back at you. His large brown eyes and thin dirty blond hair shines under the full moon. He looks at you in a way that seems like he has been searching for you since the beginning of time. 

"Hi," his deep voice doesn’t match his youthful appearance. What catches you off guard is that he calls you by a name that you don’t recognize. You came onto this planet alone—with no memory of who you are, what your name is, or where you came from. The way that he says the name flows with such ease off of his lips as if he’s repeated it a thousand times. You’re afraid to ask if he may have mistaken you as another person.

"Hello." You haven’t spoken to another living soul for years to the point where you can’t even remember how your voice sounds. "I’m sorry but I don’t know anyone by that name. If you’re all better now—I can show you the way out of the for—

He lightly chuckles, holding the back of his palm against his mouth. The small laugh resonates through the towering trees—like the leaves on the branches are happy to see him. “It’s your name.” He reaches out to touch the edge of your face but you move backwards away from him.

You’re confused and wonder why he seems to know you but you have no idea who he is. “I don’t know you or even your name.”

He retreats his hand and takes the seat next to you on the steps of the porch. “Luhan. My name is Luhan.” He pauses and finds it extremely difficult to express his feelings. “I’m so sorry that it has taken me this long to find you.” When he says his name, you feel the emblem etched on your left palm pulse with heat. 

Clenching your hand into a tight ball, you ask, “Find me?”

Luhan doesn’t think twice about telling you the story of his people—your people. Your kind. “On our planet, each person is given a unique symbol on our hands. Each symbol is different and the only other person with the same symbol as your own is your other half. One on the left and your second half has the same symbol on the right. Our kind is scattered across the universe—with everyone searching for their other half. This is our punishment. Our curse.”

You interrupt him, “You said everyone is searching for their other half—but I don’t remember anything. I never searched for anyone.”

"You were always searching. You just never realized it." He takes out a device from his pocket and a holographic image brightens up the night sky. You see Luhan and yourself on the porch. He presses a button that zooms the image higher and higher until you see that the forest is in the shape of the design on your hand. "You moved these trees. Whether you were aware of your unique ability or not, you moved these trees. It is why you know the layout of the region so well."

"But why is this our curse?"

"The old gods feared us. Believed that our ‘gifts’ were becoming too powerful so they separated us from each other, hoping that we would never find our other halves—which is why you have no memory of your home, your parents, or me—but that can change." He lifts up his right hand, showing you the very circle designs that have haunted your dreams. “If these two emblems touch—your memories will return.”

Opening your left palm, you see the symbol shine in a bright blue. It blazes as it comes closer and closer towards Luhan’s hand. It feels like they are magnetically connected to each other—dying for the two halves to become complete again. Luhan can see the hesitation spread across your ageless face. 

"You’ve never felt at home here, right? You know you’re not from this world and that what I’m telling you makes absolutely no sense but trust me this once. It’s all that I’ll ask."

You bite the bottom of your lip and confess, “I just don’t want to feel alone again.”

He smiles reassuringly and slowly starts to intertwine his fingers into yours. “You won’t ever be alone again after today. No matter where you are—I’ll always find you. You are my other half.”

Once your skin touches Luhan’s, a flood of images flows through your head. Everything that Luhan has told you is playing like a movie. You see yourself and Luhan being pulled apart from each other on your real home planet and you are sent here where you awoke not remembering him. Your heart is banging against your chest and your breathing is coming out in short gasps. He pulls you into him, wrapping his arms around you—making up for the lost time. “I will always find you. You are my other half.” He whispers the same sentence over and over until your heart calms. 

You look at his face and hate how you have forgotten the very image of perfection—tracing your fingers along the soft edges of his chin.

Luhan holds out his hand and the bright blue hue glistens as you hold onto him, “Let’s go home.”