Coincidence & Fate

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Joyce cried out, dropping the box in her arms. She flashed a sheepish smile as she stumbled backward from the body before her, forging for her footing on the busy sidewalk. The body was that of a boy, Ori, who quickly collected himself and turned to the girl. Though, his shy nature kept him from looking at anything other than her feet, which were neatly dressed in simple and clean black flats.

"Don't worry about it." He smiled at the ground. "I just knocked into you to steal your clumsiness. It's why I'm so awkward. You should be safe from any more accidents today."

Joyce offered an innocent giggle, picking up the box of oranges she'd dropped on the ground. As she shifted the weight in her arms, Ori's eyes snagged on the heavy box. I could practically see the words forming in his mouth. He'd do something charming soon, like offer to carry it for her. I had to put a stop to this.

With the wave of my hand, a short and spunky terrier broke free from its frayed silver leash and bolted towards the two teenagers standing outside the produce shop. Noticing the fuzzy keychain on Ori's phone, it lunged into the air and snagged its new toy right out of his hands.

"Hey!" Ori panicked, whirling around to grab the little white dog, but it was already running down the road. The poor boy had no choice but to join the chase while the dog's owner shook her fists, screaming after him. Joyce backed away surprised, and when her father came out of the produce shop to take their shipment of oranges from her sore arms, she wasn't yet able to hear him as he asked her to get the last of their shipment from the delivery truck. She stared curiously down the street where the handsome boy had run off.

I let out a relieved sigh, leaning back on my bench. Another threat was taken care of.

Without warning, the two o'clock city hissed to a stop before me. Out popped two humans, and one human-looking creature. The spiky, pink-haired woman and the old man with the broken front tooth were very much human. The person behind them was certainly not, though they looked the part.

The form my old friend Fate chose was probably attractive according to the human eye, being taller and leaner than most of them, as well as deceivingly strong under their casual attire of a flannel and some old jeans. Everything about them was quite different from my look when going out. From their sharp jaw and soft nose adorned with copper freckles, to their curly, red hair tied lazily out of their face, and gold-colored eyes. I would have noted how their eyes were bright and eager if only they weren't cutting through me mercilessly this time.

I kept my composure as Fate marched over and claimed the empty seat next to me. The bus rolled away, wheezing out a cloud of exhaust that burned my throat.

I kept silent for a long time. Fate spoke first.

"I really should have known you would be here."

It sounded like a joke, coming from them. I swallowed my chuckle and looked for something to say. "It was only coincidence."

"Stop playing with me." Fate snapped, sending a jolt of dread through me. They hardly ever lost their temper. "You've had your fun for years now. Leave those two alone. They are destined to be together."

"I don't believe destined means it has to happen; it just means it's meant to."

"Concursio," Fate pleaded, even using my old Latin name, "You know you can't stop things that the universe wants to happen."

"You know what might happen if they end up together." I spit. A sour taste filled my mouth, and my words felt sharp on my tongue. "You've seen it. You're the one who told me about it in the first place, but you still won't help me prevent it."

Fate couldn't say anything to that. Denying this truth was like denying the air in your lungs. Fate's golden eyes were built to see everything the universe intended and asked of Fate to carry out. The being sitting next to me could put every fortune teller on this planet out of business and crawling on the ground for pennies. Eyes like Fate's glittering ones were meant to tell them everything that was supposed to happen, and the possibilities it would bring. Fate's job was to carry out the universe's bidding.

However, even amazing writers like the universe itself need…editors.

Fate looked down at my hands, and I hid my fingertips, which were tainted silver. Silver fingers for hands that could rewrite the rulebook that Fate so dearly clung to. Silver fingers for hands that traced new events out of thin air. Silver fingers for hands that molded every funny and curious thing that Fate couldn't foresee or control. Coincidence.

With a heavy expression, the freckled creature next to me said grimly- "I know you don't want their future to become reality, but you can't stop it. I won't let you."

I bit the inside of my cheek rather than twist my lips so that Fate couldn't see my distaste. 'I won't let you', they had said. It bothered me because, deep down, I was worried Fate actually would stop me. As Coincidence, I could make any random thing occur. Fate could only make what needed to happen, well, happen. Most days, I didn't have to worry about Fate crossing my path, but in a situation like this one, they were more powerful. If I was the jack of all trades, Fate was the master of their suit.

I crossed my legs and adjusted my skirt. "Tell me, Fate," I said, eyeing the produce shop where Joyce was happily setting up bouquets of flowers, "do you truly want them to bring about the unnatural future you foresaw?"

Fate was quiet for an uncomfortable moment, before bowing their head towards me. "No."

"Then why set off the grenade? You're like a soldier about to throw a bomb you don't want to use just because the general told you to."

"I'm not like you." Fate shot back. "I can't just run around doing whatever I want. As witty as you pretend to be, you're naïve. Sometimes we just have to do things we don't like."

"Oh, come now," I deflect, "what's the worst that could happen if those two don't fall in love?"

"Are you making a joke? Without following their destiny, things would turn to chaos! The very building blocks of this world that you so love to play with could crumble in your hands, and the universe could flip on its side without any direction!"

"Please. You call me naïve and yet you act like the world honestly revolves around you. Chaos without fate? Am I nothing to you? I do just as much work as you do without destroying an entire city. Fate, the universe will be fine."

"No, it won't."

"Yes, it will."

Fate stared at me long and hard, until their fiery gold irises sizzled out into a warm honey glow. "I respect your concern," they say softly, "but this isn't up to you, or me. Joyce and Ori are going to spark something and ignite a path that will burn until it reaches a new spark, like all fate-driven events, and I'm going to help them. It's just the way."

"It doesn't have to be."

"It does."

I knew there was nothing left to say anymore. I wasn't going to budge, and Fate couldn't change their stubborn mind any more than a bird could change into a fish. This was a standstill in a battle. Tomorrow, Fate would pull the two lovers together, and I would try to drive them apart. Though this cycle stalled things, it would leave us unsatisfied.

Fate quickly and carefully plucked a pink flower peddle out of my short, inky dark hair where it had landed after a fall from the dogwood tree next to us. Lifting their arm into the air, Fate let the petal go in the wind where it floated off, driven by something, or maybe nothing. Golden eyes or silver fingers.

"I would invite you over for coffee and biscuits, but I doubt you're hardly in the mood." Fate said and hopped right up from their seat as if we hadn't just had a depressing argument. "I'll be off then. Lots of errands to run around the universe."

"See you soon." I frowned. The words somehow sounded threatening when I only meant for them to be polite, but Fate gives me a quick nod and strides off looking calm and sunny as usual. I, however, felt as if there was a weight on my lap, keeping me firmly planted at the dirty bus stop. I watched Joyce, unknowing of her destiny, talk with a customer while I contemplated tomorrow.

***

Fate waited for the festival to come to town and arranged for them to meet there. It was the perfect place for a lovely girl to start a conversation with a shy boy, complaining about the long line for the creampuffs. I put a stop to that drawing dark silver clouds filled with cold, silvery rain in the sky.

The week after, Ori was reaching helplessly for a book on a high library shelf. Pleasant Joyce saw him and ran to fetch a stool, when suddenly a gloved librarian bumped into the shelves, sending the book tumbling into Ori's hands.

Fate had them together again at the local ice cream parlor until a silver feathered bird pooped on Ori's jacket.

Once, the young lovers spotted each other at the zoo, until the silverback gorilla cracked the glass to its enclosure, sending everyone home early.

Fate was patient. It was something I respected about them. Everything was always planned, careful, and precise. However, each day the window of opportunity for Joyce and Ori was closing, and Fate knew it.

Sometime later, I caught Fate staring out at Joyce's produce shop from the bus stop. A golden cat, waving its hanging tail like the weight of a grandfather clock.

I hid in the summer sun's glare on a nearby window, watching cautiously. There was hardly anything odd about the scene. The ten-thirty bus came and went. People crowded shops. Birds sat on telephone wires, and butterflies landed on dogwood flowers. Joyce stepped outside to replace the bin of strawberries as a pickup truck came around the corner, swerving about. The driver's knuckles turned white on the steering wheel as the truck jolted to the left, heading straight for none-the-wiser Joyce.

I glanced at Fate, who sat stoic and still. What was this? Some sort of power move? Some insane trick? Didn't Fate need Joyce and Ori alive? If anyone would have wanted them dead, it would have been me, but I didn't.

The truck horn blared, sending pedestrians fleeing for cover. A man with a toolbox dropped his things and out spilled dozens of silver nails. There was a loud bang of a tire blowing, and the truck dodged Joyce and veered back into the road, where it reached its final destination at someone's parked car. Airbags went off, and I let out a trembling sigh of relief.

"What the-!" Someone cried. "My car!"

A man raced out of the hardware store across the road with a boy, and stood speechless before his totaled car, its front hood arched at a painful angle. I looked once, then twice. It was Ori, standing behind his father, Mr. Lau.

Of course, this was set up by Fate; they must have known I'd panic and use those ridiculous nails on the truck. I looked back to the bus stop, but the cat was gone. Fate was hiding from me just as I was hiding from them.

"What's wrong with you?" Mr. Lau growled as the truck driver slowly lowered himself onto the sidewalk, but Ori touched his father's arm gently.

"Dad, wait. I think he's hurt. Shouldn't we call an ambulance or something?"

"No." The driver suddenly said through his teeth. "It's fine. I'm fine. I just don't know what happened; there should be no reason to lose control over a truck on a new road in the middle of summer."

"Anything hurt?" Joyce asked as she ran over and plopped down with driver, giving him a quick inspection. "Your arm looks like it's swelling…"

The driver looked down at the limp arm in his lap, wincing and cursing as he tried to move it. Joyce shook her head.

"Come with me; you can sit in the back of my shop. I'm sure my dad will help."

Ori and grumbling Mr. Lau helped the poor man to his feet and followed Joyce back to the store where people milled around under fluorescent lights. In the cool air conditioning, they pushed their squeaky shopping carts around, weighed bundles of apples, inspected potatoes, and snuck grapes into their mouths when no one was looking. Joyce disappeared behind the counter for a moment and brought back a stool.

"Joyce? You back?" A voice asked from the back. Behind the counter appeared Mr. Gladwell. Brushing off his apron, he looked curiously at the strangers huddled around his daughter.

"What's going on?"

"This guy crashed into my car." Mr. Lau said sourly. "Now neither of us have a way to get anywhere. I'm going to call the police now; you don't suppose I should ask for an ambulance, do you?"

"I'm fine." The driver said again. "Besides, ambulances are too expensive."

Mr. Gladwell shook his head. "You can't just sit here and let that arm get any worse. I'll just drive you myself. Joyce, you're in charge of the shop while I'm gone. Let these two sit in here until the police arrive."

Joyce nodded dutifully and watched her father walk the driver out through the front doors.

This was bad. Until police arrived, Joyce and Ori would be stuck in the same place, and even worse, they may start talking.

Quickly, I conjured a silver cop car that honked its horn as it pulled up behind the accident outside. I stepped out of the car, dresses in the police getup, and waved at the party of people watching from the shop window. Mr. Lau slowly put his phone back in his pocket, watching as I twirled my mustache, as I assumed people with mustaches did. He collected himself and ran out into the street after me while I looped my thumbs through my belt and shift my weight anxiously.

"Evening, sir. This your car?"

"The small one, yea; the driver of the truck is at the hospital. You showed up at the perfect time, I was just about to call the emergency line."

"A happy coincidence, it seems. Did you have anyone else with you when the crash happened?" I prodded and looked over his shoulder at the two teenagers awkwardly standing together. I'd hopped Ori would have followed his father outside.

"Well yes, my son, but we weren't in the car during the crash. We were shopping in Assembles Hardware."

"I see. Well, do you think he would have gotten a clear look?"

"What?"

"Your son, do you think he saw what happened? I'd like to speak with him."

"Why do you need to hear from him? He's a minor, and isn't it pretty evident what happened?"

Useless.

I made a small movement with my hand, and the car alarm went full blast next to us. Mr. Lau jumped in surprise, and I zipped way into the shop. The smell of peaches softly kissed my nose as I hid in the metal shelves. Mr. Lau turned back to where I had been standing, but I was gone. He looked around everywhere, even under the cop car.

Joyce and Ori were still in the store together. If I couldn't separate them, I'd distract them.

"It was really kind of your dad to drive that guy to the hospital. He seems like a nice person." Ori said shyly. Joyce smiled and shrugged.

"He's always liked to help other people, so I just knew he'd help this time too. Also, is your dad okay? It looks like he's crawling on the ground for something."

I quickly sent a huge silver shelf of bell peppers tumbling to the ground. Red, yellow, orange, and green littered the otherwise clean floor. The customer who'd been inspecting them put his hands up in surrender while his face burned with embarrassment.

Joyce ran over to clean up the mess while the customer showered her with apologies. However, Ori decided to be the hero and followed to help her pick up the peppers. I found myself growing to disdain his chivalry.

"In other recent news," said the news lady on the television by checkout, "there seems to be a power outage in a few local neighborhoods."

The silver dial on the TV turned wildly until the volume became offensively loud. Joyce covered her ears and staggered to the TV, leaving Ori on the floor with a dozen peppers.

"TECHNICIANS ARE WORKING TO GET POWER BACK TO THESE NEIGHBORHOODS, BUT-"

Bang! Customers cried in surprise as golden sparks flew from the TV plug, cutting off the whole device. A baby a few aisles away began to wail.

Fate. They were still here to foil my tricks.

Joyce carefully inspected the burned plug, her mouth hung open in disbelief.

Mr. Lau ran back into the shop, paler than flour. "Has anyone seen a police officer?"

Just then his silver phone rang in his pocket. He picked it up and pressed it to his ear in suspense.

"Congratulations! You've just won a big family getaway to the Bahamas! Act fast, and we can get you and your family on a plane out of the country in a flash!"

"That's just low!" Fate seethed and swooped down from the golden ceiling lights. I ended the call and appeared before them as my human self once again. Fate's eyes looked like embers, heated by the anger flaming up in their cheeks. I gulped down as much of my nerves as I could and stood my ground. Fate growled.

"You're doing nothing but be a nuisance, a pouting child throwing a tantrum, and I've had it!"

I firmly believed that I was hardly being childish. This was all driven by the desperation of someone wanting to save the future. How could Fate not understand? The bafflement, after all this time, had set off a fuse.

"How dare you, Fate!" I screamed. "You want to let people, good people, get hurt just because your stupid eyes foresaw it! Do you have any idea how selfish you are? How spineless you have to be to do something like this?"

"I'm selfish? Oh, I'm the selfish one because I'm carrying out the work that the universe intended? You are ignoring the greater good because you can't see anything past your own feelings! You'd let chaos reign, all because you can't stand the thought of doing something you don't want to do! Do you think I like what Joyce and Ori will bring? Hah! I just understand that dirty work is necessary, sometimes, for a better future. But you! You'd bury your head in the sand, pretending everything will be solved by keeping them separated! How can you have the audacity to call me spineless?"

"I have plenty of faith that you're the idiot here. You'll let tragedy happen just because the universe told you to let it!"

"You'd let the future run off the tracks just because you can't let this go!"

"We can change things!"

"No, we can't! It's the universe's bidding! It's fate!"

"Help me to prevent it with coincidence!"

"Oh ho ho, you naïve little-!"

"You big, emotionless-!"

***

The two entities roared at each other with every bit of strength they could muster, making the ground shake and the lights flicker. People all around, in the shop and out on the streets, started to crumble to their feet as the air vibrated, and the earth growled.

Birds fled from the hanging electrical wires and old lamp posts began to tip and sway. Cars stopped in the middle of the street and quickly filled with the screams of the people inside. The sounds of citizens crying and running became muffled by corrupting buildings and rumbling earth. The cracks in the roads became bigger and deeper. With each passing moment of the shaking, the cracking spread until the ground could no longer hold itself together. A dark chasm spread the earth apart. It stretched on, seeming to sneer a toothless smile as it mercilessly pulled down cars and buildings in its path.

Seconds that felt like minutes passed, and the quaking ceased only when the little produce shop began to fall. The gash in the ground had crept its way into the building, spreading it apart until the walls heaved and the roof caved in. Then, silence fell, almost louder than the earthquake itself. People slowly started to emerge from the ruin, while those with the most strength ran to others in need.

From the crack in the store's floor, a hand covered in ash emerged, searching for flat ground. What was once one floor was now two. Joyce's head followed, eyes wide and wild. She coughed and gasped as if she had been drowning.

"Hello? Hello!" A familiar voice called out. Joyce looked below her. A few feet down, a handsome boy with dark hair was sluggishly trying to stand, but his leg looked twisted. Ori.

"Oh god. H-hang on!" Joyce ordered. She herself had a headache that was growing by the second, but she couldn't leave him in need. Carefully, despite her shaking feet, she climbed back down into the pit that had once been a standing monument of her family's hard work.

Joyce hurried over to Ori as he dragged himself up against the wall of the crater.

"What the heck's going on today." The poor boy panted. "It's like the apocalypse's here. Runaway trucks, bad weather, earthquakes… When I said I wanted something exciting to happen to me, I never meant this."

Joyce rubbed her throbbing head and plopped down next to Ori. It felt strange to start a conversation while everyone else was panicking and preparing for a potential after-shock, but maybe a normal conversation was what she needed to keep her feeling sane.

"Don't beat yourself up, I'm sure you have nothing to do with the apocalypse, even if you did kinda ask for it."

"I'm not kidding! You don't believe me? Even the animals are acting up. Haven't you noticed that orange cat that's been stalking your store for weeks?"

Joyce stopped rubbing her head and looked at Ori. He was a mess. His soft dark hair stuck out in weird places and fell over his sweaty forehead. His mouth hung open in a small gap as he waited for her answer, giving him a sweet, boyish look. Joyce shrugged.

"I haven't seen any cats, but if there is one, it's probably just hungry."

"Didn't look hungry. It's creepy, the thing just stares at everyone."

"How would you have seen the cat outside my store so many times?"

Ori opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it and snapped it shut instantly. Funny shades of pink tainted his ears and cheeks, and he carefully kept his shy eyes away from Joyce's coffee-colored ones.

"I just, uh…I just, just see it a lot…whenever I pass by…you know, while I'm shopping and stuff…"

"Funny," Joyce remarked as she fought to hide a grin, "you've never come to the store before."

"Well, it's probably for the best, considering the one time I visited, I brought a portal to hell."

"Oh, come on, I've never seen you bring mass destruction anywhere else."

"What?"

Joyce left her bantering aside for a moment and gave a serious look to Ori. When she frowned, her bottom lip stuck out ever so slightly.

"Haven't you noticed?" She asked. "I feel like everywhere I go, I run into you. Even today, after we could have died, we're together. It's such a strange coincidence. '

Ori gave a small shrug. "I don't know, maybe it's fate."

Joyce laughed as if he had been joking. The sound was light, and for a moment, the pain in Ori's leg seemed too dull.

"Thanks for coming down here for me..." Ori said as he fiddled with his thumbs.

"You're welcome." Joyce smiled kindly. "I couldn't just leave you down here. You're hurt."

"You know, you're pretty calm for someone who was almost hit by a car, and then survived an earthquake."

"Oh, I almost forgot about the truck." Joyce stared into space for a moment and puckered her lips in thought. "I hope the driver's okay…and my dad."

"We should get out of here. I have to find my dad to…"

"No, I'll go look. You can't climb out of here with that foot. I'll get more help, just stay put."

She watched as he stumbled for words behind his red cheeks. One moment, he could say something lovely or funny, and the next, he'd be an awkward mess. It was quite adorable.

"Ori!" Someone yelled from above. The two teenagers jolted, and Ori tried to stand.

"Dad! Down here!"

Mr. Lau's head popped into view from above them. He bent down to grab something, tied it off, and threw one end into the pit. It was a silver-gray gardening hose. Mr. Lau scrambled down.

"Ori, hop on my back, I'll carry you up. You too, young lady, up you go."

***

Atop of the ruined structure, two owls watched quietly as ambulances carried people away. The citizens below continued to wail; the flashing lights of emergency vehicles shone behind their eyes whenever they blinked. Mr. Lau clung to the teenagers as if fearing the ground would swallow them up again. The great horned owl with glittering eyes spoke first.

"It's over now." Fate said solemnly without sparing Coincidence a glance. "They've found their destiny."

"Who says they can't be separated again?" pipped the barn owl with the spotted gray wings. "We can prevent this mess from ever happening again."

"It's already happened, Coincidence." Fate sighed. "Look around you. The mess is made. The work is done."

Coincidence looked again at the rubble they perched on.

"But…I thought we caused this…"

"I think we did."

"But I thought they were supposed to?"

"They didn't, though."

"But how- "

"I saw a disaster." Fate interrupted. "In my vision of their future, and this was the outcome. I just thought it was brought on by them."

"You planned this, didn't you!" Coincidence screeched and flapped their wings. "You must've known all along! You used me for that earthquake, and now look! Poor Joyce, poor Ori…"

"I did no such thing!" Fate snapped defensively before ruffling their feathers and regaining their composer. "I didn't plan to create all this. I only wanted to do the universe's bidding, as I always do. I never intended for us to be the bringers of destruction."

Coincidence sat silently for some time as they wrapped their brain around the events of the day. Finally, after some careful thought, they said – "Maybe this was…coincidence."

Fate scoffed. "Don't blame yourself. This was as much of my doing as it was yours. We both created this. What is important is that those two got together, just as I intended them too."

With that, Fate lifted their chin a little higher, making Coincidence swell with disgust.

"Now, hold on!" The owl commanded. "You can't take all the credit! You had no part in making them meet after the earthquake! That had to be a coincidence."

"Absolutely not! You didn't even want them together in the first place, and now you want credit? Besides, how could it have been a coincidence if you had no part in it?"

"I can if you can, hypocrite."

"I am not a hypocrite."

"Well, what was it then - the earthquake? Tell me, oh wise immortal. If that's the catalyst, then the only explanation is that this was both of us."

Fate sighed heavily, resting their head on their chest. "I'm too tired for this. I would like to go home. Your fault, my fault, our fault…I don't care. I'm just happy they're finally together. As I said, it's over."

Coincidence still felt the excitement of the argument pulsing in their skull, but Fate was done talking, and no one was more stubborn than Fate.

"Fine." Coincidence huffed and pulled their wings tightly to their sides. "Another time, then. What now?"

Coincidence and Fate had been quite busy with the love story. So much, that they had found little time to do much else in their work. Tired and confused, what was there to do?

Fate finally looked to Coincidence, whose face cast odd shadows from the setting sun. Then, giving the best smile a bird could possibly manage, Fate offered – "How about some tea and sandwiches? I know you love my green tea."

***

Up in the sky, two owls flew from the poor neighborhood produce shop. One swept down to carefully pick up a lemon spared from the damage. Despite the oddity of a bird choosing a sour fruit to put in their tea, no one in the remaining's of the street seemed to notice, nor would they have cared.