Soul Believers — Shirley Barrett

LOVE IS DEAD. It's nothing more than a romantic notion sold to the foolish fans of Hollywood that are willing to believe in it. It's an idea, an emotion played upon by movie producers and writers to sell more stories; something that makes life harder for the rest of us reality-dwelling, non-dreamers. It's nothing more than an intangible necessity that causes people to behave irrationally whether they have it or not… or that's what I thought.I've witnessed firsthand how the power of love can leave a person vulnerable and defenseless; I'm not blind anymore. True love doesn't exist but in the part of our mind that's ruled by passion and desire. It exists because the parties involved want it to… they will it into being. There's no higher power at work here, no stronger entity…The day Julian Guard walked into my life was the day I rethought all of my previous beliefs. The twists and turns of my life have forced me to believe in a higher power. Here I am, a regular girl with regular problems… the last of my family passed away only months ago, I've had to move twice because my violent ex-boyfriend refuses to understand the statement 'It's over and I never want to see you again', my bank account has depleted to almost nothing, and to top it off… I'm just about out of shampoo. And then Julian walks into my life. My true soul mate wandered the Earth in search of me for hundreds of years… in search of me. Not the girl next door, not the latest runway superstar, not that skinny brunette who's doing all the action movies nowadays, but for me. I'm not sure what I did to deserve such a turn in my life but I'll gladly accept it. My life turned into a fairy tale. The classic story of Cinderella being swept off her feet by Prince Charming, a blind love leads the major players to what is certainly a happily-ever-after. Unfortunately I - unlike the multitude of quoted heroines - forgot that no fairly tale is complete without a bad guy or two…