Time's All I've Got (#10 in Science Fiction)

Caution: Memories Inside

I have been unfaithful to you'll. I told you'll that I had a secret, a number that changes every year, but that's not all. There's something more to it. I am not the only one who had this blessing or curse.

We were 3 of us. Rose, Sean and me. We were besties since school, until Sean told us something about himself.

*FLASHBACK*

"Rose, Jenna wait up."

"Hey Sean." Rose said.

"Long time no see. You've been busy these days." I looked at Sean's face. There was something he was afraid of. "What's up? Everything alright?"

"Umm no. There's something I need to tell you'll. Can we meet at our usual place after school?"

"Definitely. Just don't worry Sean everything will be alright." As I said that, Rose looked at me with her eyes lowered.

"Do you think it's about any girl?" She asked me. She had this huge crush on Sean and for obvious reasons never told him.

"Calm down Rose. I don't think it's about that."

We didn't have any class together till the end of that day, so the next place we met was directly after school at the coffee shop. We sat on our usual place, the view from there was beautiful in its own way, or just the company of both of them made it beautiful.

"Rose, Jenna, I have something to tell you'll. Now, be very calm and just listen to me."

We nodded our heads as he began his story.

"There's something I've hidden from you'll, there's a number on the back of my neck, it's been there ever since I was a child. That number decreases every year when I turn a year older. That's not all, recently I've started seeing signs and dreams, not the usual ones. I think they have a message behind them. I see myself with a dark shadow in a corridor, it moves towards me with every breath I take and then kills me."

We were shocked, our mouths paralized. We had no words. We were utterly and completely scared out of our wits. What was he even talking about. At first we thought he might be going through something.

A moment later I revised what he said in my mind, and there it was. The numbers he was talking about. Even I had them. I couldn't take any more. My eyes became watery and I just picked up my satchel and walked as fast as I could towards home. I left without saying a word.

The rest of the day, I spent in my bedroom crying and crying on my pillow. I was afraid. "What if all that he said was true? Am I too going to have such a horrible death? Noooo!!"

I cried myself to sleep that night. The next day I decided to confront Sean and Rose about my break down.

As soon as I entered school, I saw a huge crowd. Students then teachers then the police. "Wait, what's the police doing in school?" I asked the girl next to me. No one said anything. I went further ahead and there I saw Sean's parents, crying. I asked Rose what was going on.

"They....they....no I can't" She started crying.

"What happened to Sean? Tell me."

"They, found his bo.." Before she could even complete the sentence, I was down on my knees, shocked, unable to move.

"Get up Jenna. Be strong." My classmates helped me up and gave me some water.

Rose and I went up to the police to ask them more about this, but all we got was the obvious, "Sean was murdered."

They checked the cctv footage, there were no signs of anyone being in the school corridors at the time of Sean's death. They said that all they could see was Sean running away and begging for mercy from some unseen figure, and towards the end, his body was just lying down in the corridor with his head ripped off. The middle part was not to be described to us, hence was kept with the police for their investigation.

The next few days, even months were hard for all of us, especially me. Sean's death gave me sleepless nights, knowing I was going to be next.

The whole incident from 5 years back was again flashed in front of my eyes like a warning. A reminder that got me thinking again. Rose had definitely lost Sean, but I wouldn't let her lose me.