Introduction

Since the day I was born I could see the day everyone was going to die. There is a clock ticking down above everyone's heads. When I was a boy I didn't understand what those numbers meant, I would ask my parents about them but they didn't know what I was talking about. When I tried to explain what I was seeing they took me to a child psychiatrist worried something was wrong with me. I was put on medication for several years which made me feel awful and not myself. I told my parents I didn't see the numbers anymore which was a lie but the psychiatrist said I must have grown out of it and I was finally able to feel like a person again. it wasn't until I was 12 years old that I learned when the clock hits zero you die.

My grandfather had been ill for quite some time. I had always noticed that his number was much lower than everyone else's every time we visited. however, it wasn't until we were called to say our last goodbyes that I understood. I watched as his clock went from 10 minutes to 5 seconds. his heart monitor went crazy and then it flat lined, I watched as his clock ticked to zero. and then I cried, I cried for days. My parent thought it was grief over my grandfather but it was grief for every person I ever met. and it was grief and fear for myself as I looked in the mirror and saw how long I had left to live.

I began to pay more attention to the numbers, they never altered, no one ever got extra time nor did they suddenly lose a bunch of time. it was as though everyone's fate was set, from the day we were born we were already destined when to die.

I wondered if I was alone, the only one who knew. I began looking through online chat rooms and message boards hoping someone was going through the same. for about a year I hunted for others like me but most leads were a dead end, emo kids wanting to be cool not actually having the ability to see the numbers. After leaving messages for people like me to reach out I finally got contacted. They had me get equipment to chat on a secure server and I finally video chatted with 4 others. They had me confirm their date of deaths as well as I had them confirm mine to prove we all had the gift. I finally found people like me, it was freeing.

We would all make observations and see if anything could be done to change our fate but nothing worked. We tried to see if we could save people at the moment of their death but something always prevented it from happening. Fate could not be changed. I would live to be 32 years old and nothing would stop it.