The Timekeeper

Chapter One

Copyright © Elle Crawford 2013

All Rights Reserved.

(Just a quick message before you start reading. This story is unedited and needs a lot of work done (mainly the first half of the story), so please take that into consideration whilst reading. Also, this is my own original story. I got the idea off a Tumblr post which I later found out was from a movie. The movie is different to my story though, and I own all characters in this story. Please do not copy or steal my ideas, plagiarism is a serious crime and it will not be taken lightly if you are caught.)

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"Okay, you're going to feel a slight pinch..." the doctor said as he placed my wrist underneath the machine.

I knew he was lying. I had seen people go through this before. I looked down at my wrist under the device; it looked so strange. I guess you could describe it as a massive stapler, because that's what it was going to do. It was about to insert a countdown on the inside of my wrist. You didn't have a choice if you wanted it or not, once your sixteenth birthday came, that thing was embedded into your skin.

The doctor began to count backwards from ten. I looked over at my mother outside the viewing window and gave her a weak smile, receiving a nervous grin in return. Thanks, Mother. Thank you for making me feel even more frightened. I gazed at my blank wrist, thinking that this will be the last time I see it untouched and free. He was down to five. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, hoping it would be over soon. I wished they could just give you a bracelet instead, telling you how long you have. It would be a lot easier, and much less painful.

"And one," he exclaimed, pushing a big green button on the control panel that sat in front of him.

The machine began to rumble, a light shining onto my tied down wrist. I squeezed my eyes shut, having little hope that it would decrease the pain I was about to experience. I felt a heavy weight against my wrist before a piercing, agonising pain shot into my skin. I let out a scream, wanting to rip my arm away from the machine. My mother rushed through the doorway and over to my side, getting a tight grip on my free hand.

The pain shot up my arm, going through my entire body. It was the worst pain I'd ever experienced, and I couldn't even describe what it felt like. Just imagine feeling a tiny needle being stabbed into every inch of your body, and then multiply that by like a million. I may have been over exaggerating, but it really was excruciating.

The horrid pain subsided a little and I opened my eyes, blinking at my new wrist. The countdown read 0000d 00h 00m 00s. I looked up at the doctor, confused as to why it didn't say anything.

"Don't worry sweetie, it need's time to work and connect to your system." He smiled blankly, grabbing a clipboard from the desk in the corner of the room.

"Now. Just a few things you should know," he began. "Firstly, it will take about six hours for the Timekeeper to connect to your nervous system and brain. So, when you wake up in the morning, it should be working."

"And if it isn't?" my mother mumbled, still holding a tight grib on my hand.

I looked up at her wrist, her countdown only displayed a big red horizontal line. That was what happened when your soul mate passes away.

My mother met my father about a year after her sixteenth birthday, and would say how they instantly connected. People around them were jealous of how in love they were; how perfect their relationship was. I wish I were alive to see it; it would've been so magical. But my father died when my mother was pregnant with her third child; me. My older brothers were both lucky, they got to spend time with him and see him. But I didn't, which hurt like a stab to the heart. I wished for my relationship to be like theirs, so magical and unforgettable.