Death's Stopwatch

Prologue

Nick's foot shakes subtly underneath his school desk as his eyes shift back from the clock mounted on the wall across the room to his test paper.

He, of course, hadn't studied a sentence of his history textbook, and it certainly it didn't help that he hadn't a wink of sleep the night prior to the night.

Though, it was almost over.

The clock read two fifty-seven, just two and a half minutes before it would ring and he could escape this hell hole.

He jots down the last answer in his test, not knowing if it's right or wrong, though he's accepted it already; he's flunking it.

Nick almost let's out a sigh, though he knows better than to infuriate his teacher, Mrs. Meyers, who would probably scold him for a half-hour, long after all the other students had spilled out of the classroom and gotten to their homes or after-school jobs.

Speaking of Mrs. Meyers, she also seemed to be fixated on the time. Perhaps she too had something she had to do after she got off work.

Just as Nick can throw his pencil on the test paper in front of him, the bell rings, signaling for everyone to colloquially run to turn in their tests.

"All right, students, please place your quiz on my desk before you leave," Mrs. Meyers announces, clapping her hands once to grab attention, "and when we're back on Monday, we'll be starting a new unit."

Finally.

He throws his right on the top of the stack, along with the others, and rushes back to his seat to grab his backpack, to which he messily shoves whatever was on his desk into it, and sling it onto his back.

Though, in his haste to get out of there quickly, he drops an old, rusty stopwatch that was in his jean's picket onto the floor.

It bounces a few times on the tile floor before it stops in front of the feet of his classmate, Victoria. She bends down to pick it up and inspects it. "What's this?"

Nick wants to snatch it out of her hands in embarrassment. "Nothing, it's just something my dad gave me. He made it himself when he was my age, he'll kill me if I broke it."

"I like it. Does he make other stuff?" asks Victoria, who places the watch back into his hands and gives a subtle smile.

"Sometimes, I guess. He's more of a designer, ya know?" he mumbles, shoving it back into his back pockets, "stupid thing doesn't really work, it's stopped on three thirteen."

Victoria glances back at the classroom clock, which now reads three o' one. "Well, it's at that time. I better get going, I need to catch my subway home." Her voice is monotone as she speaks, though she still manages to show a small smile.

Nick watches as she walks away, mumbling out a goodbye as she rushes out the door in a hurried fashion. He looks back in front of him, where he realized she forgot behind a red gym bag, which was tucked under her chair.

He fostered up an idea; he'd catch up to her before she boards the subway and give it back to her as he asks her out on a date. Though, he worried about being home late himself, since his house wasn't anywhere near the subway station, in fact, it was quite the opposite.

Grabbing the red bag, he walked out the classroom to the train station. He could still see Victoria at the end of the hallway, so he slyly followed her, losing her in the crowd occasionally, since she was walking much faster than he was.

Now that he mentioned it, she looked like she was almost rushing to get there, but he's taken the train before, she had plenty of time to get there before it would be sent off.

Weird.

The walk to the subway was barely a few minutes, which he was thankful for. He finally reached the stairs to enter the station, and he could see Victoria as well, who was almost at the boarding center.

Unfortunately, as New York always was, the station was much too crowded for comfort. He worried he wouldn't get to her in time, so he called out her name. "Victoria!"

She didn't hear him, much to his dismay, though he figured yelling wouldn't do much, since it was pretty loud down there, and he wouldn't be surprised if she had her headphones in her ears blasting music.

Though, she's finally stopped, and she's waiting for the train to come. There were other people as well, and she seemed to be the one closest to the edge. Nick can only watch as she peers to see if the train is nearby, and he calls out once again, but to no avail.

The subway's signal comes shortly, and the tracks rattle loudly as the train comes into the station.

Victoria places her backpack on the floor, along with her phone and headphones.

And takes her last step.