The countdown was underway.
30 seconds to expiration.
For once there was no screen to say it, but he just knew it was his time. Nobody else's.
He was 17.
In 30 seconds - 20 now - he would be 18.
In 20 seconds he would be dead.
Time seemed to slow as he sat on his bed at 6:31:34 a.m. on May 21, 2109. He knew the seconds without looking at a clock. He was struck by a dim sense that he should be running, hiding, fighting the countdown somehow, but he was still wrapped in a thick fog of sleep. His head felt heavy. He knew hiding would do no good.
He'd never been one to do the impossible, or even anything slightly difficult. What's the point when you know you won't live to adulthood?
With 15 seconds left, he decided now was not the time to start.
He wondered if he should kill himself before the timer got to it, jumping out the window of their 12th-floor apartment like his father had three years ago. Good riddance.
Not worth it. It would take more than the 9 seconds remaining just to open the window.
He pulled the covers back up to his chest. They felt cool and scratchy, like hotel blankets, and he wished he'd managed to make his room feel like home before he died. His mom would have nothing to remember him by. That was the best way to go, after all.
He closed his eyes. If he had to die in 3 seconds, he wanted it to be as seamless as possible of a transition from life to death.
One second left, and his eyelashes fluttered with the knowledge that there could be nothing after.
Then it was zero, and a strange feeling he had felt all his life left his body. Lying in his bed, he opened his eyes, looking up at the water-stained ceiling and feeling naked. Completely defenseless for the first time.
He should have been gone.
He hoped this wasn't heaven.
YOU ARE READING
Forgotten Sacrifice
Adventure"There's no way to cheat the system... but there is a way to win." ------ All known diseases have been eradicated, and humans are bioengineered to live as long as possible. Overpopulation consumes the Earth's resources, with studies showing thousan...
