Entries for National Reader's Contest Season Two

Half an Hour Left

The day I died started with a phone call from the man. Second time in the past week. It was the same trope, a message from my sister, a hint to the location, and a number. A month ago, I realized it was a count down. A count down to my sister's death.

But that one was different. At the end, the man said something strange. He gave an exact location and then a simple "good luck".

I left in a second, behind my sister's wheel, and swerved as the rubber squealed. The wind rushed in my hair as I gripped the leather. I spun out of the motel wondering if any cops were watching.

The sun was bright and turned the ground a slight gold and red as the dirt turned to sand. I knew somewhere in this sand ocean was my sister, on top of some hill, with a bomb strapped to her chest.

The world around me blurred in a rapid dream as I sped. The wind stung my face; the window had been broken when my sister was taken. Then I saw it, a helicopter on top of some plateau off in the distance, and two small figures, one tall and lean and the other short and bulky. I sped faster, egging the engine on as it roared. I knew it must have been overheating but I had to get there. I had only half an hour left.

I stopped at the base and ran from the car.

"Amelia!" I screamed up. "I'll get you! Don't worry!"

And in return was only a diabolical laugh.

My fingers grasped at the clay and loose dirt as I scrabbled up the steep slope. The dirt cut under my finger nails and my feet slipped. My arms ached as I pulled myself up, slowly getting to a more vertical position.

The windswept cliffside was hard to cling to but I made my way up, inch my inch as pebbles dug into my palms. I grunted with effort, half way up! And fifteen minutes left.

Somewhere deep with in me, an explosion went off propelling me to not give a shit about myself any more and I sprang forward with an intensity I never knew I had, and I found myself at the edge of the cliff.

I literally bit into the dirt at the top and scrambled to my feet.

"Amelia!" I gasped, then looked up. "Amelia?"

Amelia stood next to a man who wore a bomb jacket.

"You were always so gullible, Sammy," she said with a condescending grin and hopped into her helicopter.

"Have fun!" And with that she flew away, giving me and the man five minutes before we gave up and jumped.