Within Time

CH 2

“How was your first day!?”

            I closed the door behind me and walked into the kitchen where my mother was.

            “It was fantastic,” I said sarcastically and sat down at the table. She laughed and shook her head.

            “I’m serious Al, how was it?” I sighed and picked a few grapes from the fruit bowl.

            “We have a new student,” She stopped checking the bills and looked at me with a big smile on her face. I stopped chewing and stared back at her.

            “What?” I asked and she came over to where I was and sat down. I saw her look down at my wrist and nod. I sighed again and held my arm out for her to see, well, nothing. She examined it then frowned. I rolled my eyes and pulled my arm back.

            “I’m sorry honey,” She looked at me solemnly and went back to whatever she was doing. I got up and walked to my room thinking that she was all done talking to me since I hadn’t found him yet.

For the past year or so that’s all she can think about when she sees me. I’m no longer her lovely daughter; I’m now her daughter who is and will forever be single. I turned back around before going into my room to look at her. She was already staring sadly. When our eyes met she tried giving me a small smile but I knew this was it. She had totally lost all hope in my clock. I returned the smile and closed my door behind me.

            When I was a young girl, my mother used to always talk about how excited she was to meet him. I remember sitting there smiling brightly at the thought of him as well. If I knew this would be happening today, I wouldn’t have thought about it as much as I did.

            I threw my bag on the floor and laid down on my bed.

            This was only the first day of school and I still have more than 100 days left to go. Another shock went through my body. I lifted my arm up to see that still nothing had appeared. I scoffed and shook my head. It’s almost like this countdown had a mind of its own and if it does then it must be teasing me.

            “You like this don’t you?” I whispered as if I was actually talking to someone, anyone, anything.

            I shook my head in disbelief. I was so pathetic; such an idiot. Why do I even bother thinking about this? It’s just a number.

            Another shock.

            It’s just a number that likes to taunt me. It’s just a countdown to finding my soul mate who obviously doesn’t exist.

            Another shock.

            This was the 3rd one in a minute. That must mean something right?

Yeah maybe it means he got hit by a bus and I’ll be left to wonder for the rest of my life.

            Another shock.

            “What the hell!?” I looked down and that’s when I saw something light up. My eyes opened wide when I saw numbers begin to move. This was it… It was happening and I’ve never felt so nervous before. I wanted to call out my mother’s name so she could be here to witness this life changing moment; the moment where I find out when I’m going to meet him. I rolled my eyes; just a minute ago I was cursing this countdown and now?!? Now, I loved it!

            I felt my body begin to shake and then I got one last shock before I saw the numbers slow down. I smiled to myself as they all stopped for a second before they began counting down; the months, the days, the hours, the minutes, and the seconds. I felt a weight lift off my shoulders as I saw the numbers moving down. It wasn’t long until I would be standing face to face with the man I would spend the rest of my life with.

02 months, 03 days, 16 hours, 43 minutes, 08 seconds to be exact.