miscellaneous stories

Timers

6 hours. That's all I have left to do what I need to do. Get in, get out, done. Simple, right?

No. Not with how my life is. But that's different now because this is the story of how I die.

My job was to get the jewels back for my client. She was a very rich client and she was going to pay me a lot of money for them back. I assumed that getting the jewels back was why the timer at the top of my wrist was counting down. The second one was only a minute after it and I assumed that I would meet my soulmate just after I returned the jewels. I would rather not think about why the third and last timer was only a minute after that.

I easily bypass the front door lock and slip in with 5 hours till I get my life goal. Quietly, I slink to the bedroom in the back of the house. I enter the room and quickly do a scan through all the boxes and drawers in the room and luckily there aren't that many. When I see it's not in the main part of the room I go to check the master bathroom. I walk over to the woman's area and look through all her drawers but find nothing. She has no boxes on the counter so I head over to the man's side. His drawers don't contain the jewels so I hurriedly tiptoe to the woman's closet. It's huge and could have many hiding spaces. Thankfully, I see a box on her bookshelf she uses to display all her jewelry. On it there is one box that doesn't show its contents. It's locked but its a simple lock and it's opened in seconds. The hinges don't even squeak as I open it.

Eureka!

The jewels were there. Quickly, I close the box up and lock it closed without the jewels in it. Instead, I put the jewels into a velvet bag to protect them and walk out the closet. As I walk to the front door I make sure everything is in the same place as it was when I came. Satisfied, I lock the door and head out to my car. I drive away from the house and am quite sure no one saw me or at least didn't suspect anything.

I exit the neighborhood and pump up the radio as I congratulate myself on getting the job done with 2 hours to spare, which is the exact amount of time I need to get my client and I's meeting space.

***

I pull up in front of the movies and park my car. I see my client hiding in the shadows and she sees me. She turns and goes in to find a seat. I follow her and sit a few rows back and a few seat over. The movie starts and we both watch. I actually found it to be an amusing tale of a depressed, widowed father working with a mentally ill woman to find his disabled son.

Once the film of Finding Nemo ends and the credits begin to roll myself, my client, and a few other people stay and watch the fish swim by. At the end those that were left gave a small chuckle when a one-eyed, green sphere-shaped snorkeler swam by. I think I heard one person say "Oh Mike" as it happened but I didn't get it.

Just as I felt my wrist get poked by a cold finger right over my timer for my money for the jewels. I looked down and saw the timer at exactly five minutes. I looked up and my client was up and slowly walking down the stairs to the exit. I quickly got up and walked in that direction.

When I reached her I "accidentally" ran into her. I quickly stop and turn around. I quickly apologize and tries to tell that it's all alright, just a little bump. I pretend to be very panicky and dig in my bag for a bit to pretend to look for a cloth to dust her off. In the cloth is the velvet bag and I begin to frantically dust her off as she protests that it's unnecessary. As I dust off her side that I ran into her purse slips off her shoulder a little and I take my que to drop the velvet bag into it. Then I finish off the act as she whispers to me one word that sent my heart pounding. "Windshield" and I know that's where she had someone put the money. Then we pull apart and go our separate ways.

On my wrist I feel that cold finger and know it's the one minute timer for my greatest achievement. I see the envelope the cash is stuffed in. It bulges in the middle and I know she did well on our price agreement. I reach out to grab it and just as the timer hits the number zero my whole body is flooded with a warmth that comes from the inside out. Sadly, it soon fades and I get in the car to head home and decide what to do with my money.

"Wait! Wait! I need to talk to you!"

I spin around to see who yelling and see a young man running towards me. He's pretty cute too, with curly brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. Then he reaches me and stares deep into my eyes and that's when I remember the second timer was only a minute behind the first. The timer for meeting my soulmate. He reaches for my hand and my timer hits zero and warmth floods me one more time as I stare into his eyes. They're beautiful but they seem off, like they're sad. The glow of our warmth goes down but he still looks so sad as he hold my hand.

Then it hits me. My third timer. My death. It too was only a minute behind. I tear my hands away from him knowing what he means to do but not knowing why. I look down at my last and final timer and see it hitting numbers no one wants to see until they're old and had their life's fill. It says 20 seconds and my breath catches as I watch it count down to ten. I would have kept watching till it hit zero but I heard and small click and jerk my head up. He holds a gun and points it at me as tears pool in his eyes. I feel death cold fingers start to grip my wrists.

5...

"No... please..."

"I'm sorry."

Tears pool in my eyes too and they pour out his. I can feel death take over my arms.

4...

"But I have too."

"No.."

The tears pour out my eyes and his voice starts to crack. Now death has me to my toso and I feel it slowly spreading.

3...

"I'm in love..."

"Please..."

Now my voice cracks and death has spread down to my hips and going.

2..

"Please..."

"...with someone else."

My heart breaks as I think of how he would kill me just so he could be with someone else who isn't even his soulmate. I look him straight in the eye and can see his heart will be a little broken after tonight. I fall, death now has me from the neck down.

1...

"I wish I would have gotten to know you."

"NOOO-"

His hands steady as he takes aim at my heart and I pray it will be quick, as I could feel death choking me. As his fingers slowly pulls back on the trigger we stare into each others eyes with sadness, thinking about what could have been. He can't take it anymore and closes his eyes but I keep looking right at him as he pulls the trigger.

A loud bang shatters the parking lots silence and my scream of "no" dies with the sound. Death has full hold of me and I fall to the ground. I feel no pain as I'm pulled up, out of my body and taken away.