The Countdown ✓

The Timers

"Again? Okay, fine."

00:00:00

    My mom's favourite story to tell was the one where she met my dad. It was a classic countdown story, and I never got tired of hearing it.

    She was at the beach when it happened. For the entire week leading up to it, she would turn on the light resting on her nightstand after everyone had fallen asleep just to admire the little ticking clock more.

    On your thirteenth birthday, the timer would activate. Everyone had one: small, thick numbers on the inside of our wrists, resting just below the line of where our hand and wrist meet. Day by day, the timer would tick, counting down to the exact moment you would meet the one other person with the exact same numbers on their wrist as you.

    Her friends were hesitant about planning something on the day, but she kept insisting that it was meant to be. My mom practically grew up at the beach, and she was fully confident that it was the place she'd meet her Soulmate.

    "Terrifying, but exhilarating," she told me when I asked how she felt within those last few hours. When they first got to the beach, she had four hours until her timer stopped. She originally just wanted to sit on her towel in the sand and wait, thinking that lying in the sun would calm her nerves. It didn't.

    Eventually, her friends convinced her to go surfing, and my mom finally decided to let herself have a little bit of fun. There was one barrel wave in particular that she caught, and ended up colliding with the other surfer who rode it from the other side. She leaned on her board, rubbed her eyes after coming up for breath, and her eyes instinctively darted to the timer.

00:00:00

    If there was one story that continued my faith in the timers, that the countdown was worth the wait, it was my parents'.

    Now, it was my turn. I had just turned twenty three years old, and my timer had only twenty-four hours remaining.

    Camryn and I were standing outside of the bar on 5th street.

    "I can't believe we're finally here! You think they're going to let me in, right?" Camryn asked me, as we gawked at the sign above us. COUNTDOWN: CELEBRATE YOUR FINAL REMAINING HOURS WITH US! There were multiple bars like this spread over our town of Ventura, California. There were even places tailored specifically for the last hour where you could sit and wait for your Soulmate, but this was the one that Camryn and I had been obsessing about since our timers started. We would make sandwiches and people-watch from the park across the street.

    "They will. You're with me, remember?" I winked, pulling her with me toward the bouncer.

19:43:12

    Both of our eyes widened. There were twinkle lights strung across the ceiling and little candles on every table. Against one wall, there was even a photo booth and a table with props. "Oh, we are so doing that," Camryn said.

    We sat at the bar and ordered two shots of tequila. Camryn toasted, "To my best friend and the Soulmate we meet in officially less than twenty four hours! I hope they're everything your heart desires, and that they aren't cooler than me." We clinked our glasses and laughed.

    "Less than twenty-four hours left, baby! Let's do this!"

    Camryn motioned around us, "So, now that we're here, in the bar of our dreams, tell me. Are you nervous?"

    I smiled, ordered two more mixed drinks and shook my head. "Terrified and exhilarated."

    "Okay, Mom," she teased.

    "How's Julian?"

    "Ah, you know..." I raised my eyebrows at her. "He's fine. We're fine. It's just weird dating someone that doesn't have the same numbers as me sometimes."

    "But you dated people in high school and college just fine, right?"

    "I mean, yeah, but it's different. We're, like, adults now. It was different then because we did it because we could and it was fun, but now it's just more...real."

    "Yeah, I get that."

    She swirled her drink. "I guess, but you chose not to date, and you're meeting your Soulmate at twenty-three."

    It was true, I didn't see the point in having meaningless relationships with people who I had already known I wasn't going to be with, but Camryn has always been relationship-oriented. When her dad died when we were eleven, she had to watch her mom rub the spot where her timer used to be constantly. It got to the point where her skin was so sensitive, she started to bleed. Camryn eventually forced her to go to one of the support groups for widows and widowers without timers, which ended up helping her mom immensely, but ever since then, Cam decided she needed a 'someone', whoever that person may be.

    "But, really!" Camryn said, "You literally have less than a full day until you meet the person you're supposed to be with for the rest of your life! What if he's, I don't know," she whispered, "Ugly? Or bald?" She sucked on the straw sticking out of her glass. "What if your Soulmate is a girl?"

    "Cam, you've known my timer is Blue."

    "Oh, right. But still."

    "I don't know, then I figure it out. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be, you know?"

    She took another sip. "You're killing me. I still have years left on my timer. I'm trying to live vicariously through you here!"

    "Ugh, fine," I groaned. "Well, I guess I am worried about a few things..."

    "Like what?"

    "Like... what if he doesn't like Star Wars? Or thinks Taco Bell is gross? I just don't know if I could handle that," I bit my cheek, trying not to laugh.

    "Oh, shut up."

15:52:39

    It was 2am when I crawled into bed. Camryn whined about staying out longer, but when I met my Soulmate, the last thing I wanted to be doing was throwing up.

    My thoughts swirled with anticipation about him — where I would meet him, what he would look like, how we would go out for a romantic dinner to celebrate. Or something.

    Gosh, I hoped he wasn't ugly.

08:13:22