Out of Time

Tic Toc Goes The Clock

Ladies and Gentlemen! For the first time in the history of my profile! I finally own one of the pictures! Voilà!

I was in my room after a severe beating from my owners. They had somehow gotten to the conclusion that I was to blame for the tardiness, throwing aside the fact that I the quick one when it came to shopping, and that the two girls had spent almost three quarters of an hour in that ghastly clothes shop... but never mind! I was too distracted by the timer!

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It was still ticking down, ever so slowly, and yet it was mesmerising. What could it mean?! Could it be when I get my semblance? No... that can't be it... I know I made that cat come back to life, and then the number went down by a fair bit. What could that signify? Could it be life? Do I drain away my life to give others life? Perhaps... still not sure... Or maybe it's the cost to heal completely! But what would the number mean...? Maybe it does mean time, since it slowly ticks down every second. Perhaps... it was a countdown? Yes. That must be it! But to what? My death? I hope not, but there is no way to be sure until the time comes! Damn it! This is frustrating!

I digress... if it were a countdown, reducing by 1 every second, then that number would be... 65 point something years. Perhaps it is 5e countdown to my death... oh dear... only 65 years? That's a bit short... and to think I had... 75 point something before the cat. That means every time I heal something, or bring it back from the dead at least, it costs me 10 years of my existence. Great... I'll have to be more careful with my time, literally...

Then, a voice called my name from downstairs.

"(Y/N)! Come here! Now!" It sounded like Summer. It was definitely a woman's voice, and wasn't as deep as Raven's...

I opened the door to my room and walked obediently down the stairs to the main living room.

"Where is dinner?" Asked Taiyang, angry again... I guess that happens when you expect someone banished to their room to do the cooking... woo ha...

"Y-y-you gr-grounded me, r-re-rememb-" I was cut off.

"So you're blaming me, now?!" I cried indignantly. I started blubbering.

"N-n-n-no s-s-s-s-si-!" I started again but was interrupted... again...

"You've had it! You're going to be punished! You will stay outside until tomorrow! Not even in the garden,p! You are sleeping in the forest tonight, my boy!"

I tried to appeal to his reason, or logic, but it seemed he had none at the time at least...

He picked me up by the collar, punched me in the gut thrice, and then literally booted me out the door and into the dark... forbidding forest... he tied me upside down, swatted a flying creature away, and hung from my feet from a thick tree branch. Then, he left, without saying a word about anything, he just left me hanging by my feet from a tree...

I watched as Taiyang got back in the house, then nothing. After about twenty minutes, I saw a motorbike... a pizza delivery bike... tell me. What was the point in me cooking again? Never mind...

I looked around. I saw a bird's nest in the tree I was in. By tying me to the same branch, and before that, by hitting a flying animal, he had killed a sparrow. It seemed it was the parent. I didn't know where the other sparrow was, but now the little chicks in the nest were chirping away, demanding food, unknowing of their fate without their guardian...

As before, my body filled with rage and hatred for Taiyang, and sorrow and guilt about that bird's death! It made me angry, no! Furious! Absolutely furious! It was mean of Taiying to do that! Now the baby sparrows we're going to die, all because of him! The horrible person! Why?! Why was life so unfair?! So cruel?!

And then the bird got up and left again. It came back a second later with a fat worm in its beak and was now feeding it to its children. They were safe! Alive! But... I looked at the big countdown in my mind...

1747094432 = 55 years and almost a half

It had gone down again... 55 and a bit years to live... at this rate, I was going to be dead by tomorrow... I must not do that again! I must not! Apathy and listlessness. Those are my goals. To not care, and to not be in the mood to try to do anything about it. I must... I must... I... must...

I fell asleep.