‘I’m surprised we all lived through that,’ Olivia said, catching up to me as I exited the classroom.
I nodded. I’d never liked math, but this lesson had been exceptionally boring. We were now going to the biology classroom, which would be the last lesson before recess.
As we made our way through the hallways, I chatted a bit with Olivia and Jake, my closest friends. ‘Let’s get this over with,’ Jake muttered. ‘Yeah,’ I agreed.
As we entered the biology classroom, I heard Olivia say something that felt out of place.
‘Seven,’ she said in a dazed voice.
‘Excuse me?’ I said, but Olivia had already passed me. ‘The hell…’ I muttered.
I didn’t think much of it. The biology lesson wasn’t particularly interesting, but it wasn’t as bad as the math lesson.
During recess, Jake and I decided to go outside and prank call some nearby restaurants. We always used to do that when we were younger.
One guy got angry and threatened to call the police, but we didn’t really care. We’d heard that before, and they never fulfilled their promises.
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The next day, Tuesday, wasn’t very interesting. I’ll just mention the highlights.
After our test for English Language we were making our way to the math classroom. This was gonna be fun… Yeah, no. I can’t even remember what we talked about.
When the lesson was over I started packing up my bag. Jake walked past my table, saying something that I couldn’t quite make out. ‘Okay,’ I said absently, pretty sure he hadn’t heard me.
Olivia walked past my table next. I immediately noticed that something about her was… off. Normally she looked happy and energetic, but now her eyes were dull and her expression blank. Her face was strangely pale.
‘Six,’ Olivia said in the same, dazed voice as yesterday.
I frowned. What was she talking about?
I finished packing up my stuff and hurried to catch up with Olivia, who was already chatting with Jake about some upcoming movie.
‘Olivia?’ I said.
Olivia turned to face me. I drew back a little. She looked like her normal self again. I was speechless for a few seconds. Had I just imagined her lifeless look when she walked past my table?
‘Yes?’ Olivia said, impatience leaking through in her voice.
‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘Never mind.’
Olivia rolled her eyes. ‘Coming?’ she said. I nodded yes.
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The next day it happened again, after recess this time. During recess we played some rage-inducing, online videogames, and then the bell rang.
‘It’s time to end this,’ Olivia joked.
It was true. We only had four hours today. Actually, five hours, but the fifth lesson had been cancelled.
We pushed through the noisy crowd, trying to get to the big swinging doors.
‘Five,’ I heard.
I knew immediately that the voice had been Olivia’s.
I looked around frantically, trying to spot her.
‘Walk,’ someone said, shoving me into another person. I clumsily apologized to her.
I stopped looking around for Olivia and made my way to the biology classroom.
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The next day it happened again. It was starting to freak me out.
‘Four,’ she had said this time, right before I went home. I didn’t get the chance to ask her about it.
I decided that tomorrow I would. I wanted to know what in the world was going on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I ran into Olivia during recess. She was alone. Good.
‘Olivia?’ I said, a little nervous.
‘Yes?’
‘Uh… Why are you… y’know… Are you…’ I had no idea what to say.
‘What are you talking about, exactly?’ Olivia said, a confused smile on her face.
‘It’s like you’re… I don’t know , you’re saying random things to me and look like you haven’t slept in days-‘ I cut myself off, realizing that it probably sounded impolite.
Olivia’s smile faded and made place for pure confusion.
‘I’m sorry, I really don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m gonna by some lunch, wanna come?’
‘Sure,’ I said. We began walking to the catering.
What. The. Heck.
As we stood in line, I tried to gather my thoughts. And that’s when I realized that Olivia hadn’t just been saying random things.
She was counting down.
7,6,5…
‘Four,’ Olivia said.
I froze. She really was counting down.
‘Here!’ I exclaimed a little too loudly.
‘What?’ Olivia said.
‘You… Why did you say four?’
Olivia looked a bit freaked out now.
‘Ethan,’ she said. ‘Are you okay?’
I didn’t respond. ‘You really don’t remember?’
Olivia shook her head. ‘No,’ she said. ‘Maybe you should drink some water.’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Next day, Olivia, Jake and me were making homework together.
I was writing something, focused. Suddenly I saw something move in my peripheral vision. I looked up. Olivia and Jake were still working together, as focused as I had been moments ago.
I looked around. I felt very scared and vulnerable for reasons I didn’t know. I got up.
‘I’m gonna go to the toilet,’ I said.
I left the room and walked down the long hallway leading up to the living room. Olivia’s house was pretty big.
Suddenly one of the overhead lights flickered. I froze.
Suddenly I heard the door at the end of the hall, behind me, open. Heavy footsteps began to grow louder and quicker.
I didn’t look back, just started running. Someone was behind me. No, not someone, something. I ran blindly down the hall, the word ‘three’ ringing through my ears.
At some point I started screaming. And then I tripped over something, no, someone. Everything went black.
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‘Ethan?’
I was standing in the middle of the living room, breathing heavily. Jake and Olivia were standing in front of me, a shared, worried look on their faces.
‘Are you okay?’ Jake asked.
‘No, I don’t think I am…’ I said.
‘You should probably go home,’ Olivia said.
I nodded agreeingly. I felt weak and didn’t want to cycle, though. Olivia’s mom asked me if I wanted a ride, and I told her yes.
We loaded my bike into the back of her car and she drove me home. On our way to my house, she asked me what had happened.
‘I don’t know,’ I lied. ‘Panic attack, I think.’ As much as I wanted to believe that what I’d experienced in the hallway had been a panic attack, I could not.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day was a little strange. Olivia and Jake seemed to still be worried about me, but I felt fine.
Of course, Olivia managed to find me again. She looked even worse than what she’d looked like on Tuesday. I staggered back. Olivia smiled a little, a cruel, twisted smile.
‘Olivia,’ I said. ‘What the hell.’
She suddenly jumped at me, hissing like an animal. I screamed and fell to the floor. ‘Two,’ hissed Olivia’s voice before she disappeared.
I was now lying on my back, my arms stretched out in front of me, looking like I was being attacked.
Everyone looked at me weirdly. I quickly got up and tried to pick up my bag. It was surprisingly heavy and I fell back to the ground.
I quickly scrambled back to my feet, picked up my bag and ran out of the school.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I woke up on Friday I was filled with dread.
I had breakfast and then reluctantly went to school. I had only slept for two hours, so I was extremely tired.
I reached the school without any problems and parked my bike. The dread inside me only grew when I went inside. I received a few looks from people and heard some people whispering about me, but everyone seemed to have forgotten what happened yesterday.
The day was normal. I tried to avoid Olivia, but Olivia seemed to be trying to talk to me. Eventually she cornered me outside during recess.
‘What?’ I asked.
Olivia frowned, slightly offended.
‘What?’ Olivia said. ‘I just want to talk to you. Are you sick or something?’
I shook my head, trying to find a way out of this situation. Olivia stepped back a bit, giving me some more room.
‘You look like you haven’t slept in days.’
‘I just didn’t sleep well last night,’ I said. ‘Can I go eat?’
Olivia nodded. ‘Want to sit with us?’
‘Sure,’ I said. Please, no, I screamed in my head.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The day continued as normal until we exited the math classroom. Olivia hurried to catch up with me. ‘We lived through that,’ she said. I stopped. That’s what she’d said on Monday.
‘Why did you say that?’ I asked.
‘It was a joke?’ Olivia said.
‘You said that on Monday.’
‘Did I?’ Olivia asked.
‘You did,’ I said.
We made our way to the biology classroom. I leaned over the railing of the second floor, looking down at all the people on the ground floor.
Suddenly I felt a very sharp headache. I flinched. ‘One,’ a voice like broken glass said. I jumped and yelped.
‘One,’ the voice repeated.
I staggered back, hitting the pillar behind me. I turned and staggered back more, hitting the railing. I suddenly heard people screaming. What was going on?
I saw the railing move away from me and felt like I was falling. I listened to the screams.
Crack.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
‘Ethan?’
I opened my eyes. My vision was blurry, my hearing terribly distorted.
I closed my eyes again.
‘Ethan?’ the voice repeated. I realized that it was the voice of our English teacher. I opened my eyes again to see him bent over me, looking concerned. I looked around.
A crowd of people surrounded me, looking horrified. I tried to speak, but found that I could not.
I tried to move my arm. A horrid, searing pain flooded me and I felt dizzy. I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t. Tears formed in my eyes.
‘Ethan,’ the teacher said. ‘You fell from the second floor and hit your back. We’ve called am ambulance.’
I didn’t try to move, fearing that the horrible pain would return.
‘Zero,’ a voice hissed. I saw Olivia standing in front of everyone else, a demented grin on her face. I blinked. She was normal again.
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Ever since that incident I’ve been paralyzed. I am now twenty-two. Every day I think about what happened, and how it could happen to others. If this ever happens to you, I recommend that you leave the town you’re in immediately. I do not know if you can avoid the incident that will occur when the counter reaches zero.