Ryan Carter was an average boy.
Not poor, not rich.
Not handsome, not ugly.
Not smart, not dumb.
Not popular, not invisible.
Just… somewhere in the middle of everything.
If life were a ranking list, Ryan would probably be ranked exactly in the center. Not high enough for people to admire him, not low enough for people to bully him. He lived a quiet life, and he preferred it that way.
Ryan lived in Starhaven City, one of the largest cities in the country of Luminae. The city was famous for its tall glass buildings, clean roads, big schools, and bright nights filled with neon lights and traffic that never seemed to stop.
Every morning looked the same for Ryan.
Wake up late.
Almost be late for school.
Rush without eating properly.
Get scolded by teachers.
Sit in class.
Go home.
Use phone.
Sleep.
A very normal life.
And Ryan liked normal.
Because normal meant no problems.
Unfortunately, normal ended on a Tuesday morning.
"RYAN! WAKE UP OR YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" his mother shouted from the kitchen.
Ryan opened his eyes slowly and stared at the ceiling. He didn't move. He just lay there, thinking about how warm the blanket was and how cold the world outside the blanket must be.
"I'm awake…" he lied.
"You said that ten minutes ago!"
Ryan sighed and slowly sat up. His hair was messy, and his eyes were still half closed. He looked at the clock on his desk.
7:41 AM
His eyes widened.
"Oh no."
School started at 8:10 AM.
His school was 20 minutes away.
"This is bad. This is very bad."
Ten minutes later, Ryan was running through the streets of Starhaven with his school bag bouncing on his back and his tie hanging loose around his neck.
Cars moved along the road, people waited at crossings, and students in uniforms walked in groups, talking and laughing.
Ryan stopped at a red crossing signal, slightly out of breath.
He bent forward, hands on his knees, breathing heavily.
That's when he saw it.
At first, he thought it was just because he was dizzy.
Across the street, above a man in a black suit, there was a red number floating in the air.
Ryan blinked.
The number was still there.
02:31:18
"…Huh?" Ryan frowned.
The number changed.
02:31:17
02:31:16
02:31:15
It was counting down.
Ryan rubbed his eyes and looked again.
The red numbers were still there, floating above the man's head like a digital screen that only Ryan could see.
"…What is that?" Ryan whispered.
He looked around.
No one else was reacting. No one else was looking at the man. No one else seemed to see the red timer.
Only Ryan.
02:30:52
The signal turned green, and people started walking across the street. Ryan walked slowly, his eyes locked on the red numbers.
He walked past the man and then turned around to look again.
The timer was still there.
Still counting down.
Ryan felt a strange chill run down his spine.
For some reason, he couldn't explain why, but looking at that timer made him feel… uncomfortable.
Like something bad was going to happen.
Ryan reached school just before the gate closed.
"Late again," the security guard said.
"I'm not late," Ryan replied. "I'm exactly on time. There's a difference."
The guard just shook his head and let him in.
As Ryan walked into the school courtyard, someone called his name.
"Ryan!"
Ryan turned and saw Shaan walking toward him.
Shaan looked like someone who belonged in a fashion magazine instead of a school. Tall, naturally good-looking, perfect hair without even trying, and a face that made people turn their heads when he walked by.
Unfortunately for Ryan, Shaan was also his best friend.
Which meant teachers always said things like: "Why can't you be more like Shaan?"
"Why are you always with Shaan? You don't match his level."
"Learn something from your friend."
Ryan hated those sentences.
"What?" Ryan said as Shaan reached him.
"You look like you saw a ghost," Shaan said. "Did you fail a test you forgot about?"
Ryan hesitated. "If I tell you something, you have to promise not to laugh."
Shaan thought for a moment. "I can promise not to laugh for the first five seconds."
"I'm serious."
"Fine, fine. I won't laugh. What happened?"
Ryan leaned closer and lowered his voice. "I think… I saw something weird this morning."
"What kind of weird? 'I forgot my homework' weird or 'I saw an alien' weird?"
"…I saw a timer," Ryan said.
Shaan blinked. "A timer."
"Yeah. A red countdown timer. Floating above a man's head. It was counting down like… hours, minutes, seconds."
Shaan stared at him for a few seconds.
Then he said, very calmly, "Ryan, I think you need more sleep."
"I'm serious!" Ryan said. "I saw it clearly! And no one else reacted like they could see it."
"Maybe it's some kind of advertisement or augmented reality thing," Shaan said. "You know, those new contact lens displays or something."
"Floating above only one person's head?" Ryan asked.
"…Okay, yeah, that's weird," Shaan admitted. "So what happened when the timer reached zero?"
Ryan paused.
"I don't know," he said quietly. "It still had more than two hours left when I came to school."
Shaan stretched and yawned. "Well, if the man explodes after two hours, call me. I want to see."
Ryan frowned. "I'm trying to be serious."
"I am serious," Shaan replied. "If you're seeing things, we need to figure out if it's a medical problem or a superpower. Both are interesting."
Ryan sighed. Talking to Shaan was sometimes helpful, sometimes completely useless.
They walked toward their classroom together.
Ryan was just about to enter the building when he saw it again.
Another timer.
This time, above a student walking down the hallway.
A red timer.
00:06:12
Ryan stopped walking.
The student was laughing with his friends, holding a phone in his hand, completely normal.
Completely unaware.
00:05:58
00:05:57
00:05:56
Ryan's heart started beating faster.
"Shaan…" Ryan said slowly. "Do you see that guy near the stairs? The one in the blue uniform?"
"Yeah," Shaan said. "What about him?"
"Do you see… anything above his head?"
Shaan looked carefully. "Yeah. I see hair. Surprisingly messy hair."
"I'm serious," Ryan said, his voice shaking slightly. "There's a timer above his head. Five minutes."
Shaan looked at Ryan again, this time more carefully.
"You're not joking, are you?" Shaan asked.
"…No," Ryan said.
They both looked at the student again.
00:04:21
Ryan swallowed.
"I think… something is going to happen when it reaches zero," Ryan whispered.
"Then we should watch," Shaan said quietly.
"Watch? What do you mean watch?!"
"If you're right, something will happen. If you're wrong, nothing will happen," Shaan said. "Either way, we get an answer."
Ryan looked at the timer again.
00:02:03
The student and his friends started walking down the stairs.
Ryan felt his hands start to shake.
00:01:15
"Should we stop him?" Ryan asked.
"And say what?" Shaan replied. "Excuse me, bro, you have a death timer above your head, please don't use the stairs?"
Ryan didn't answer.
00:00:40
The student was halfway down the stairs.
Ryan felt like his feet were glued to the floor.
00:00:15
His heart was beating so loud he could hear it in his ears.
00:00:10
00:00:09
00:00:08
"Ryan…" Shaan said quietly.
00:00:05
00:00:04
00:00:03
00:00:02
00:00:01
00:00:00
The student slipped.
His foot missed a step, his body fell forward, and he rolled down the stairs. His head hit the metal railing at a terrible angle.
A loud, sickening sound echoed in the hallway.
For a moment, everything was silent.
Then students started screaming.
Someone shouted, "Call the nurse! Hurry!"
Ryan couldn't move.
His eyes were locked on the bottom of the stairs where the student lay motionless.
His entire body felt cold.
"…It reached zero," Ryan whispered.
Shaan didn't say anything this time.
He was staring at the scene with a serious expression.
Slowly… very slowly… Ryan lifted his head.
And that's when he saw her.
Standing near the classroom window.
A girl with long dark hair, quietly looking outside as if she was not part of the chaos at all.
Above her head…
There was a red timer.
Ryan felt his throat go dry.
29:18:44
29 days.
As if she felt his gaze, the girl slowly turned her head and looked directly at him.
Her expression was calm.
Too calm.
Ryan felt a strange fear he had never felt before.
Because the red numbers above her head kept counting down.
29:18:32
29:18:31
29:18:30
And for some reason…
Ryan had a terrible feeling that his life had just become connected to that timer.