[Chapter Fic] Ticker
Seconds. Minutes. Hours. Days.
They flowed steadily in Changmin’s mind, threading in and out of his consciousness. Little ticking hands on invisible clocks. Ethereal timers counting down over everyone’s heads.
The prim business man driving a foreign car down the other side of the busy street had two weeks, one day, three hours, forty-five minutes and sixteen seconds left on his ticker. It was a botched robbery for him. Unpleasant, but not the worst Changmin had seen.
The elderly woman some meters away from him had more time than her son who was pushing her wheelchair. A food allergy, accidental and unexpected, would claim him.
The girl standing behind him, going shop to shop to handout fliers to pay for school?
Changmin turned and tapped her on her shoulder, features set, neither kind nor cruel.
She turned around curiously, eyes wide at the sight of him. Changmin is struck with the thought that if here were a different person he would have pitied her. She would have made a beautiful bride one day if she was allowed more time.
The girl’s mouth opened in question, the glossy pages slipping out of her shaky hands, but no sound escaped her. She could sense that he was different. Changmin always liked it better this way. It made task easier.
“Consider this an act of divine providence. You have three days left. Do with that time what you will.”
The fliers finally fluttered to the pavement, but it made no difference to the pedestrian flow around them as the girl wet her lips and let forth a shaky breath.
“W-will it hurt?”
A pause. To her eyes, Changmin was becoming difficult to see. As if to look at him made him less real.
“I wouldn’t know.”
He was gone in the next heartbeat, leaving her stunned as she was left with a boy who had picked up the fallen leaflets. She refused to take the fliers when she came to her senses.
Her last three days were for living.
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I will try to update this quickly, but my schedule is bound to become quite hectic shortly. I have a lot of packing to do before the schoolyear starts and I'm not sure how much time I'll have while getting settled into my dorm and getting used to classes.