Time Always Runs Out

00:02:36:18...17...16. On the bus I watch the numbers on my wrist numbers go down. The ones that have been there since birth. Two hours, thirty-six minutes, twelve seconds. My heart beats against my chest. I'm trying not to hyperventilate. I can't believe it's happening today. I'm actually gonna meet my soulmate in two hours, thirty-five minutes. Mom said to just act like it's a normal day but this morning she made sure to get me latte with an extra shot of espresso. All morning people had been asking, "How are you?" "Aren't you excited Alex?"  I don't know how to answer.

00:00:56:47...46...45...44. Its 2nd period at school. Everyone in my class knows why I'm so anxious. Even my teacher.

00:00:32:26...25...24. I count down the numbers etched onto my wrist until I can't bear to look at them anymore. I think I might be sick. It's 3rd period. That means it has to be someone I this class. Who is it though?

00:00:12:05...4...3. I'm internally screaming and I can't breath. How will I know who it is? Everyone says in those last few seconds it's you're being drawn towards them and then when you touch your chest glows, like your heart lights up inside of you, its light too bright to be contained. I try to focus as the teacher rambles on about global warming,

00:00:03:42...41..40...39. We're still in 3rd period. I make eye-contact with my friends across the room. She knows why I'm shaking.

00:00:01:31...30...29. It's time. This is really happening. I can feel it. Like an invisible rope it pulls me. I stand up. 00:00:00:58...57...56....55. I walk forward, letting the invisible rope pull me. I'm terrified. No one else stands up. Who is it? 46...45...44. I walk to the door. Our class is silent. I open the door. There's no one there. 00:00:00:32...31...30. Where are you?!? I let the rope take me across the hall. My class watches from the door. Then I feel a sudden tug at my chest. My invisible rope pulls me forward and I take off running. I run towards the street. I star running across. I don't see the car but he does. The boy across the street . He screams something, But the pounding in my chest blocks out all the noise. Then I see the car. The one coming right at me. I can't move a sit rushes towards me, unable to stop in time. All I know are the number. I don't have to look at my wrist to know what they are. 3...2...1. There's a flash. Everything goes dark.

Am I dead. I must be dead. Is this what it feels like. All I can see is light. It screams at me, enclosing me. Suffocating me like a blanket. I can't breathe. I can feel it starting to fade. Now I feel them. Not light. Not death. Arms. I feel the wrapped around me. Tight. I open my eyes, not realizing they'd been closed before. I see him. The boy. He saved me. The world was going in slow motion. No. It was stopped . All except for us. Well, except for him. I was still frozen with fear. His arms no longer around me, he shoves me out of the way. I realize what's happening too late. He can't. He can't die for me. As I fall to the side of the road, Things start to move again. The car is one of them. I grab his arms as everything-the car, us - comes back to life.

When I wake up, I see him first. He's in the bed next to mine. We're in a hospital. My arm and ankle are bandaged and I'm in pain all over. But I don't look half as bad as he does. he's cut and bruised all over and his rib cage and shoulders are heavily bandaged. A nurse comes in. My parents and another couple are trailing behind her. I close my eyes so they think I'm still sleeping. I don't feel like talking. The people with my parents must be his parents. I'm still drowsy from the IV so I can only make out a few words.  "Nicky... legs...never again... Alex... doesn't know." Nicky. His name is Nicky. He's my soulmate. And he saved my life. I fall asleep knowing it's a debt I'll never repay.

When I wake up again, my parents are by my side. I tell them what happened. I ask how Nicky is. They exchange concerned look before telling me. Telling me what I did to him. The love of my life. Someone I don't even know.

Paralyzed. He can't be. The weight of the word crushes me over the next few days as I think about what it feels like to know you'll never walk again. Maybe one day I'll have the courage to ask him.

I talk to him as often as possible. We're usually both sleeping most the time, but sometimes we get a moment. I love him. Everything about him. His eyes. His smile His voice. I love that he doesn't hate me, even though the accident was my fault.

He'll never walk again. But legs or not, we love each other.