Out Of Time

A man finds himself trapped inside his car with a bomb. He only has a minute to think about his life as the digits of the detonator slowly count down to zero.

OUT OF TIME

I have been told that when death is near, we remember all the good times: the shared laughs, the happy memories. 

Not for me. 

00:59, 00:58, 00:57, 00:56, 00:55.

I am trapped in my car with a bomb as my sole companion. I don’t remember how I got here. It’s not important. I have no time. 

They’re screaming at me: the detonator’s digits. They are counting down my life. 

00:54, 00:53, 00:52, 00:51, 00:50.

Fragments of memories overwhelm me, strangely linked through time. 

00:49, 00:48, 00:47, 00:46, 00:45.

That day in primary school, when Big Barry and his gang took us apart, my friend John and me. They were beating him up, kicking him in the stomach, spitting on him. And I just ran, as fast as I could. I did not turn back, but I could still hear them. John never talked to me again, but the truth is that I did not really care. I just wanted to avoid a beating. 

00:44, 00:43, 00:42, 00:41, 00:40.

After high school, I dropped my studies and took the charge of my father’s liquor store. He was not a youngster anymore. My mother was long gone and I was all he had left. 

The days were pretty long. Most of my friends were gone: studying, traveling. I had gone nowhere. I got up at the same hour, went to the same places, saw the same people. Day after day. Year after year. 

00:39, 00:38, 00:37, 00:36, 00:35.

I married at twenty. Her name was Denise. We had met two months earlier, and people found my decision stupid, but I loved her. 

00:34, 00:33, 00:32, 00:31, 00:30.

It turned out soon enough that they were right. Our love lasted a month, and I lost half of what I owned. But I won’t debate it now: I’m running out of time. 

00:19, 00:18, 00:17, 00:16, 00:15.

I did not cry at my father’s funeral; Not in front of people. I  waited to be home, alone, with a picture of him in my hand. 

We always think that parents are immortals somehow, and I prayed it was so, yet it did not make me feel better. Although I could still feel his presence, I was now physically alone in the house, and I had to get up the next morning to open the store at seven-thirty, as usual. 

Everyone can fall into an abyss. They can have different depths, different shapes, different colors. But the final destination is the same, the one I’m about to reach. 

My abyss was alcohol. It was easing my sorrows while eating me up, numbing my pain but prolonging it. But all of that will be gone soon. I’m almost out of time. 

00:14, 00:13, 00:12, 00:11, 00:10.

If only I had the time to do it all again. But there is little left and soon there will be no more. 

00:09, 00:08, 00:07, 00:06, 00:05.

Oh my… I never thought that it would come to this, but I’m begging now! Please God, or whoever is listening right now, if there is some kind of intelligence at the bottom of all this s**t I’m sitting on, please give me a second chance! I will not spit on it! I promise! 

I will help John! I will go on with my studies! I will make better choices! I will be a good person!

00:04, 00:03, 00:02. 

I hear something now. A familiar echo…

00:01. 

An alarm is hammering my ears. Oh God, my head. My eyes are swollen; I cannot see. I cannot think. I just want to die.

I throw my fist at the sound and a bottle of vodka goes flying. I stagger to my feet and feel broken glass tearing my flesh. The alarm is now a discreet purr. 

 I get up slowly and when the world stops turning, I see the clock.

“S**t!” I shout. 

I get dressed in a hurry and grab my keys from the table. As I’m leaving I remember wisps of a strange dream, numbers flashing and floating out of reach. 

Probably nothing. Anyway, I’m out of time. 

00:00. 

THE END

Author's Note

Hi everyone. I just wanted to let you know that my native language is French so I apologize in advance for any mistakes you can find. I would be really grateful if you could point them out to me so I can correct them.
Thanks a lot, and have a good reading. I hope you will like the story.

T.A.

Reviews

[John the Baptist]

Very compact and tightly woven suspense story with an O. Henry twist at the end. Throughout, I kept thinking of the "life review" that people who have gone through near death experiences describe. The detonator digits were an excellent device to keep the feeling of suspense taut. Well done.

[Tom Aubin]

Thank you for your review John. This is what I intended for so I am glad you saw it that way.
It came to me once as I thought about how easy it is for someone to decide to change and also how easy it is to give up on it.

[Delmar Cooper]

No language issues that I detected. Just a good ole ironic story in the manner of O. Henry (as has been mentioned) or "Twilight Zone." Thanks for sharing.