It Is June Tenth

Prompt:
At birth, everyone has the date they will die tattooed on their arm. You were supposed to die yesterday.

6.9.18. Those three numbers have stared back at me since birth. June ninth, 3018. The day I am supposed to die. I’ve learned to accept that I will be only 18 on my dying day. In fact, on June eighth I spend a whole day preparing myself for death. I hoped it would be quick, that it would be over with fast.

But today is June tenth, 3018. Obviously, I am not dead. But now I don’t know what to do. I had planned my whole life up until yesterday, because I knew that’s when it would end. Now I sit on my best friend’s couch, looking up at the ceiling. I hear her in the kitchen, making me some hot cocoa. She sits down next me and looks me in the eye. “Do you know why we get these tattoos?” She asks. I shake my head and sit up. “Well,” Milly begins. “I do. It is because Death likes torturing people. It’s sick, really. Most people die of natural causes, but every once and awhile Death assigns somebody to murder someone else. That’s why your date is so early.”

I stare in shock. I knew Death was real, but I never knew he was so malicious. “Who was assigned to kill me? And why would they do it?” I ask, hoping Milly knows the answer. She looks me in the eye and says, “Death forces them to. That’s why you didn’t die.” I give her a questioning look and she drops her gaze. “Last night, I tied myself to a chair so that I couldn’t go anywhere. Because Andrea…”

“I was assigned to kill you.”