September 12, 2096.
That was the day I was supposed to die. I was on edge all day, just waiting for it to happen. I woke up that morning with the knowledge that this was my last day on Earth. I knew. My family knew. Everyone knew. Breakfast was not how it normally was. No one spoke, even though my dad made delicious chocolate chip pancakes that definitely deserved praise.

The atmosphere in my house changed drastically that day. I think I even heard my mom cry. I knew, for years now, that once I was gone, my parents wouldn’t know how to survive. They lived their lives for me. Mom and Dad went to work everyday to make enough money to keep our house and put food on the table. When mom was my age, she had always dreamed of one day having a daughter. Mostly because she wanted to be a better parent than her mom ever was.

Dad was silent the whole drive to school. He didn’t look at me, though I secretly didn’t want him to because I knew we would both cry if he did. When we pulled up into the parking lot he held my hand; which had previously been tucked under my legs to stop them from shaking.

“I love you, Olivia,” he stated, the words trembling out of his mouth. “Okay?”

“I love you too.” a tear slid down my cheek. He let go of my hand and placed his on the wheel, never making eye contact with me.
I didn’t expect everyone at school to know, but how could they not? I’ve been walking around with a date tattooed on my wrist since I was born. During class, it was almost like they were waiting for me to die. Like anticipating it. I couldn’t get any work done with everyone staring at me.

Jason was the only person who treated me normally that day, although I knew he was scared. He stood extra close to me and didn’t leave my side unless I was going to the bathroom, which even then he had a hard time letting me go.

“You can’t come in with me,” I told him.
“Oh, right, I just thought…”
“I’m gonna be fine,” I assured him. He nodded and smiled half heartedly. I think that was the biggest lie I ever told. I ended up being fine but I didn’t believe myself  when I said it. Anything could happen in the bathroom. A murderer could climb through the window and kill me; the toilet could break and flood the whole room resulting in me drowning; or I could slip on a banana peel and have a major concussion. The possibilities are endless, but none of that happened. When I left the bathroom I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding in.
I’m surprised my parents let me walk home.

Jason was with me but there’s still dangerous people out there. Dad was at work and mom’s car wasn’t starting. So Jason didn’t want to leave me home alone. There’s a number of ways I could accidently die being home alone, he said. The whole night Jason stood with me; he didn’t leave until my parents got home, around eight. They were surprised I was still here too.
The next day I woke up screaming. Dad came running into my room with a bat in hand, mom following closely behind him.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” Dad questioned.

But mom already knew; it was a “mother’s intuition”, she called it.

“Oh my god,” Mom cried before she ran to me. “I thought I wasn’t going to be a mother anymore.”

Dad dropped the bat and the two of them squeezed me like they’ve never hugged me before. I don’t think dad had ever hugged me like that. He didn’t know how to be affectionate most of the time. I thought, the day before, when he held my hand, that was going to be the last time I would ever get close to him ever again. Even though I was excited I didn’t die, I still wondered why I didn’t. This had never happened before in history. Someone died everyday, when they were supposed to, and for the first time ever, someone didn’t.

I stormed into school, not looking at anyone other than the boy who stood in front of his locker with his shoulders slumped and hands shoved into his pocket. I tried to concentrate on him but it was hard knowing the people around me were whispering things and gasping every time I walked past them.

Jason was going to go in class before I shouted his name. He looked up, confused, but when he saw me, his eyes that were once dry and cold, were now filled with light. “Olivia!” He shouted as he ran towards me. His voice cracked as he cried. All he said was, “Oh my god.”  

“I know,” I smiled. Then reality kicked in. “This is weird.”

“No, it’s awesome.”

“No. It’s weird. Follow me.”
I ran towards the school library on the other side of the building. On any other day, I would never skip class; but this wasn’t just any other day. I didn’t even check in with the librarian, Gretchen, who I would normally let know what book I was looking for. I went straight to the history section.
  I crouched down to search through the bottom shelf. “Look for a book that talks about the laws or something like that.” I instructed Jason, who was panting next to me.
He took a deep breath in, “Okay.”
I searched through hundreds of books in that section but none of them had what I was looking for. “This doesn’t make sense!” I shouted. Though I was far, I could hear Gretchen shush me. “There has to be at least one book.” I stood up.
Jason raised his arm up from the aisle in front of me, holding a book, “Found it!”
I ran to him and took the book out of his hand. I looked through the table of contents. Nothing.
“Page 106.” Jason stated.
I flipped to page 106. The list of laws. Law number 12 was the one I was looking for:

“Every child, once born, must be tattooed with a specific date..
This is the date they will die, to control population. Every child is
assigned someone who will kill them on the day written on their wrist.”

“I knew it,” I whispered.
“What does it say?” Jason urged.
“I wasn’t lucky. They made a mistake. For all these years I thought I was gonna die out of pure accident, like I would trip in the street and get ran over by a car or something; but no, someone was supposed to kill me yesterday. Maybe they forgot or chickened out.”
He took the book from me and flipped furiously through the pages. “No,” tears were filling up in his eyes, “no, we were all born with the date already on us. No one is assigned to kill us. That’s insane.”
“I know,” I said. “they created this system so there wouldn’t be so many people here.”
Jason ran his fingers through his hair in a frightful manner. I slowly grabbed the book from him. I turned to the next page. The very first paragraph said:

“Though this is a cruel and wicked way of controlling population growth, it is the only way for citizens to not fear death. They will no longer have to wait for the day they will die. They will no longer have to wonder how and when they will die because now, their wrist will answer these questions. For now on, citizens don’t have to fear death, for they will always know that death happens to everyone, and there is no way out of it. The only thing they can do is be prepared.”

I slammed the book shut and stormed out of the library. Jason struggled to keep up with me as he followed quickly behind, “Olivia! Where are you going?” He shouted.
“I don’t know.” I shouted back. Then in a whisper, I said, “but I have to do something about this.”