So there I was, sitting at home, playing some Left 4 Dead with my friends on Xbox LIVE. We were in the finale of the campaign, and were on Advanced difficulty. All my teammates were down or dead, and I was the last and only hope to finish the game. I ran for the chopper as I was chased by swarms of zombies.
"I'm goin' for it! I'm goin' for it! I got this!" I shouted through the mic. I ran until a Hunter pounced me. I threw down the controller with a disappointed sigh.
"Dangit. Good game, guys. Good game." I said. I heard someone push something into my mail slot. I looked over. It was a folded piece of paper.
"Hey guys, someone's at my door. I'll be back some other time." I turned the 360 off and walked over to the door. I grabbed the note and looked at it with a confused look. On one side was 3 words.
"You will die..." I read aloud. I turned it over. "...At midnight."
I just laughed and crumpled it up, tossing it aside. Probably just some prank. I smiled, then looked at the clock.
"Tick tick tick tick" went the clock. The minute hand pointing at 50 minutes, the hour at 11, nearing 12.
My eyes turned into pinpricks. What if it wasn't a joke?! I stared at the clock. 11:51 PM. My heart raced and I ran around the house.
"I'M GONNA DIIIIIIIE I'M GONNA DIIIIIIIE! I'm gonna throw up....but THEN I'M GONNA DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!!" I screamed running through the hallway. I stopped and though to myself, 'Wait, what if I just prevented my death? What around this house could cause me to die?'
I ran into the kitchen. There was a dripping noise. I turned my head and saw a sink filled with water, with a toaster positioned right beside it. I unplugged the toaster and drained the sink of water. I sighed, then smelt gas....I looked over at my gas oven. I ran to turn it off, not realizing the floor was wet, and slipped. My hand hit the handle of a large knife, which flipped into the air above me. I hit the floor and groaned, then watched as the blade turned downward at me. It landed only inches away from my head, my heart was going a mile a minute. I got up and picked up the knife, throwing it into the sink, then I turned the gas stove off.
I sighed in relief, then looked around. What else? I looked around for any possible thing that would or could kill me. Nothing...I looked at the clock. 11:55 PM.
I turned white, then ran upstairs. I saw a dart from my dartboard on the floor. That could stab me if I wasn't careful. I picked it up and stabbed it into the dartboard. I looked around for anything else. Computer? No. Bed? No. Closet? No. It go to the point that I pressed the button on my comm bracelet. "Pinkie.....PINKIE!!" I heard something rustle on the other end. "PINKIE ANSWER ME!"
I heard a very tired sounding Pinkie Pie answer.
"Wh-what? Wh-who is it?"
"Pinkie, it's me, Austin! I need an escort to Equestria ASAP!"
"Austin, it's 10:57 in the night....Can't it wait until morning?"
"Just trust me, okay?!"
Pinkie sighed, then hung up. She popped into my house a second later, and she looked like a mess. Her hair was very tangled (Moreso than usual), her coat was messy and her eyes were heavy and dull-looking. She just yawned sleepily, then sighed.
"Come on, get on my back."
I got on and she took me to her house, and more specifically, her bedroom. I sighed in relief. My time is about an hour ahead of Equestria's time, so now the note can't come true for another hour. Pinkie just yawned and crawled back into her bed. "Do what you want, just let me sleep. I have a party to plan tomorrow." I looked over at the sleepy pony, then walked downstairs and out the back door. I wandered around Ponyville, being careful of anything that could kill me. Falling fruit, collapsing vendor stands, a dead tree, anything. I was paranoid out of my mind.
I made sure that I found a place with nothing that could fall on me, in an open area, with no clouds overhead. I sat down and sighed in relief. Wait a minute...what if this was so empty because I was sitting on a sinkhole?! I screamed and ran off. I sighed after I was out of Ponyville. I sat near the edge of the town, under a tree. I looked at my watch (which was still set to my time). 12:45 AM. 15 minutes to Equestrian Midnight....I lost it. I ran to Sugarcube Corner and into Pinkie's bedroom, then into her closet. I hid in there, curled up like a child, staring at the digital display of my watch. 12:58 AM, 2 minutes to midnight in Equestria.
I sat there counting down the seconds to midnight.
"80..79...78...77...76..."
Those 2 minutes were the longest of my life.
"30....29....28....27...26....25..."
Pinkie's ear twitched a little, and she groaned. She heard me in her closet counting down the seconds. She looked at the clock. 11:59 PM. She growled and got out of bed, and approached her closet doors.
"10....9....8...7...6...5....4...3...2...1..."
I clenched my eyes shut and waited for the inevitable.
But nothing happened. I looked at my watch. 1:00 AM. Midnight in Equestria. Pinkie yanked the doors open and looked at me angrily.
"When I said do whatever you want, that didn't mean hide in my closet and count!"
"Sorry..."
Pinkie just sighed. "Look, I can't have you here tonight...I'm taking you home." And she did just that.
When we appeared in my house, she immediately asked me what was so important that she had to wake up to drag me to her house. I showed her the note and explained how scared I was, and what had happened all that time. I told her about the toaster, the knife, the oven, the irrational fear of vendor's stands, everything.
Pinkie took the note from me and stared at it for a while. "Did you unfold it?"
"Did I what now?"
"Did you unfold the note? You said that you saw a folded note, and it said on one side 'you will die', and on the other, 'at midnight'. Right? Well, did you unfold the note?"
"Uh...no I just tossed it aside."
Pinkie unfolded the note, then hoofed it to me.
I read the (now unfolded and complete) note once more.
"You will die...When you see our rock bottom prices on furniture. Leon's Furniture Depot. Doors close...at midnight."
It was a furniture store flyer. I turned bright red from I stupid I felt. Pinkie just facehoofed and stared at me.
"Austin, even if you did die, it wouldn't have been from supernatural causes. It would've been because you were so paranoid about PREVENTING your death. Which, in all honesty, would've been pretty ironic."
I tossed the note and sighed. "Well I feel stupid now."
Pinkie looked at my calender. "Hey Austin."
"What?"
"What day is it today?"
"um...why?"
"I just want to know."
"I'm not sure, but I think it's the day where you set your clocks back an hour..."
"So it's not really 1:00 AM."
"It's....m-midnight?" I turned my head toward the clock. It eerily ticked, then chimed 12 times.
"Austin...You seem tense. Lemme make you a cupcake."
I turned back to her. She grinned at me, her long straight mane was hanging over her shoulders and she lunged at me with a knife-
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I gasped and sat up in bed. I looked around, heart racing. I felt my chest and face. Everything was in order here...I fell backward against my pillow and sighed. It was just a bad dream. I looked at the clock. Midnight.
"I have GOT to stop reading fanfiction before bedtime."