I partially walked home from school that day, freaking out. People were walking around, doing normal things. Talking about New Years, talking about New Years, oh yeah and don’t forget talking about New Years. I was hyperventilating and was out of breath from riding my bicycle before stopping and walking with my bike. Things were weird with my vision, my eyes were still in pain and my vision feels like it was hydro dipped with a million different colors. My mind was flashing with different thoughts, my brain was walking down the thought road and when we got in front of a certain address, my brain had a panic attack. I can’t not imagine my father shooting my brains out and onto the rock I was hiding behind. Splat. Shivers go down my spine in the center of the road. I felt like I was going to be sick again and took a few deep breaths. You’re dead. Don’t try to change that. You’re dead.

I slammed the door behind me after dinner that night, 3 days after my ipiphony came out at school. I was crying because I knew that I was a goner come New Years. I needed a plan to get out of this. I could just not tell them that I was this generation's chosen one. No, I’m afraid that wouldn’t work. They would be able to tell after a while. That glint in my eyes, noticing me staring at their now colored hair. It’s really hard not to stare at people’s traits now that they are in high definition. It looks so much better, but it’s also frightening, being that every time I’m caught staring, I could be exposing myself, and it’s another reminder that I have less than a month to live out my life the way I want it, before I die mercilessly.

“Hey, Reese!” my heart skipped a few beats as a feminine voice spoke from behind me. I turn around slowly to meet a beautiful girl with blonde hair and dimples. “Hello. I-I’m Reese. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too! I’m Leila. I was out here because my mother and father were making me hand out flyers for New Years. Like anyone didn’t know about it. But anyway, here!”

She handed me a bright blue flyer with bubble letters spelling out: ‘New Years Seeker Slaughter: we kill because we care’. My heart starts to beat faster. My hands were starting to shake but I stabilized them before Leila noticed. I smiled awkwardly and spoke through gritted teeth.

“Thanks…” I started to tremble again, and I whipped my hand behind me.

“No…problem. Well, I better get back to my home. I was only supposed to be out for an hour and it’s coming on two hours now. Bye!” Leila waved at me and trotted away. I let out a sigh. No. I couldn’t have these feelings.

I heard a knock on my door. It was a female voice that reminded me of my encounter with Leila a few days prior. I whipped up from my bed, tear streaks partially dried on my cheeks. I wipe the liquid from my eyes and get up, stumbling to the door, as if I was drunk and had been stumbling out of a busy bar. I swing the door open. It was my father, looking just as he did ten minutes ago, not a rinkle different.

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“Hello, buddy. Let’s chat.” He walked past me and sat down on my firm bed. He motioned for me to do the same.

“What do you want? I’m busy crying so this better be important.” I spoke as if I wanted him to leave, yet I sat down at his request.

“Son, I’ve always known something about you.” he said, shifting his position slightly facing me.

“You have?” My heart started pounding like a hammer hitting a nail into a two-by-four. I knew I was a goner. I knew he knew.

“Yes. I’ve always known that you haven’t been very fond of New Years. And I understand why you wouldn’t be happy about the occasion.” he replied calmly.

I let out a long and hard sigh, to the point where he stopped speaking and peered over at me, dazed and confused. “Are you okay?”

I bat my eyes at the wall a few times before looking back at him. “Yeah, sorry about that. My stomach was nauseous.” I said, spitting out the first excuse I could think of in the short period of time before my father would make the whole conversation about why I sighed for so long.

“Anyway, I know you don’t like New Years. I know how you are feeling because I used to be you. I hated New Years when I was your age. But now, I have no choice but to embrace it. If I didn’t, you know what happens to me right?” he paused and looked at me.

I was having trouble finding the answer in my head. He could tell.

“Remember the rhyme.” he begins to sing the rhyme we learned in school. “If someone in your family doesn’t embrace the day, then that member of the family goes away!” he sang in a mediocre singing voice, with a toothy smile on his face.

I smiled back at him awkwardly before going back to fretting in my own thoughts.

“I’ll leave you alone for a while. We will put leftovers in the fridge when you are ready to come out.” my father said as he hoisted himself up from sitting on the edge of my low-to-the-floor bed.

I bit my bottom lip. I didn’t want to come out. But I knew I was going to get hungry at some point. Things were different now. I had to protect my own life now. I wasn’t going to be an audience member anymore. I was going to be a survivor. Whether my family liked it or not.

The Next Day

I walked into my classroom the next day feeling worse than the day before. I didn’t forget my jacket this time. But I felt like shit. I didn’t know why. I heard a scratchy voice start speaking over the loudspeaker as I sat down.

“Hello students of Gray Hollows Middle School. This is Mr. Gredge,” the man said.

It was my father. “I have an important announcement to make for New Years. The person with my most kills by the end of New Years will receive a cash prize of $500,000. More information will be given as it becomes relevant. Thank you.”

I felt sick. I was going to throw up again. I ran out of the classroom and to the closest bathroom. I let my body take over in this hell and it all began to come out. I accepted my fate. I was going to die.