6

10 days until Tama's wedding.

It's Monday. I've barely slept at all the last two weeks. The bags under my eyes are huge and my head feels lighter and lighter every time I turn it. My notebook hasn't become any fuller than the first day. No new information. No weird things. My nerves are acting up more as well. My hands are shaking non-stop. I can't concentrate at school. So finally, after my dad almost got on his knees begging me to stay home, I decided to take a day off and rest. I stay in bed and finally allow myself to sleep.

After school, Ezra comes to visit me. He looks unwell, like he hasn't been able to sleep as well. 10 days on his timer. I shiver, trying to ignore it.

'Ezya, are you okay?' I ask him with a soft voice.

'Why are you the one asking, dumbass? I'm glad you finally stayed home to rest,' he laughs quietly. His laugh always cheers me up.

He stays to chat for a while, but soon gets up to leave. 'You should rest. Don't you dare come to school tomorrow,' he warns me.

Just as he's about to walk out of my bedroom, I call out to him. 'Ezya. What's wrong?' I can't seem to shake the feeling that he, too, is feeling unwell.

'I'm fine. You should worry about yourself, idiot,' he says before he quickly takes his leave. I know him. He's not fine. While thinking about what could be wrong, I fall asleep, not waking up until the next morning.

9 days until Tama's wedding.

I wake up to the sound of my stomach rumbling, begging for food. I haven't had anything to eat since yesterday's breakfast. I decide to not ignore Ezra's advice (after all, he's really scary when he threatens you) and stay home for one more day. I shove some bread into my mouth and return to my room.

I check my phone and see that I have a lot of unopened messages. Since I almost never stay at home, everybody seems to be worried. The other class presidents, the girls, even some of the boys that always look at me as if they want to give my pretty face a not-so-pretty surgery. I try to respond to all of them, but fall asleep halfway, leaving Ezra on read accidentally.

8 days until Tama's wedding.

I finally get to go back to school today. Everybody is happy to see me return, saying I look like I'm feeling better. Ezra's condition worsened though; the bags under his eyes grew and he looks like he hasn't bothered for selfcare in days.

'Ari.' His face lights up a bit as soon as he sees me. 'You look like you're feeling way better.'

And I am. I was nervous, but I feel better. 'You look like you're feeling way worse, though,' I say to him in a serious tone.

'I told you I'm fine, stupid!' he says and flicks me on the forehead.

'Owwwww! So mean, Ezya!' I pout.

7 days until Tama's wedding.

Investigate. Think. Think harder. What could it be? What do all of the known cases have in common? I'm breaking my head over this, spending every free second of my time on it. Desperately looking for the truth, the answer. Three days left. Maybe I will find out when my own timer runs out.

Ezra and I are going to the mall after school today. He needs new gym shoes, I need to see people. I actually find someone whose timer runs out. The shop clerk's timer ran out as soon as she saw us walking to the counter. I didn't notice anything weird or suspicious, and don't get any wiser of it. At least Ezra finds some good shoes, though.

6 days until Tama's wedding.

My dad and I spend the whole afternoon watching TV together. He is worried about me. He claims we don't spend enough time with each other. I apologize. I'm so afraid of what the future might hold, that I forgot about anyone that's not Ezra. It makes me feel guilty. But I couldn't find anything today, either. It's stressing me out.

5 days until Tama's wedding.

It's Saturday. I go over to Ezra's house for a sleepover so we can watch some movies before the volleyball match between Russia and America, which will start at 3 AM. We're both huge volleyball fans, but we're unable to play ourselves. We don't really care, though; watching games is more than enough for us. It's the final of a massive tournament in the volleyball world that we want to watch together.

'Hi there, Ezya!' I say as I walk into his apartment. He looks like he's fully recovered now, just like me. In a few hours, my timer will hit zero, and Ezra will be there with me.

'Yo. Ready to stay up all night? I made sure to get coffee and energy drinks to get us through it,' he says as he closes the door behind me. Ezra lives alone, so we have the house to do what we want without anyone interfering. We spend the day playing video games and the evening watching our favourite movie: Godzilla vs Gigan. While Ezra cheers on the big, dinosaur like monster, I cheer on the aliens. Time flies by without me noticing.

4 days until Tama's wedding.