Love, Lies, and a Fatal Countdown

I was born with a curse.

That' s what my family called my ability to see the exact moment someone would die, a ticking red countdown above their heads.

It started with Grandpa at the dinner table. "00:23:14" blinked above his head, then Dad, a year later, gone in a car crash.

My mom was next, delivering my baby sister, Lily. "00:01:00" flashed as I hammered on the delivery room door, screaming for help.

They died. All of them. And my family, my three older brothers, Liam, Ethan, and Noah, didn't see a grieving sister.

They saw a monster.