Countdown to Forever | ✓

From that moment onwards, I moved in with my aunt and grandparents since I was under age. If it weren't for them, I don't know what I would have done. My dad wasn't just my father, he was also my best friend - the one I would go to whenever I needed to get something off my chest.

I started to zone out quite often due to the fact that in about five months my timer said I would be meeting him, meeting my soulmate - the other half of me. To be honest, I was overreacting about that fact. Every time I closed my eyes, I started picturing us not liking each other. I wanted my meeting with him to be like my mom and dad's or like my grandparent's. I remember them telling me that they fell in love at first sight.

What if he did not like me, or even worse did not want to be with me? What if he's a jerk, or a criminal? What if the timer got it all wrong?

When I talked to my aunt about this and about all the bad feelings, she said that it was all normal, and that it had happened to her too when she met my deceased uncle. My aunt and uncle were both around the age of 20 when they met. I remember him telling me the story like it was just yesterday.

My aunt and grandparents moved to Vancouver from Montreal back in the 80's or so, and it took them about a week to get settled and get acquainted with the neighbours. On Thursday, 18th of July 1984, my uncle thought it was funny to prank the new neighbours with his lads.

Around 11 o'clock in the evening, he broke into the house. My aunt heard the noises he was doing, so she decided to see who the intruder was, taking a frying pan along with her - just in case. It turned out that my aunt used to get scared almost of everything. So, when she saw his silhouette, she started swinging the frying pan aimlessly. Seconds later, the timer went off, leaving them staring at each other like two idiots.

22: 12: 59: 42

I think my friend is more excited than I am at the fact that I'm about to meet my soulmate in less than 23 days. I was getting scared by each passing moment. Last month, he was just like me. He even got quite a few panic attacks.

He met his soulmate around Christmas time while he was raising money for charity outside the mall. His former partner was sick. So instead of him, another one took his place until he was feeling better. The new partner turned out to be his soulmate. I remember when he called me at 5 in the evening, just a few seconds before they met - panicking like it was the end of Earth, because he was scared how he would react when they finally meet. They have become inseparable ever since, just like two peas in a pod.

When we came back to school from our Christmas holidays, everybody started talking about them, since they were both the same gender. Some people were hating on them and even bully them, because they can't stand people like them. Let's face it, none of us have a choice in choosing our soulmate. The one always gets chosen by the timer and the system. But, the majority of the people were all cooing at how cute they were together.

Both of them had started deciding on what I would wear, and how to do my hair and make-up, for 23 days later. They were both fashionistas and one of them was studying on the make-up artist area, hence the reason they were planning on that stuff.

00: 01: 29: 59

At 9:41 in the morning, on a Saturday, the timer told that I had 1 and a half hour until I met the one, the one who I was going to spend the rest of my life with. If only my mom and dad were there...

Even though time had flown since the day I got my timer implanted, that day time seemed to be frozen. I was anxious to say the least, so I decided to go for a walk since it always calmed me down.