Time

Time.

It was something everyone had a limited amount of, especially Aqua Marie.

Everyone was born with a timer on their wrist. You couldn't get rid of it, and it was always counting down, the numbers showing the wearer how much time they would have alive.

Aqua didn't have much time. Her parents had calculated that she would die at 23, just a few months after her birthday. She knew that it would happen on a June night at 12:35 am. But how she would die would be a complete mystery to her.

Growing up with upper-class parents in Great Britain, they were devastated to discover their only daughter's short countdown but continued to raise her anyway. Abandoning their child would make them look bad, and their reputation was extremely important.

She and her family moved to the United States when she was only seven years old after a family scandal had broken out. Unfortunately, they never told her what the scandal was.

Aqua tried her best to impress her parents. She got straight As, a perfect attendance, and even was in the honor roll all throughout high school. She thought if she was perfect, maybe it would be worth it to have the best life possible, even if it was short.

No matter how hard she tried, however, they were never impressed, not even when she got accepted into Harvard. All they saw in her was useless, since she would never live long enough for her to give them any grandchildren.

She also had trouble with making friends. No one wanted to be friends with someone would wasn't going to live that long anyway. What was the point? Not only that, but her desire to be the absolute best caused her to have sort of an uptight and stuck up personality.

One day, when she was still in high school, she overheard two girls talking about her in the hallway.

"Ugh, it's her again."

"God she's so bitchy, walking around like she's holier than thou!"

"She's going to be dead in six years anyway. Ha! Good riddance."

As much as that and everything else people said hurt her, she didn't let it phase her. Perfect people don't let other know they're hurting, after all.
——————
Eventually, that night came sooner than expected.

Aqua sat alone in her living room, looking at the clock. 11:55 pm. Forty minutes to live. Her parents didn't care enough to say goodbye(as if they ever did), and she didn't have any friends either. So she accepted the fact that she would die alone, even if deep down she didn't want to.

She had gotten home from work about twenty minutes prior. The walk home felt like it would last forever, until it was over.

Did she have any regrets? She wished she could have made at least one friend. Maybe then she wouldn't have to do this alone.

The short girl sighed and looked at the clock again. It was now midnight, giving her thirty five minutes to live.
——————
Somewhere outside in the night, a bat sat on a tree.

It was a typical night for Navy. She would find a nice looking human to mess around with, and then coax them into letting their guard down by using this cute and innocent act she had perfected, never realizing what was happening to them until they were unconscious. Just thinking about the taste made her excited.

She already had someone in mind for tonight. A cutie she spotted walking home earlier. She was a rather small woman with short blue hair and pale skin, wearing a dressy white shirt and a dark blue skirt. Navy had found her awfully pretty, and knew she'd be good.