I saw her. She was so close, I could see my reflection in her unblinking pale blue eyes. Her lips moved, and I saw her mouth form the words “Sixteen more days.” I made a desperate grab for her hand, but I felt air. I looked back up into her wrinkly heart-shaped face, and she started to fade. 

“No, not again! Not again!” I screamed

I jolted upright in my bed. I had that dream again. It was the same dream I’d been having for the past week, with days counting down. I wiped my hand across my clammy forehead. Oh shoot, I’m getting ahead of myself. Here I am, telling you about some creepy dream and you don’t even know my name. I’m Nova Ruine, and this is my story.

Sixteen. The number vibrated in my head. Sixteen. Sixteen. SIxteen. Sixteenth hour of the day. SIxteen years old. Sixteen more days to live.I sat up slowly from my bulky bed, clutching my turtle pillow pet. My mind was cluttered with questions. “Who is that woman? Does she have anything to do with my curse? How can I undo the curse before it happens?” I know at least one thing, though. The reason I only have sixteen more days to live is because I am cursed. I know, I know. It’s a boring way to die, and nothing someone could empathize about. Anyway, you see my problem. I decided that sitting in my bed hugging Timmy the Turtle wasn’t a good way to get some answers, so I dragged myself out of bed. I saw my tall, slim frame reflect in the full length mirror. As I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, I noticed bags underneath my dark brown eyes. It made sense, after all I had been having that nightmare all week with days counting down. They went perfectly with my disheveled hair. I stared hard into those deep brown eyes reflected in the mirror. They reminded me of the woman’s clear blue ones, probably because we both have the same ring of black around the iris. So I kept staring and staring uselessly, until something jolted me. My eyes...the pupils were turning gold! They were glowing! I blinked, trying to shrug it off as drowsiness. However, when I looked back again, my whole eye was glowing a bright gold. I started to hyperventilate and I passed out. I know, real smooth. I sure know how to handle things! If I ever offer to teach you how to remain cool under pressure, politely decline for your own good. When I woke up, I was relieved to find that the bathroom was no longer filled with light. I stood up, leaning against the sink. I was scared to look into the mirror, but as I did I found something almost as bad as glowing. My pupils were back to the normal black, and the whites of my eyes were back to white. Despite all that, my irises had decided not to join the party, because they were yellow. Now I don’t mean hazel-yellow, I mean unmistakeable bright Crayola marker yellow. I searched desperately for something familiar inside of them. There! I saw it! I still had the same ring of black around the irises. Trying to digest everything that just happened, I walked unstably back to my room. If you can believe it, things got even worse from there.