At The Beginning of the Day

"It can't end this way. I only need to start the day over again. " The little girl pleaded.

"When it is your time to go then it is your time to go. Every living being only has a set amount of time." The wise elder countered firmly. "You can go forwards and you can go backwards, but you cannot add time."

Her birthday fell in the waning days of the school holidays. And this year the day just happened to be the Friday before she was to start fifth grade. On the floor beside her bed was a small box without any wrappings. Her present did not draw her attention in the least. Instead she clammered out of bed and opened her bedroom door slowly, in case she wasn't alone in the apartment.

Barefooted, having pulled off her socks to cool herself during the night, she padded across the living room to the kitchen. From the rice cooker, she spooned the staple of her breakfast into a cheap plastic bowl. Opened a packet of tuna and added a generous dash of soy sauce, and popped the bowl in the microwave. Once it was steaming, she sprinkled a breeze of black pepper and dug in a spoon. Back in her room, she sat the bowl on her desk and pulled her overheated phone off the charger.

"Wat u get?"

Her friend's text message was not welcome.

"Something my papa left beside my bed." She tapped out the reply as her food cooled a bit. "Kinda small."

It wasn't a complaint. Really she hadn't been expecting anything. Now she nudged the box with her toe while gasp chewing an oversized mouthful of her breakfast. It felt light too.

"Wat iz it?" Her friend pressed. "Shw me @ skul Mon."

She realized that there was no point in delaying any further. The box contained a digital watch. She tossed in on her desk and carried on eating her breakfast.

A cold drizzle streaked the window and the overall dreariness of the day matched her mood. She was used to being alone, an only child of long separated parents. Why should her birthday be any different?

A second look at her present caused confusion. The display, waiting to be set, was normal . However, on the side there were five buttons, each a different color. The orange button was the largest. It's label read "GO".

"Go where?" She mumbled as she fumbled with the buttons to set the display. "31 August 2007....10....let me check my phone. 10:17. GO."

Then the watch was back on her desk, its display flashing and unset. Perplexed she looked at the time on her phone. 10:17:05. At least a minute had passed but the time didn't change. Again she picked up her present and examined it. A blue button labelled "R" caught her attention this time.

She pressed it and the sounds of rain ceased as the light outside the window faded as a shaped appeared on her bed. Her breakfast disappeared from her dsk. The door opened and her father entered, box in hand. He placed it beside her bed and paused to throw the blanket back over the shape. Her phone flashed with a government alert. 7:17 a.m.

"Papa," She reached out to her father and found that her hand passed right through him. He exited her bedroom completely unaware of her presence. "What the hell?" She said automatically as she followed him.

"How much did it cost?" His girlfriend demanded. "She has so many toys and stuff already!"

"Not too much. I went to the alley market by the station." He responded vaguely. "Could you leave her some breakfast? I'm running late."

"What am I? Some nanny?" The woman shot back.

And that was all the girl wanted to hear of their argument, so retured to her bedroom. In her bedroom, she took the watch from her desk. 7:21. There was a green button on the other side of the GO button and she knew insinctively what would happen if she pressed it. Moments later she was back in the solitude of an empty apartment and the rain was falling steadily again. Breakfast had lost its appeal so she cleared off her desk and sat down to do homework for her extra classes.

It wasn't long before curiosity got the better of her though. What would she do in the afternoon? Take herself to her cello lesson like a good little girl? Or take the bus someplace else and have her own fun? She picked up the watch and pressed green two times.

"Where is that kid?" She heard her father's girlfriend grumbling. "She usually comes home by now on Fridays."

18:52. It was still raining outside. The air inside the apartment was heavy with humidity and oil. When she heard the woman's voice go further away, towards the main bedroom, she dashed towards the front door. She planned to fake coming home after a few minutes.

But on the table in the kitchen was something that her stop in her tracks as a small smile crept across her lips. A feast was laid out, interspersed with cans of beer and bottles of liquor since it was Friday, of course. In the center of it all was a bakery purchased cake covered in fluffy white frosting and multicolored sprinkles. By the door, she found her shoes gone although she wore nothing on her own feet. Her present self would not be at home but rather on the way she realized.

A phone rang and the girl scrambled to conceal herself as her father's girlfriend hurried to answer the call.

"Yes, this is his residence. No, he's not here at the moment. I can contact him...Oh....he's going to be devestated." The woman's tone of voice changed as she spoke from frazzled to almost speechless.

"And your time has come to an end, child."

Startled by the words of an unseen stranger, the girl nearly jumped out of her skin. But her confusion did not last long as a strange man in a black suit materialized through the locked front door. He held out his hand, clad in a white glove, to the little girl.

"Come, now, it's time to go." He said.

"No!" She refused. "I'm waiting for my papa to come home. You're not my papa! Get out!"

The man, with an unlined and rather pretty face but wise knowing eyes, did not retract his hand. Instead like a patient father, he merely waggled his fingers. "Come." He coaxed. "You will go to a nice place."

"No, no, no!" She said again in case he was deaf or something. "I'm not dead. I'll use my watch to go back. I'll go to my cello lesson then....."

"Walking home you will turn the corner just as a drunk driver loses control and drives over the curb." The strange man finished. "You cannot change fate."

"Then I won't go to cello! I'll go to the playground or......" She stammered.

"And slip on the wet tiles by the fountain and strike your head." The man said sternly. "You can go forwards and you can go backwards in time, but you cannot add time. Those are the rules."

She rubbed her hands together entreating the man sincerely. "Just 10 minutes....5 minutes more.....3 minutes....I can change this!"

All she needed was a chance, time to change the ending of her short turbulent life. Why did it have to end this way?

"Come, child." The man took a step closer and reached to actually take her hand in his. He pulled from his breast pocket a small tarnished silver old style watch and popped open the cover. "Everyone has a set amount of time and your time is up."

Her hand now firmly held in his, the man looked her straight in the eyes. "The breath that was in your mortal body is now nothing more than air......"

The phone rang again, in response to the woman's haphazard dialing a few minutes earlier.

"Go to the university hospital quickly....take a taxi don't drive......there's been an accident." She stammered like a broken robot.

"And if you come quickly there's a chance you can say goodbye to your father." The elder moved resolutely towards the near wall, where he would instantly materialize them to the next destination, as numbness settled over the young soul.

Her hand firmly in his until the final destination was reached, she had just one question.

"What will happen at the end of the day?"