I awoke the next morning after a surprisingly peaceful night, my mind felt rested and completely relaxed. The time was exactly seven thirty a.m. meaning I had one hour and thirty minutes until I had to be at work experience.

I got into my pair of brown pants and usual dark green short sleeved top along with my brown boots. Feeling groggy I walked to the bathroom and splashed my face with running water then I proceeded to brush my teeth thoroughly changing my breath to a minty fresh scent.

Then I grabbed my: phone, the PTD, my pocket knife and my taser. After making sure I was completely prepared I walked out the front door, while leaving I shouted goodbye to my dad and leaving the house letting my dad lock it himself from the inside.

I arrived at Flowers and Flora with about fifteen minutes until my shift was to start. So instead of going in and talking to Dorris for fifteen or ten minutes I instead sat outside the shop and just stared.

Starring was peaceful and uninterrupted except for in the distance  peering out from behind a wall was a woman. The woman I could barely see but from what I could see she had: long pitch black hair accompanied by a piercing stare through narrowed dark brown eyes becoming bloodshot at the edges. The woman wore a black dress that hung almost over her ankles with no sleeves, the woman wore on her feet a simply pair of black flat shoes.

The one thing I knew about this mystery woman was that she was starring at me.

So I did the only thing I could think
of...I averted my gaze pretending not to see the woman and I walked inside Flowers and Flora. Inside I saw Dorris tending to a bouquet of flowers that were presumably custom made by Dorris herself.

"Hi Alexis you're five minutes early" Dorris greeted happily with a weary yet warm smile.

"Hello Dorris I am here, and ready to work!" I replied returning the happy tone, even though on the inside I felt unnerved.

"I like the optimism Alexis well you know what to do," Dorris replied as she smiled and walked over to the till.

So like Dorris insinuated I walked over to the watering hose and started my routine of watering all of the plants making sure to keep it at a low pressure to not damage any of the delicate plants. After finishing that task I tended to the growing ivy display using a pair of trimmers to groom the sides of the display that had started to overgrow their confines.

Then, I attempted to clean the water fountain displays scrubbing the dirty basins and spouts. Finally I had to restock the shelves replacing the empty spaces with vibrant new flowers that were still green and fresh.

Suddenly, my mind slowed and my body tensed as if preparing itself for something unknown to me, but within the space of a few seconds the danger revealed itself!

A woman, who had long black hair and piercing dark brown eyes that were wild with worry. In the same instant the PTD from within my pocket beeped as the woman's fist also beeped.

My mind put it together quickly, the woman was a participant and she held her PTD in her clasped fist. Naturally, my body should tense and get ready for a fight instead body relaxed. A question pooped into my head 'was she not a threat to me?'

"A- am I- I to late?" The woman spoke rapidly as her inhaling and exhaling increased.

"What do you need miss?" I asked nonchalantly, trying not to let her think I feared her.

"Please, am I to late?" The woman continued repeating her question.

"I have no idea what you're talking about?" I replied genuinely having no idea what the woman was referring to.

The woman suddenly grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me violently!

"PLEASE FOR GOD'S SAKE JUST TELL ME! AM I TO LATE!" The woman shouted back threateningly.

I shook the woman off my shoulders then I spoke clearly and carefully "I am sorry Miss I have no idea what you are late for!"

"Bu- but you're--" her words got caught in her throat.

"Ar-are you okay Miss?" I questioned concerned for her well being.

The woman looked at me her eyes wild as if kicked into a frenzy. From The edges of her wild eyes spread scarlet tendrils that wrapped around the whites of the woman's eyes. From the woman's mouth she foamed sickly as her body went limp and she collapsed!

Thankfully, I managed to catch her before she collided with the ground but she started to convulse violently, when her body's convulsions started to slow the words "to late" croaked from her raspy throat as her body stopped moving as she laid still in my arms.

"HEEELLLPPP!" I shouted trying to alert someone, anyone inside the garden centre.

Morbid curiosity took over and I saw grasped in her hand a PTD, confirming my suspicions. It was then some overwhelming force urged me to grab the PTD, so I did and placed it into my pocket as Dorris ran over to me.

"What happened Alexis!" Dorris rambled as her face mopped into one of panic.

"Dorris get help call an ambulance now!" I commanded fiercely.

So Dorris turned on her heels and ran to get the phone. It took about ten minutes in total for the sirens to blare at the front of the garden centre and paramedics to take the woman away from me.

After that incident Dorris allowed me to go home but from what I heard from the whisper's emanating from the crowd of paramedic huddled outside the woman was dead.

My walk home was filled with sorrow as I pieced together the clues of the woman's death.

The woman's words: before the woman died she was rambling about being 'too late' what could this mean and how was this relate to the woman's death?

Then it clicked! The woman was a participant and if she hadn't met another participant within a seven days time she would have been administered a fatal electric shock from her implant.

So that's how she died and why she kept asking if she was to late, she was asking am I to late to meet another participant?

If she had confronted me earlier like when she had been spying me from behind the wall across the street she may of lived.

I felt deeply remorseful because of the woman's death because she had died in my arms and I'd not even know her name. The woman herself looked about to be in her early forties...the woman could be a mother!

Was it my fault that woman died?

I had not taken the woman's life but could I have prevented her death?

So easily a life can be lost.

Eventually, I reached home at three thirty two p.m., I knocked on the door and waited for a response from the other side as my father swung open the door.

My dad stood there in a pair of jeans and a black short sleeved shirt his hair a mess and his brown eyes with sacks underneath them. Tears erupted from my eyes as I threw my arms around him as I sobbed into his chest.

He pulled me inside and sat me on the sofa as I explained the entire day I had (making sure not to mention anything about the killing game) and he listened. He listened sympathetically and comforted me until my tears stopped.

"Look Alexis it is not your fault what happened to that woman, it was just a freak accident" My dad reassured.

"Bu- but what if I could of helped her?" I questioned back.

"Look from what I know if that woman died of natural or unnatural causes it has happened and death is one of the things in life that you don't come back from" My dad replied.

"That's a bit pessimistic" I replied.

"Well I feel it's better not to waste time wondering about what comes after life but that time should be spent living life to the fullest, and only worry what's after life when you get there yourself it's just a part of life" My dad responded.

"Bu-" I tried to responded but the words got stuck in my throat.

"Look Alexis I don't want you worrying about things like that. You know you get those little wrinkles on your forehead when you get stressed" Dad joked back as he flicked my forehead and his sentiment made me laugh.

"Thanks" I replied as I stood up.

"Go and get into your pyjamas and I'll get cooking or ordering food!" Dad joked.

So I did as Dad asked and I went upstairs, got dressed into my pyjamas and I went to the bathroom to freshen up.

It took me about twenty minutes to complete my duties in the bathroom, when I had finished I walked downstairs and fragrances entered my nostrils.

Laid out on the living room floor was a twenty inch margarita pizza along with a ten inch garlic bread pizza also next to the two pizzas was a box of potato wedges with a barbecue sauce.

I sat next to the food near my dad as he passed me the remote for the TV and let me choose the movie. I flipped through the many movies until I finally decided on one: Midnight. Midnight was a gritty action movie about a masked vigilante cleaning up her city! A superhero movie with a female superhero.

The movie vaguely reminded me of Shadow as he was also a masked vigilante the only difference being that Shadow was a man while Midnight (from the movie) was a woman.

So me and dad watched movies and ate food until we were completely stuffed unable to eat anymore. I filled myself with food to distract me from the thought of the dead woman.