A/N: So, this is another thing I've been wanting to write for a while, a bit darker than my usual stuff.

00:07:21:15

The sound of her alarm violently interrupted Amy's dream, marking the arrival of another day. Except this day wasn't like any that had come before. She shot a quick glance at her watch, just to make sure it still displayed the same numbers. Just a little over seven hours, and she would get to meet her soulmate! The thought was enough to get Amy out of bed, and it didn't take long for her to get dressed and head downstairs.

Farrah and Lauren were already eating, so Amy joined them. Her mom looked up and passed her the cereal while saying: "Morning dear, did you sleep okay?"

Amy had indeed slept well, she'd dreamt the same dream she'd been having for weeks now. In it, she was in a busy shopping mall when her timer ran out. In her dream, she couldn't make out any particular person to be her soulmate. It was an old fear of hers: being alone, living alone and ultimately dying alone. Of course she knew it didn't work that way, the timer counted down until you actually met your kindred spirit, so she didn't tell her mother about the dream.

"Yeah, great. Lauren, can you drive me to school? I'm really not up to taking the bus today." Lauren had gotten a car last month, and Amy tried to take advantage of that as often as she could.

"Fine, just be ready at 9."

Lauren still had some problems with being friendly or even acting like an altogether decent human being, but she tried. At least that's what Amy told herself. The last few weeks, she'd felt like she was growing closer to Lauren, they'd started doing more and more things together. Amy almost felt like she'd gained a friend, not that she'd really know how that was supposed to feel anyway. The truth was that Amy was a bit of a loner. She didn't really fit in at school, but she wasn't really an outcast either. Amy was the kind of girl whom everyone knew, but nobody would notice if she'd disappear.

"Amy, I'm leaving in 5 minutes! Go grab your stuff!" Almost friendly.

She went back upstairs to grab her bag, shot another glance at her watch and smiled.

Today, everything changed.

00:06:27:12

The ride to school went by too quickly, leaving too little time to think about what was going to happen, too little time to ask Lauren for advice. She'd met Theo, her soulmate, a year ago. How they met didn't exactly make for a great story, Theo'd run her over with his bike and they'd been going out ever since.

Amy had known from the moment they'd given her the watch that she'd have to wait a long time. Most people found their soulmate around the age of fourteen, which was a good four years earlier than her.

No one had ever said something about it, but she knew that people thought it was strange. She could care less what other people thought.

The car stopped, Amy nodded a quick thanks to Lauren, and walked into the school building, all the while keeping her head down. It had always been like this. She wasn't like Lauren, who was okay with the majority of the school hating her. Not like Shane, whom everyone seemed to like.

She just wanted to keep her head down and leave the awful memory that was high school behind as soon as possible.

Her classes were dull, as they always were. Why should she care about the Euclidean distance? Spanish was the only class she was actually looking forward to, because she'd get to sit next to Shane.

When she entered the classroom, he was already sitting in the last row, his head leaning against the window. He glanced up and nodded in recognition, and as soon as Amy came within range he started talking. "So, today's your big day!"

Shane was the only one that knew when her countdown ended, and that was just because he happened to see her watch once.

"Yeah, it is… Shane, how did yours go?" It wasn't often that she'd ask someone such a personal question, but Shane was one of the few people she felt she could trust.

"Mine was quite a surprise, actually. I mean, before I met Leon I didn't really know I was gay. He didn't either, so we talked about it. He said that we'd never know for sure unless we kissed, and it seemed reasonable at the time. Well, I was sure after that."

"You seriously didn't know that you were gay? Like, didn't you check out guys before you met Leon?" She couldn't imagine suddenly finding out her soulmate was a girl. Sure, there were people that found their soulmate and kept it at a purely platonic relationship, but those were extremely rare.

"Nope, never even crossed my mind. I mean, I still don't really check guys out, but I'm sure I'm in love with Leon." She wondered what it would be like to be so sure of something. Then her teacher started talking, and the day continued.

00:03:16:25

During lunch, she went outside to eat, as she usually did. She wasn't popular enough to sit with Shane and his group, and she wasn't social enough to go sit with Lauren and her band of admirers. She was okay with eating alone though. Being around other people was tiring, and this was a nice break. She didn't know what she was going to do after school yet, but she'd decided she should go someplace nice. It was going to be the setting of the most important meeting of her life, after all. The mall was too busy, and reminded her too much of her dream. There weren't any nice, calm parks in Austin, none that she could walk to anyway. Fuck, where was she going to go? She reached for her phone to find a cool coffee spot, but it buzzed before she could grab it. It was a text from Shane: Hey, we're going to a concert after school. You wanna come with? Might be a good place to meet you-know-who…

Shane saved her once again. When this was all over, she'd really have to thank him. Amy had never really considered the fact that Shane might be more than just a classmate, but maybe he was an actual friend of hers. She texted back as quick as she could: Sounds great! See you after school

00:01:08:12

She'd never known two hours could take so long. Class had dragged on, and Amy just couldn't find it in her to focus. There should be a rule that allowed people to skip class on days like these.

When her final period ended, Amy had felt a familiar doubt set in. What if Shane wouldn't be there, waiting? What if his text had been some sort of prank?

He had been there of course, smiling that lazy smile of his. Leon was standing next to him, his blue eyes shining, looking at Shane like he was the most precious thing in the world.

Some other people that Amy had never bothered to learn the names of were already sitting in Shane's truck, ready to leave.

"Hey Shane, thanks for inviting me!"

"Sure, we love to have you around! Just hop in, we're about to leave." Leon opened the door for her, and she sat down. Amy was joined by both him and Shane, apparently one of their friends was driving.

"So, what concert are we going to?" Leon looked up and answered before Shane could.

"Are you living under a rock or something? Pierce the Veil is playing, it's the biggest concert Austin's seen in the last decade.

"Wait, so there'll be a lot of people there?"

"A lot? Well, that's quite the understatement." Oh god. This was starting to seem like less and less of a good idea. Not that she'd be able to get out of it now, Shane would never let her go. Leon lightly touched her hand and looked at her. "Hey, don't worry. It'll be fine, concerts are always fun."

"Yeah, of course. Not worrying." She tried a smile. Maybe it was time to let go and have fun.

00:00:17:25

The concert was indoors, which was good, because that meant they had aircon. It was also bad, because there were so many people that Amy could barely stand straight without bumping into someone. The room smelled like sweat and excitement. It was dark inside.

There was no way she was ever going to find someone in here. Then, the few lights that were still on went out and the crowd stopped murmuring. A few spots punctured the dark and illuminated the stage. She saw some guys with guitars, one of them raised his hand, and then the sound started.

The crowd exploded, jumping and headbanging to the sound that was being produced by the four rather average-looking band members. Their music was everything but average, and Amy found herself dancing to the beat. She forgot all about why she was here, forgot to watch the clock. She just became part of the crowd. And it was great.

00:00:03:07

Amy was pretty sure she'd discovered what she wanted to do with her life. This was easily the best experience of her life. The energy of the crowd was amazing, swept up by the rhythm of a band Amy was already sure she loved. Then, the people around her started to form a circle. And started to bump into each other. Soon, Amy was pushed into the ring and fell against someone.

00:00:00:56

She tried to get back to the sidelines, but some over-enthusiastic spectators kept pushing her back in. She tripped, almost fell but managed to regain her balance. Someone ran into her, and this time she landed on the ground.

00:00:00:27

The excitement that she'd felt only moments before turned into fear. She was going to be trampled. She had to get out of there.

Amy tried to crawl back up, but a feet hit her and she was pushed back down.

00:00:00:09

The crowd kept moving around her, blind to the girl lying on the ground. She'd managed to avoid being crushed for now, but more and more people were joining the ring.

00:00:00:05

The band started a heavy guitar riff, and the crowd responded. Amy tried to get up once more, just to see a heavy boot heading straight for her face.

00:00:00:03

Someone pushed the man who was about to kick her away.

00:00:00:02

A flash of auburn hair.

00:00:00:01

Someone grabbed her hand and pulled her up.

00:00:00:00

"Are you okay?"

A/N :I'm not sure yet if this is going to be a oneshot or if I'm going to continue it. To be honest (and you may have noticed it from my writing) I only started having fun with this story when I was about halfway done. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading it! I always love getting suggestions, criticism and just regular comments, so feel free to leave a review or PM me.