The echo of their words rung in her ears like a stuck music player that repeats the same lyric of a song multiple times.

“Go, be happy”

She obliged almost instantaneously and left. They were indirectly asking her to…be happy. Her hand trembled and she waited. With every second that ticked off her watch, an entire 3-hour movie reel played in her head.

“Go, be happy”

The 3 syllables repeated themselves over and over with a vigor and tremor.

In the dim moonlight her watch read 12:36. The tiny second hand bobbed forward reluctantly dragging itself over the edges of every symbol marked on the white surface of the miniature clock. Her hazy eyes focused themselves on the small hand watching its every movement like a hunter might do to a magnificent buck in the forest.

*46 seconds past 12:36*

Her breathing started to rapidly build speed and her patience started ebbing away. Her consciousness leaped from nervousness to impatience. She wanted to just get done with it already.

*12:37*

Her right hand that was a few inches from her temple now was suspended in mid air in front of her eyes, squinting in the bleak light the quarter moon effused. She spent the next minute glaring at the watch and waiting with her misty breath hanging in the air and slightly steaming the watch’s surface.

*12:38*

She shuffled her feet out of impatience. It was almost like she was reaching out for a sweet candy and it kept edging further away from her. She let out a frustrated sigh. The need to get finished with the job was alluring but it was just 2 more minutes she had to wait for.

*12:39*

Her frustration eased considerably as the second hand neared its destination. Nearing closer to the edge of the lake she once again focused her eyes on her watch.

*34 seconds past 12:39*

Her heart picked up the tempo again. With every ounce of her blood pounding in her ears she felt her excitement return. This time she would successfully do it and not have to wait.

*56 seconds past 12:39*

“4…3…” she whispered trying to hide the glee in her voice.

“2…1…Happy Birthday…” her ghostly whisper bounced against the walls of her mind then ricocheted from her lips landing on the surface of the water in front of her.

“…to me”. She uttered her last words as the battery of the golden watch wrapped around her wrist halted its ticking and recorded the monumental moment where the last ember of hope died inside the heart of 16 year old.

A gunshot then a splash of water sounded the empty clearance.