My Death Clock

In a gloomy town, Eleanor the hedgehog girl sees death clocks above every head. Her childhood warnings brought scorn—she was locked in an attic for eighteen years, only her sister visiting. At twenty-two, her own clock read ten days. She tore off her blindfold and fled. Thorny manor grounds led to the distant castle—source of all death clocks. Fleeing hostile kin and fearful townsfolk, she learned lives were bound by unseen rules. She was no curse—only the one who saw. With ten days left, she chose not to run, but to unveil the castle's ancient curse—to clear her name and break fate's cage for all. In a bloodstained pink dress, clutching an old swaddle, she walked into the dark.