Expired

Jack woke up groggy, and there it was—tattooed in stark black ink across the inside of his wrist: “Expires 26/01/2025”. Today’s date.

He stumbled out of bed, nearly tripping over yesterday’s discarded jeans, and rushed to the mirror. He turned his wrist under the dim bathroom light, hoping maybe it was a pen’s ink, or a trick of the eye, but the skin was smooth and unblemished except for those markings—stark, unwavering.

He scrubbed it furiously with soap and water. Nothing.

“Okay,” he muttered to himself, pacing the tiny bathroom. “Okay, think.”

People don’t just get expiration dates. That’s not how the world works. This was probably some weird stress-induced hallucination. Work had been rough lately, and he’d barely been sleeping. Maybe it was his brain’s way of telling him to take a break.

But what if it wasn’t?

Jack glanced at the clock—8:12 AM. He had to do something. He wasn’t going to just sit around and wait to… expire.

He grabbed his phone and dialled his sister.

“Hey,” Ellie answered, her voice still thick with sleep. “What’s up?”

“I’ve got a problem,” Jack said, his voice shaking more than he wanted it to. “I woke up this morning and there’s… there’s a date on my wrist.”

A pause. “Like… a tattoo?”

“No. I mean, yes. But not one I put there. It just… appeared.”

Ellie sighed. “Jack, is this another weird dream thing? Because last time you called me about a talking cat.”

“This isn’t like that, El,” he snapped. “It’s today’s date. What if it means I’m going to—” He swallowed. “You know.”

Ellie groaned. “You’re not going to die, Jack.”

“How do you know?”

A longer pause this time. “I don’t,” she admitted. “But you’re not exactly the healthiest person in the world. Maybe it’s your body telling you to lay off the late-night kebabs.”

Jack glanced at his wrist again. It hadn’t faded. If anything, the ink seemed darker now, bolder.

“I think I need to see someone,” he said.

“Like a doctor? Or a priest?” Ellie asked dryly.

“I don’t know. Both?”

She sighed. “Look, just… take it easy today. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Easy for you to say,” Jack muttered, hanging up.

He spent the rest of the morning on edge, jumping at every unexpected noise—the creak of the floorboards, the sudden ring of his phone. He stayed indoors, afraid to step outside, afraid that the universe might be waiting for him out there with a well-placed bus or a rogue piano falling from a window.

Hours crawled by, and nothing happened. He watched the clock like a hawk. 1:00 PM. 3:30 PM.

By 6:45 PM, Jack was sitting on his sofa, breathing deeply. Maybe this had been a fluke. Some weird, unexplained phenomenon that didn’t actually mean anything.

And then the doorbell rang.

He froze.

Jack stared at the door. He glanced at his wrist—no change.

The bell rang again. He forced himself to stand and walk to the door.

When he opened it, a man in a dark suit stood there, holding a clipboard. He was tall, thin, with eyes too sharp and a smile too polite.

“Mr Jack Evans?” the man asked.

Jack swallowed. “Yeah?”

The man nodded and flipped through the pages on his clipboard. “Just confirming. You’re aware today is your expiration date?”

“You mean… it’s real?”

“Oh yes.” The man looked up and smiled wider. “But don’t worry. It’s nothing painful. Just… a bureaucratic formality, really.”

Jack took a step back. “I don’t—I don’t want to expire.”

“Ah, well.” The man stepped inside uninvited, shutting the door behind him. “We don’t always get a say in these things, Mr Evans.”

Jack glanced around, looking for an escape, but the man was faster. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, sleek device.

With a soft click, the world faded to black.

When Jack woke up, he was lying in bed. His heart was pounding, but something felt… different. He scrambled to check his wrist. The date was gone.

He sat up, gasping, sweat soaking his sheets. A dream? A hallucination?

His phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number:

“Your expiration date has been renewed. Don’t waste it.”

Jack stared at the message. He wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or terrified.