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The ticking sound was getting louder. It was all they could hear. It would drive any normal person crazy, but not them. The two were calm, as if they had gotten used to the noise. It made sense. After all, the clock had been their companion for almost a whole year.
Unus lay on their bed, staring up at the ceiling. It showed a timer, ticking down to the end. The end of them.
“Hey, Annus?”
Annus was sitting on the floor at the foot of their friend’s bed. The wall was uncomfortable against their back, but it didn’t bother them. Pain was temporary, as was life.
“Yeah?”
Unus sat up in his bed to get a proper look at their friend. It was funny to think that, soon, they wouldn’t be able to see anything at all. “Don’t you wanna talk? There’s, like, 10 minutes left. Come on! There’s no time to be grumpy!”
Annus sighed. Unus’ talking did annoy them, but they would be lying if they said they wouldn’t miss it. “What’s the point? It will be over soon. Besides, we’ve said everything that needs to be said.”
“Don’t you wanna tell me you love me? Huh?”
Annus laughed. They couldn’t help it. Unus was funny when they wanted to be. “Definitely not.”
“Aw, come on, Annus! Just once! For me…”
“No!”
Unus jumped off the bed, and quickly made their way over to Annus, who was staring up at the timer. They were about to tease Annus some more, but then they followed the other’s gaze. 8 minutes. It stopped Unus in their tracks. They didn’t realize it was that time already. Time went by so quickly, it seemed.
Neither of them were scared of it. They knew death was inevitable. It was the very first thing they were told when they were brought into this world.
“Memento mori.” Annus’ voice was barely above a whisper.
“What?”
“I said memento mori.”
“Yeah…” Unus went quiet. “I remember.”
They sat there for a while (2 minute and 45 seconds, to be exact), watching the counter and listening to the clock. It was funny. Both of them had left this house multiple times a day, doing as much as they could with the time they had left. However, the ticking noise never left their heads. It was like the sound had been ingrained in their minds since their creation. The same with the timer. Sometimes, when Unus closed their eyes to sleep, the numbers were still there under their eyelids. It was impossible to forget. Annus felt the same way.
Death was almost all they talked about. Of course, they talked about all the adventures they had been on too, but it always came back to death. It was tiring to think about, but neither of them wanted to complain. They couldn’t change the future. They couldn’t stop their demise.
Unus had started to fidget within a minute of the two falling silent. Annus tried to ignore it. They understood Unus’ difficulty with sitting. But after a minute of watching them pick at the thread of their suit, they couldn’t take it any longer.
Unus looked up with furrowed brows when Annus laid a hand on theirs. “What are you doing?”
“Those suits were expensive.”
A short laugh. “We didn’t pay for them, did we?”
Annus thought for a moment. “No, but someone must have. We wouldn’t want to waste their hard-earned cash.”
They shrugged. “S’pose not.”
Minutes passed and Unus was talking again, much to Annus’ disappointment. “Annus?”
Annus gritted their teeth. Can’t they just have some peace and quiet for once? “What?”
“I’m bored, dude. Why aren’t you talking?”
“I just want some quiet, okay?”
Unus didn’t reply. Were they really that annoying? They shook their head. There was no use worrying about that now. No use worrying about anything. They’d both be gone soon.
5 minutes.
Anxiety was finally beginning to bubble in Unus’ stomach. What if they didn’t want to go? They had spent this whole time making the most of their year. They had had the best year ever, and now it was over.
Annus heard sniffing. They turned to see Unus crying. Panic swelled in their chest. Was it something they said? “Unus? Why… why are you crying? Was it… something I said? I’m sorry.”
Unus shook their head, smiling. “It’s not you, man. I just…” They shook their head again. They couldn’t say it.
Annus smiled weakly. “Don’t wanna go, huh?”
They nodded.
“Me neither.”
Unus’ eyes widened. “Really? I always thought you weren’t scared of dying. Like, at all. I thought you weren’t scared of anything.”
Annus let out a hollow laugh. “Definitely not. I’m scared of a lot of things, dying being one of them. I just don’t let you see it.”
This was news to them. “Why not?”
Annus shrugged. “I dunno. I didn’t want you to think of me as weak, I guess.”
“As if! I would never think that, even if you were scared of literally everything!”
That brought a grin to Annus’ face. It filled them with relief to know this, even if it was a bit too late.
Unus smiled too. They loved to see their friend happy.
“Well, then,” Annus began. “I have a confession to make. How much time do we have left, my friend?”
Unus glanced up. “2 minutes.”
“Shit.” Time was flying by. They couldn’t waste it. “Alright. I’m fucking terrified of the ocean.”
Unus laughed, maybe harder than they meant to. “That’s such a rational fear!”
Annus raised an eyebrow. “Really?”
“Yeah! It makes so much sense.”
Unus opened their mouth to say more, but Annus silenced them with a hand. “1 minute left.”
“Oh my God.” Unus buried their face in their hands, hoping the timer would stop if they didn’t have to look at it. Annus put an arm around them, hoping that they could comfort their friend one last time.
They both watched the clock with their hearts in their throats. Just because they knew death was inevitable, that didn’t mean they weren’t scared of it. Both of them wished they could stay together forever.
Annus took a deep breath. Unus turned to them in anticipation. This was maybe one of the last things they would say. “I love you, you know.”
Unus was speechless. They never thought Annus would really say that to them, even after all the teasing. They had maybe gone as far as to say they weren’t capable of love. But then they looked back on their time together. Of course, Annus loved them. It was clear as day. They had just never said it out loud.
“Love you too, buddy.”
30 seconds. 20. 10.
The two of them turned to face each other and nodded. This was it. Their time was up. And, oh, how wonderful it had been.
“Unus annus,” they said in unison.
Their echoes filled the room one last time as the counter finally stopped on zero. That was it. Done. The year never to be lived again.
The two of them had speculated on how they might die. Sometimes, it was all they could think about. But of course, they had never known for sure. They had hoped it would be something amazing and big. Like they would both spontaneously explode! Or they would be engulfed in flames! Or a huge meteor would come down from space! (That was Annus’ favorite). Everyone would be talking about their deaths.
But that didn’t happen. All that someone would see if they walked into the room would be two people slumped against each other in matching suits. They wouldn’t think anything of it. However, they wouldn’t know of the adventures the two shared. Since they had been alone that year, no one would remember them. That didn’t matter though.
Unus and Annus didn’t care about being remembered. All they cared about was making the most of the year ahead of them and making memories. The memories hadn’t lasted past their year, but all that mattered was that they had been created at all. And they had done just that.
Memento Mori.
Unus Annus.