Cola
My family is cursed. Every descendant is fated to die before turning twenty-seven.
But the curse has a cure.
If the person I truly love climbs Mount Elme and picks a stalk of the Everroot for me, drinking it will heal me completely.
Mount Elme only reveals itself once a year.
Keith Ryder had gone up five times to pick it for me.
And I had waited five years for him to succeed.
But every time I drank what he brought back, I collapsed almost instantly, foaming at the mouth and convulsing as I fell from my wheelchair.
Each time, his eyes would go red as he looked down at me.
"I'm sorry, Tori. I picked the wrong one again. But I promise, next time, I'll bring you the real Everroot."
I believed him.
This year, I turned twenty-seven.
I drank the medicine with my whole heart set on it, and when I collapsed again, Mindy Bloom pointed at me and laughed.
"Look at her twitching like that. It's like she's having a seizure! If it weren't for the weed Keith grabbed off the ground, I'd never have gotten to see a show this good."
I stared at Keith, stunned.
"What did she just say? A weed?"
He looked back at me like I was the one in the wrong.
"Mindy wanted to see it happen. What's the big deal?"
My eyes went wide. My heart felt like it had been stabbed with a needle.
"But you know I'm already," I started, only for him to cut me off.
"Twenty-seven," he said, brow furrowing with irritation. "Isn't that exactly why you want me to marry you sooner?
"Come on, Tori. Mindy's got depression. If I marry you right now, she'll feel insecure.
"But I promise, once she's better, I'll bring you every miracle cure there is. Deal?"
I looked quietly at his face while the wetness at the corners of my eyes dried on its own.
He had no idea. I wasn't going to make it that long.