Larkin awoke in her bed. She was on top of her covers, dressed in her clothes from last night. The haze that still clouded her mind told her that the night before had not been a dream. Neutron was real, and whatever it was that he had done to her back in the outer city was still affecting her.

Honestly, Larkin was horrified. She didn't know this super and all that he was capable of. She didn't even know that he existed until her unfortunate encounter with him. Worst of all, she had no clue of the fated event that was to occur today. Therefore, she had no means to stop it. She could only wait and hope that it wouldn't come to pass.

Forcing herself to get out of bed, Larkin shoved her covers back and swung her feet to the floor. Slightly shivering, Larkin pulled one of the blankets off her bed and wrapped it around her shoulders. Her parents always kept the house too cold for her liking.

She stood, ready to wrap the blanket completely around her, but she froze when she noticed something on her wrist.

It resembled a hair tie in thickness, but it was just a piece of grey fabric. She remembered Neutron's shortened grey sleeves, and how they were ragged at the bottom.

She figured the odd bracelet to be a reminder or what might occur today.

Swallowing the apprehension in her throat, Larkin decided it was time to face the day, no matter what happened. She walked down the stairs and entered her kitchen, looking for a good breakfast. She popped some toast into the toaster and fried an egg.

Both of her parents were suspiciously absent. Larkin ambled from the table where she was eating her breakfast to the counter. Sometimes, her mother would leave a note for her if she left before Larkin awoke. Just as she thought, the granite counter held a scrap of paper with Mrs. Knolls's messy cursive sprawled over it.

Larkin,

Your father and I went to Des Moines for a debate. It's at 2. If you want to come, Aunt Libby will be leaving at noon.

Mom

Larkin read the note with a knot of unease growing in her stomach. She figured this would be the location of the 'what might happen tomorrow' as predicted by Neutron. Her father would be there. So would the other candidates. Larkin glanced at the clock, praying that it was before twelve.

Eleven thirty. Gosh darn it Larkin. Why do you sleep so much? She scolded herself before calling her Aunt Libby and rushing to ready herself in time.

Thirty minutes later, Aunt Libby pulled into Larkin's driveway in her minivan. Larkin made sure to lock the door behind her before swallowing her dread. She couldn't let anything else happen to her father. She wouldn't.

()()()

Approximately one hour and thirty minutes later, Larkin and her aunt pulled into a parking spot in front of a large conference center. They had to walk half a mile to find the entrance, and the tension in Larkin only grew as they drew closer to the debate's location. They climbed into an elevator alone and began their ascent to the debate room.

"Larkin, are you all right?" asked her aunt.

Larkin raised her eyes from the floor of the elevator and tried to plaster a reassuring smile on her face. "Yeah, I'm good. It's probably just the elevator."

Aunt Libby offered Larkin a piece of gum, in case her ears needed to pop. Larkin declined. She didn't think it would help her worries.

They emerged from the elevator on the twentieth floor. Her aunt knew where to go, so Larkin simply followed like a lost puppy. They entered a grand auditorium with hundreds of seats. Many of them were already filled with chattering people. Aunt Libby led Larkin to one of the closest seats to the stage.

When Larkin sat, she finally allowed herself to look up and examine her surroundings. On the stage, two podiums sat unattended. A table was in front of the podiums, which was where the mediator of the debate would sit. She checked her phone for the time and saw that it was 1:45, so the debate wouldn't start for fifteen more minutes.

Larkin tried to calm her nerves as she waited for the candidates to appear on stage. Finally, the mediator walked out on the stage. The audience started to hush as he spoke.

His voice boomed over the speakers in the auditorium. "Welcome to our annual political debate. Today we have the two remaining candidates for governor, Richard Knolls and George Fredericks."

There was polite applause as her father walked up to shake hands with the mediator. Larkin watched, on the edge of her seat, wondering if a bullet would come flying out of the air and strike her father. She closed her eyes as her father and the man exchanged a few words.

Still, nothing happened. It was delightfully uneventful. Her father walked to stand behind his designated podium and clasped his hands behind him, standing tall. Despite her nervousness, Larkin felt a spark of pride. This was her father.

Next, George Fredericks walked towards the mediator. Larkin twisted her new gray wristband around her wrist, wondering if something would happen to George Fredericks.

The two men clasped their hands together in a firm handshake.

Chaos ensued.

No bullets rained down upon the stage; her father did not collapse onto the floor. No. It was a different type of chaos.

As George Fredericks released the hand of the mediator, the mediator's legs buckled underneath him. He hit the stage with a reverberating thump. Larkin could hear it through the microphone attached to the man's suit.

She watched as her father and George rushed towards the man. They both kneeled down. Her father checked the mediator's pulse in his neck. From Larkin's close seat, she could see as her father's facial expression changed from shock into horror. She watched him yank his cell phone out of his pocket and dial a number. George Fredericks simply kneeled on the stage next to the man. Larkin could see his profile, and, oddly enough, his expression hadn't changed one bit.

Members of the audience had gotten up to leave when they realized that the mediator wasn't getting back up. Others had also pulled out their cell phones to call 9-1-1. Larkin stayed sitting down in her seat, stunned. Her aunt was still next to her with her hands cupped over her mouth in shock.

Minutes later, four paramedics burst into the auditorium. They ran down the long aisle, carrying a gurney behind them. Larkin felt the wind caused by their motion.

The paramedics climbed the stairs to the stage and forced her father and George to back away. Two of them lifted up the body of the mediator onto the gurney and began taking notes on a clipboard. The other two questioned her father and George, each separately.

Larkin watched as the four paramedics, a bit slower this time, exited the auditorium carrying the body. They had draped a sheet over the gurney, obscuring the man from view.

That's when Larkin knew he must have died.

She closed her eyes, knowing that this is what she had been forewarned about. However, she also knew that there was nothing she could have possibly done to stop this death. It seemed to Larkin as if it had occurred naturally.

How could Neutron have warned me about this if it was a natural death? How would he know that a man would simply collapse in front of an audience of hundreds? Deep inside her, Larkin knew that there was no way Neutron would have known about that. Therefore, she concluded that this man's death was not natural. Murder, it must have been. She just didn't know how. There was no bullet. And he had fallen after George and released his hand.

There was no evidence to prove that it was a murder, and she knew that the paramedics would rule out that possibility. Still, she knew.

()()()

Aunt Libby had driven home after the death at the debate. It was cancelled after the unexpected death. Mrs. Knolls had called Larkin's aunt and asked her if Larkin could stay the night at her house. Aunt Libby graciously accepted, and Larkin went home with her aunt.

Larkin seemed subdued for the rest of the day. She didn't bother to speak with Aunt Libby, despite her best efforts at starting a conversation.

Larkin was still shaken by what she had seen earlier in the day. She wracked her mind, wondering what she possibly could have done to prevent the death.

After dinner, Larkin used Google to find out what the news was saying about the death.

All the articles she read stated that the man had died of sudden cardiac arrest. They said that his heart suddenly and unexpectedly stopped beating. Larkin pored over every article she could find, but they were all the same.

As she lay in the bed in the guest room, trying in vain to fall asleep, Larkin kept seeing George Fredericks's expressionless face after the mediator and collapsed directly in front of him. There had been no evidence of surprise on his face. There had been no shock. His mask of stone had not budged.