Mandy's phone starts counting down-and no one else can see it.

In a winter-tense Stockholm, fourteen-year-old Mandy is already struggling to survive school, friendships, and the quiet weight of her father's death. But when red numbers begin appearing on her screen-numbers that tick down without explanation-time itself starts to behave strangely. Minutes disappear. Clocks stutter. And in the corners of rooms, Mandy begins to see her father, silent and insistent, always pointing at the countdown she doesn't understand.

As the numbers move closer to zero, Mandy is forced to question what's real. Is she losing her grip on reality, or is something deeper breaking beneath the surface of the city? While her closest friendship drifts toward danger and her surroundings grow increasingly unstable, Mandy must navigate adolescence in a world that no longer follows the rules of time.

This haunting, emotionally grounded coming-of-age novel blends contemporary realism with subtle speculative elements. Set against a city shaped by social tension and quiet violence, the story explores how grief distorts perception, how adolescence exists in a fragile in-between state, and how loss can fracture time itself.

Written with lyrical intensity and psychological depth, this novel will resonate with readers who seek character-driven fiction that is unsettling, intimate, and deeply human.

Perfect for readers of literary and psychological fiction, speculative narratives involving time distortion, and contemporary coming-of-age stories.

Themes include grief, time perception, friendship, urban adolescence, trauma, identity, and survival.

This is not a story about time travel.

It is a story about what happens when time refuses to move on.