This will be removed once I hit 15K on my own; this is all just a repeat of chapter one, so pay it no mind.
Death, such an abstract concept in both real life and fiction, is meant to be absolute. Yet in both fiction and reality, Death can be overcome and held off.
In reality, you can be dead for up to four minutes, and sometimes even longer, and as long as you get CPR, you can be brought back from the embrace of Death.
In fiction, many a character has been brought back from the embrace of Death; characters like Natsuki Subaru, Jon Snow, Goku, Jason Todd, and Superman have all faced Death, embraced Death, and returned from Death.
Almost everyone I have met in my admittedly short life has feared and seen Death as something bad. They think that the act of dying and the unknown that Death brings is the worst.
I had thought that Death is peaceful; it is a natural part of life. All things must come to an end. The process of Death may be bad depending on how you die, but at the end of days, you are at peace.
I do not, had not, and would never believe in gods, the afterlife, or any higher divinity. The ideas can be beautiful, and sometimes I might even wish for someone to find peace in a heaven or some promised place.
But for me, personally, those realms don't exist. What exists is this life, this moment, and the inevitable ending.
I've always loved the way Death appears in fiction, not as a simple obstacle to be conquered, but as a presence. In DC, Marvel, or Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Death is not good or bad. Death is an absolute force.
It does not bargain, it does not hate, it does not forgive. It just is. That neutrality, that knowledge that all things must end, is what fascinates me. There is a strange comfort in something that does not pretend to be anything other than what it is.
Life, I think, is the same. People say, "Live your life," as if life and living were separate things. You can be alive without truly living, moving through days without meaning or connection.
In the same way, you can be dead while still breathing: numb, resigned, already surrendered.
To me, Death is a mirror held up to life. Knowing it is there, waiting, forces a question: if this is all we have, what do we do with it? Without gods or the knowledge of their afterlives to lean on, the responsibility for meaning falls on us alone.
That thought can be terrifying, but it can also be freeing. Death is, just as life simply is. What matters is what we choose to do in the space between the two.
I think I lived my life as I wanted. I had a good, loving family; they must miss me. I also had a good group of friends; while there weren't many, they were loyal and good friends.
When I look back, it wasn't a bad life. I played sports like swimming, watched TV, movies, and anime. I also read manga, webnovels, light novels, manhua, and their Chinese counterparts.
I feel bad for leaving everyone as I did, but I had no control over it. I had fun, and I hope the people around me had fun with me. I thought that as I closed my eyes, as the endless black engulfed me.
I died.
And it was for a stupid reason too. I remember walking with some friends and some people from school when a woman? A girl? A senior from our school, who was with her older boyfriend, passed by. The whole school knew about it and how bad it was.
Most of us wanted to keep walking, me included, but someone from the group of students I did not know wanted to jump into others' business, and I felt bad for the girl who got caught up in it.
She was like 17 or 18; she was not a child, and she wasn't stupid either. She had some really good grades. I only knew that because my older brother was also a senior.
That reminded me of my family; we were tight-knit. It was my mother, father, older brother and sister, my younger siblings, and me.
While I was somewhat of a shut-in, when my family wanted me to do things with them, I did, like bowling, even though I didn't like it that much.
But the kid saw how the man was treating her, and so he wanted to stop it like some hero. I wouldn't call myself a bad person, but just as I don't fear Death, I very much liked living.
So I tried to mind my business, and unless it crossed one of my personal lines, I usually wouldn't bother. But it seemed we were not the same, so when he went over, we hung back; we didn't want to leave him alone, nor did we want to join him.
So we watched. We watched as he went up to the man and the senior, trying to tell her she could leave, but she didn't want to. Her boyfriend got annoyed and pushed him to the ground.
While I don't understand why he did what he did, I did not want to see one of my classmates be attacked by someone much older. So I stepped in and pulled him back. I was a swimmer and nominally on the soccer team, so I was reasonably strong for sixteen.
But he wanted to fight the man, and I just kept trying to break it up while my friends joined in to help me. For some reason, the man felt threatened, so he pulled out a gun. I let go of that fool and backed up,
trying to de-escalate, but he was crazy. His girlfriend, the senior, also tried to stop him, but he pointed the gun at her. At the time, I did not care, but I saw her put her hands over her stomach.
That's what changed my mind. One of the few things I find unacceptable is anything truly bad being done to children; just below that is rape. So when I saw her protect her stomach, I wanted to help her.
And just as I did all my life, I did what I wanted, as I wanted, when I wanted. I was able to get the gun from his hands, but sadly not before he was able to shoot me in the aorta.
One of the five worst places to be shot, since it was the human body's main and largest artery. I only had seconds to live, but I was able to see the man run away as some of my friends chased him down.
It was painful, and I hated it. While I thought all that about Death, one of the many iterations of the Joker was right about one thing: people's true colors come out on the brink of Death.
And that's how I died, surrounded by only a few friends, people I didn't really know, and some girl I couldn't care less about. That sounds like a shit death, and a newfound reason to hate Death.
While I agree the way I died was shitty and stupid, I don't regret it. I did what I did, as I wanted, how I wanted. And so I was met with the sweet yet cold embrace of Death.
Yeah, I wish I could have lived longer, but I just was not that lucky. But just as Death is inevitable, and people go out of their way to avoid it, I did as I did; I lived my life to the fullest I could, and this is what I chose, and this is how I died.
I do hope that there is an entity like Death, or Didi from The Endless; I really like her depiction of Death. She is with everyone from the moment they are born and is there when they die. But what stood out to me about her was her kindness and, admittedly, how hot she was.
As the cold settled in and I felt everything go still, I wondered, or hoped, if someone like her would be waiting on the other side.
Then, right when I was ready to disappear completely, or whatever happens when you die, something laughed softly in the dark.
Death, such an abstract concept in both real life and fiction, is meant to be a near-absolute thing. Yet in both fiction and reality, Death can be overcome and held off.
In reality, you can be dead for up to four minutes, and sometimes even longer, and as long as you get CPR, you can be brought back from the embrace of Death.
In fiction, many a character has been brought back from the embrace of Death; characters like Natsuki Subaru, Jon Snow, Goku, Jason Todd, and Superman have all faced Death, embraced Death, and returned from Death.
Almost everyone I have met in my admittedly short life has feared and seen Death as something bad. They think that the act of dying and the unknown that Death brings is the worst.
I had thought that Death is peaceful; it is a natural part of life. All things must come to an end. The process of Death may be bad depending on how you die, but at the end of days, you are at peace.
I do not, had not, and would never believe in gods, the afterlife, or any higher divinity. The ideas can be beautiful, and sometimes I might even wish for someone to find peace in a heaven or some promised place.
But for me, personally, those realms don't exist. What exists is this life, this moment, and the inevitable ending.
I've always loved the way Death appears in fiction, not as a simple obstacle to be conquered, but as a presence. In DC, Marvel, or Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Death is not good or bad. Death is an absolute force.
It does not bargain, it does not hate, it does not forgive. It just is. That neutrality, that knowledge that all things must end, is what fascinates me. There is a strange comfort in something that does not pretend to be anything other than what it is.
Life, I think, is the same. People say, "Live your life," as if life and living were separate things. You can be alive without truly living, moving through days without meaning or connection.
In the same way, you can be dead while still breathing: numb, resigned, already surrendered.
To me, Death is a mirror held up to life. Knowing it is there, waiting, forces a question: if this is all we have, what do we do with it? Without gods or the knowledge of their afterlives to lean on, the responsibility for meaning falls on us alone.
That thought can be terrifying, but it can also be freeing. Death is, just as life simply is. What matters is what we choose to do in the space between the two.
I think I lived my life as I wanted. I had a good, loving family; they must miss me. I also had a good group of friends; while there weren't many, they were loyal and good friends.
When I look back, it wasn't a bad life. I played sports like swimming, watched TV, movies, and anime. I also read manga, webnovels, light novels, manhua, and their Chinese counterparts.
I feel bad for leaving everyone as I did, but I had no control over it. I had fun, and I hope the people around me had fun with me. I thought that as I closed my eyes, as the endless black engulfed me.
I died.
And it was for a stupid reason too. I remember walking with some friends and some people from school when a woman? A girl? A senior from our school, who was with her older boyfriend, passed by. The whole school knew about it and how bad it was.
Most of us wanted to keep walking, me included, but someone from the group of students I did not know wanted to jump into others' business, and I felt bad for the girl who got caught up in it.
She was like 17 or 18; she was not a child, and she wasn't stupid either. She had some really good grades. I only knew that because my older brother was also a senior.
That reminded me of my family; we were tight-knit. It was my mother, father, older brother and sister, my younger siblings, and me.
While I was somewhat of a shut-in, when my family wanted me to do things with them, I did, like bowling, even though I didn't like it that much.
But the kid saw how the man was treating her, and so he wanted to stop it like some hero. I wouldn't call myself a bad person, but just as I don't fear Death, I very much liked living.
So I tried to mind my business, and unless it crossed one of my personal lines, I usually wouldn't bother. But it seemed we were not the same, so when he went over, we hung back; we didn't want to leave him alone, nor did we want to join him.
So we watched. We watched as he went up to the man and the senior, trying to tell her she could leave, but she didn't want to. Her boyfriend got annoyed and pushed him to the ground.
While I don't understand why he did what he did, I did not want to see one of my classmates be attacked by someone much older. So I stepped in and pulled him back. I was a swimmer and nominally on the soccer team, so I was reasonably strong for sixteen.
But he wanted to fight the man, and I just kept trying to break it up while my friends joined in to help me. For some reason, the man felt threatened, so he pulled out a gun. I let go of that fool and backed up,
trying to de-escalate, but he was crazy. His girlfriend, the senior, also tried to stop him, but he pointed the gun at her. At the time, I did not care, but I saw her put her hands over her stomach.
That's what changed my mind. One of the few things I find unacceptable is anything truly bad being done to children; just below that is rape. So when I saw her protect her stomach, I wanted to help her.
And just as I did all my life, I did what I wanted, as I wanted, when I wanted. I was able to get the gun from his hands, but sadly not before he was able to shoot me in the aorta.
One of the five worst places to be shot, since it was the human body's main and largest artery. I only had seconds to live, but I was able to see the man run away as some of my friends chased him down.
It was painful, and I hated it. While I thought all that about Death, one of the many iterations of the Joker was right about one thing: people's true colors come out on the brink of Death.
And that's how I died, surrounded by only a few friends, people I didn't really know, and some girl I couldn't care less about. That sounds like a shit death, and a newfound reason to hate Death.
While I agree the way I died was shitty and stupid, I don't regret it. I did what I did, as I wanted, how I wanted. And so I was met with the sweet yet cold embrace of Death.
Yeah, I wish I could have lived longer, but I just was not that lucky. But just as Death is inevitable, and people go out of their way to avoid it, I did as I did; I lived my life to the fullest I could, and this is what I chose, and this is how I died.
I do hope that there is an entity like Death, or Didi from The Endless; I really like her depiction of Death. She is with everyone from the moment they are born and is there when they die. But what stood out to me about her was her kindness and, admittedly, how hot she was.
As the cold settled in and I felt everything go still, I wondered, or hoped, if someone like her would be waiting on the other side.
Then, right when I was ready to disappear completely, or whatever happens when you die, something laughed softly in the dark.
Death, such an abstract concept in both real life and fiction, is meant to be a near-absolute thing. Yet in both fiction and reality, Death can be overcome and held off.
In reality, you can be dead for up to four minutes, and sometimes even longer, and as long as you get CPR, you can be brought back from the embrace of Death.
In fiction, many a character has been brought back from the embrace of Death; characters like Natsuki Subaru, Jon Snow, Goku, Jason Todd, and Superman have all faced Death, embraced Death, and returned from Death.
Almost everyone I have met in my admittedly short life has feared and seen Death as something bad. They think that the act of dying and the unknown that Death brings is the worst.
I had thought that Death is peaceful; it is a natural part of life. All things must come to an end. The process of Death may be bad depending on how you die, but at the end of days, you are at peace.
I do not, had not, and would never believe in gods, the afterlife, or any higher divinity. The ideas can be beautiful, and sometimes I might even wish for someone to find peace in a heaven or some promised place.
But for me, personally, those realms don't exist. What exists is this life, this moment, and the inevitable ending.
I've always loved the way Death appears in fiction, not as a simple obstacle to be conquered, but as a presence. In DC, Marvel, or Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Death is not good or bad. Death is an absolute force.
It does not bargain, it does not hate, it does not forgive. It just is. That neutrality, that knowledge that all things must end, is what fascinates me. There is a strange comfort in something that does not pretend to be anything other than what it is.
Life, I think, is the same. People say, "Live your life," as if life and living were separate things. You can be alive without truly living, moving through days without meaning or connection.
In the same way, you can be dead while still breathing: numb, resigned, already surrendered.
To me, Death is a mirror held up to life. Knowing it is there, waiting, forces a question: if this is all we have, what do we do with it? Without gods or the knowledge of their afterlives to lean on, the responsibility for meaning falls on us alone.
That thought can be terrifying, but it can also be freeing. Death is, just as life simply is. What matters is what we choose to do in the space between the two.
I think I lived my life as I wanted. I had a good, loving family; they must miss me. I also had a good group of friends; while there weren't many, they were loyal and good friends.
When I look back, it wasn't a bad life. I played sports like swimming, watched TV, movies, and anime. I also read manga, webnovels, light novels, manhua, and their Chinese counterparts.
I feel bad for leaving everyone as I did, but I had no control over it. I had fun, and I hope the people around me had fun with me. I thought that as I closed my eyes, as the endless black engulfed me.
I died.
And it was for a stupid reason too. I remember walking with some friends and some people from school when a woman? A girl? A senior from our school, who was with her older boyfriend, passed by. The whole school knew about it and how bad it was.
Most of us wanted to keep walking, me included, but someone from the group of students I did not know wanted to jump into others' business, and I felt bad for the girl who got caught up in it.
She was like 17 or 18; she was not a child, and she wasn't stupid either. She had some really good grades. I only knew that because my older brother was also a senior.
That reminded me of my family; we were tight-knit. It was my mother, father, older brother and sister, my younger siblings, and me.
While I was somewhat of a shut-in, when my family wanted me to do things with them, I did, like bowling, even though I didn't like it that much.
But the kid saw how the man was treating her, and so he wanted to stop it like some hero. I wouldn't call myself a bad person, but just as I don't fear Death, I very much liked living.
So I tried to mind my business, and unless it crossed one of my personal lines, I usually wouldn't bother. But it seemed we were not the same, so when he went over, we hung back; we didn't want to leave him alone, nor did we want to join him.
So we watched. We watched as he went up to the man and the senior, trying to tell her she could leave, but she didn't want to. Her boyfriend got annoyed and pushed him to the ground.
While I don't understand why he did what he did, I did not want to see one of my classmates be attacked by someone much older. So I stepped in and pulled him back. I was a swimmer and nominally on the soccer team, so I was reasonably strong for sixteen.
But he wanted to fight the man, and I just kept trying to break it up while my friends joined in to help me. For some reason, the man felt threatened, so he pulled out a gun. I let go of that fool and backed up,
trying to de-escalate, but he was crazy. His girlfriend, the senior, also tried to stop him, but he pointed the gun at her. At the time, I did not care, but I saw her put her hands over her stomach.
That's what changed my mind. One of the few things I find unacceptable is anything truly bad being done to children; just below that is rape. So when I saw her protect her stomach, I wanted to help her.
And just as I did all my life, I did what I wanted, as I wanted, when I wanted. I was able to get the gun from his hands, but sadly not before he was able to shoot me in the aorta.
One of the five worst places to be shot, since it was the human body's main and largest artery. I only had seconds to live, but I was able to see the man run away as some of my friends chased him down.
It was painful, and I hated it. While I thought all that about Death, one of the many iterations of the Joker was right about one thing: people's true colors come out on the brink of Death.
And that's how I died, surrounded by only a few friends, people I didn't really know, and some girl I couldn't care less about. That sounds like a shit death, and a newfound reason to hate Death.
While I agree the way I died was shitty and stupid, I don't regret it. I did what I did, as I wanted, how I wanted. And so I was met with the sweet yet cold embrace of Death.
Yeah, I wish I could have lived longer, but I just was not that lucky. But just as Death is inevitable, and people go out of their way to avoid it, I did as I did; I lived my life to the fullest I could, and this is what I chose, and this is how I died.
I do hope that there is an entity like Death, or Didi from The Endless; I really like her depiction of Death. She is with everyone from the moment they are born and is there when they die. But what stood out to me about her was her kindness and, admittedly, how hot she was.
As the cold settled in and I felt everything go still, I wondered, or hoped, if someone like her would be waiting on the other side.
Then, right when I was ready to disappear completely, or whatever happens when you die, something laughed softly in the dark.
Death, such an abstract concept in both real life and fiction, is meant to be a near-absolute thing. Yet in both fiction and reality, Death can be overcome and held off.
In reality, you can be dead for up to four minutes, and sometimes even longer, and as long as you get CPR, you can be brought back from the embrace of Death.
In fiction, many a character has been brought back from the embrace of Death; characters like Natsuki Subaru, Jon Snow, Goku, Jason Todd, and Superman have all faced Death, embraced Death, and returned from Death.
Almost everyone I have met in my admittedly short life has feared and seen Death as something bad. They think that the act of dying and the unknown that Death brings is the worst.
I had thought that Death is peaceful; it is a natural part of life. All things must come to an end. The process of Death may be bad depending on how you die, but at the end of days, you are at peace.
I do not, had not, and would never believe in gods, the afterlife, or any higher divinity. The ideas can be beautiful, and sometimes I might even wish for someone to find peace in a heaven or some promised place.
But for me, personally, those realms don't exist. What exists is this life, this moment, and the inevitable ending.
I've always loved the way Death appears in fiction, not as a simple obstacle to be conquered, but as a presence. In DC, Marvel, or Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Death is not good or bad. Death is an absolute force.
It does not bargain, it does not hate, it does not forgive. It just is. That neutrality, that knowledge that all things must end, is what fascinates me. There is a strange comfort in something that does not pretend to be anything other than what it is.
Life, I think, is the same. People say, "Live your life," as if life and living were separate things. You can be alive without truly living, moving through days without meaning or connection.
In the same way, you can be dead while still breathing: numb, resigned, already surrendered.
To me, Death is a mirror held up to life. Knowing it is there, waiting, forces a question: if this is all we have, what do we do with it? Without gods or the knowledge of their afterlives to lean on, the responsibility for meaning falls on us alone.
That thought can be terrifying, but it can also be freeing. Death is, just as life simply is. What matters is what we choose to do in the space between the two.
I think I lived my life as I wanted. I had a good, loving family; they must miss me. I also had a good group of friends; while there weren't many, they were loyal and good friends.
When I look back, it wasn't a bad life. I played sports like swimming, watched TV, movies, and anime. I also read manga, webnovels, light novels, manhua, and their Chinese counterparts.
I feel bad for leaving everyone as I did, but I had no control over it. I had fun, and I hope the people around me had fun with me. I thought that as I closed my eyes, as the endless black engulfed me.
I died.
And it was for a stupid reason too. I remember walking with some friends and some people from school when a woman? A girl? A senior from our school, who was with her older boyfriend, passed by. The whole school knew about it and how bad it was.
Most of us wanted to keep walking, me included, but someone from the group of students I did not know wanted to jump into others' business, and I felt bad for the girl who got caught up in it.
She was like 17 or 18; she was not a child, and she wasn't stupid either. She had some really good grades. I only knew that because my older brother was also a senior.
That reminded me of my family; we were tight-knit. It was my mother, father, older brother and sister, my younger siblings, and me.
While I was somewhat of a shut-in, when my family wanted me to do things with them, I did, like bowling, even though I didn't like it that much.
But the kid saw how the man was treating her, and so he wanted to stop it like some hero. I wouldn't call myself a bad person, but just as I don't fear Death, I very much liked living.
So I tried to mind my business, and unless it crossed one of my personal lines, I usually wouldn't bother. But it seemed we were not the same, so when he went over, we hung back; we didn't want to leave him alone, nor did we want to join him.
So we watched. We watched as he went up to the man and the senior, trying to tell her she could leave, but she didn't want to. Her boyfriend got annoyed and pushed him to the ground.
While I don't understand why he did what he did, I did not want to see one of my classmates be attacked by someone much older. So I stepped in and pulled him back. I was a swimmer and nominally on the soccer team, so I was reasonably strong for sixteen.
But he wanted to fight the man, and I just kept trying to break it up while my friends joined in to help me. For some reason, the man felt threatened, so he pulled out a gun. I let go of that fool and backed up,
trying to de-escalate, but he was crazy. His girlfriend, the senior, also tried to stop him, but he pointed the gun at her. At the time, I did not care, but I saw her put her hands over her stomach.
That's what changed my mind. One of the few things I find unacceptable is anything truly bad being done to children; just below that is rape. So when I saw her protect her stomach, I wanted to help her.
And just as I did all my life, I did what I wanted, as I wanted, when I wanted. I was able to get the gun from his hands, but sadly not before he was able to shoot me in the aorta.
One of the five worst places to be shot, since it was the human body's main and largest artery. I only had seconds to live, but I was able to see the man run away as some of my friends chased him down.
It was painful, and I hated it. While I thought all that about Death, one of the many iterations of the Joker was right about one thing: people's true colors come out on the brink of Death.
And that's how I died, surrounded by only a few friends, people I didn't really know, and some girl I couldn't care less about. That sounds like a shit death, and a newfound reason to hate Death.
While I agree the way I died was shitty and stupid, I don't regret it. I did what I did, as I wanted, how I wanted. And so I was met with the sweet yet cold embrace of Death.
Yeah, I wish I could have lived longer, but I just was not that lucky. But just as Death is inevitable, and people go out of their way to avoid it, I did as I did; I lived my life to the fullest I could, and this is what I chose, and this is how I died.
I do hope that there is an entity like Death, or Didi from The Endless; I really like her depiction of Death. She is with everyone from the moment they are born and is there when they die. But what stood out to me about her was her kindness and, admittedly, how hot she was.
As the cold settled in and I felt everything go still, I wondered, or hoped, if someone like her would be waiting on the other side.
Then, right when I was ready to disappear completely, or whatever happens when you die, something laughed softly in the dark.
Death, such an abstract concept in both real life and fiction, is meant to be a near-absolute thing. Yet in both fiction and reality, Death can be overcome and held off.
In reality, you can be dead for up to four minutes, and sometimes even longer, and as long as you get CPR, you can be brought back from the embrace of Death.
In fiction, many a character has been brought back from the embrace of Death; characters like Natsuki Subaru, Jon Snow, Goku, Jason Todd, and Superman have all faced Death, embraced Death, and returned from Death.
Almost everyone I have met in my admittedly short life has feared and seen Death as something bad. They think that the act of dying and the unknown that Death brings is the worst.
I had thought that Death is peaceful; it is a natural part of life. All things must come to an end. The process of Death may be bad depending on how you die, but at the end of days, you are at peace.
I do not, had not, and would never believe in gods, the afterlife, or any higher divinity. The ideas can be beautiful, and sometimes I might even wish for someone to find peace in a heaven or some promised place.
But for me, personally, those realms don't exist. What exists is this life, this moment, and the inevitable ending.
I've always loved the way Death appears in fiction, not as a simple obstacle to be conquered, but as a presence. In DC, Marvel, or Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Death is not good or bad. Death is an absolute force.
It does not bargain, it does not hate, it does not forgive. It just is. That neutrality, that knowledge that all things must end, is what fascinates me. There is a strange comfort in something that does not pretend to be anything other than what it is.
Life, I think, is the same. People say, "Live your life," as if life and living were separate things. You can be alive without truly living, moving through days without meaning or connection.
In the same way, you can be dead while still breathing: numb, resigned, already surrendered.
To me, Death is a mirror held up to life. Knowing it is there, waiting, forces a question: if this is all we have, what do we do with it? Without gods or the knowledge of their afterlives to lean on, the responsibility for meaning falls on us alone.
That thought can be terrifying, but it can also be freeing. Death is, just as life simply is. What matters is what we choose to do in the space between the two.
I think I lived my life as I wanted. I had a good, loving family; they must miss me. I also had a good group of friends; while there weren't many, they were loyal and good friends.
When I look back, it wasn't a bad life. I played sports like swimming, watched TV, movies, and anime. I also read manga, webnovels, light novels, manhua, and their Chinese counterparts.
I feel bad for leaving everyone as I did, but I had no control over it. I had fun, and I hope the people around me had fun with me. I thought that as I closed my eyes, as the endless black engulfed me.
I died.
And it was for a stupid reason too. I remember walking with some friends and some people from school when a woman? A girl? A senior from our school, who was with her older boyfriend, passed by. The whole school knew about it and how bad it was.
Most of us wanted to keep walking, me included, but someone from the group of students I did not know wanted to jump into others' business, and I felt bad for the girl who got caught up in it.
She was like 17 or 18; she was not a child, and she wasn't stupid either. She had some really good grades. I only knew that because my older brother was also a senior.
That reminded me of my family; we were tight-knit. It was my mother, father, older brother and sister, my younger siblings, and me.
While I was somewhat of a shut-in, when my family wanted me to do things with them, I did, like bowling, even though I didn't like it that much.
But the kid saw how the man was treating her, and so he wanted to stop it like some hero. I wouldn't call myself a bad person, but just as I don't fear Death, I very much liked living.
So I tried to mind my business, and unless it crossed one of my personal lines, I usually wouldn't bother. But it seemed we were not the same, so when he went over, we hung back; we didn't want to leave him alone, nor did we want to join him.
So we watched. We watched as he went up to the man and the senior, trying to tell her she could leave, but she didn't want to. Her boyfriend got annoyed and pushed him to the ground.
While I don't understand why he did what he did, I did not want to see one of my classmates be attacked by someone much older. So I stepped in and pulled him back. I was a swimmer and nominally on the soccer team, so I was reasonably strong for sixteen.
But he wanted to fight the man, and I just kept trying to break it up while my friends joined in to help me. For some reason, the man felt threatened, so he pulled out a gun. I let go of that fool and backed up,
trying to de-escalate, but he was crazy. His girlfriend, the senior, also tried to stop him, but he pointed the gun at her. At the time, I did not care, but I saw her put her hands over her stomach.
That's what changed my mind. One of the few things I find unacceptable is anything truly bad being done to children; just below that is rape. So when I saw her protect her stomach, I wanted to help her.
And just as I did all my life, I did what I wanted, as I wanted, when I wanted. I was able to get the gun from his hands, but sadly not before he was able to shoot me in the aorta.
One of the five worst places to be shot, since it was the human body's main and largest artery. I only had seconds to live, but I was able to see the man run away as some of my friends chased him down.
It was painful, and I hated it. While I thought all that about Death, one of the many iterations of the Joker was right about one thing: people's true colors come out on the brink of Death.
And that's how I died, surrounded by only a few friends, people I didn't really know, and some girl I couldn't care less about. That sounds like a shit death, and a newfound reason to hate Death.
While I agree the way I died was shitty and stupid, I don't regret it. I did what I did, as I wanted, how I wanted. And so I was met with the sweet yet cold embrace of Death.
Yeah, I wish I could have lived longer, but I just was not that lucky. But just as Death is inevitable, and people go out of their way to avoid it, I did as I did; I lived my life to the fullest I could, and this is what I chose, and this is how I died.
I do hope that there is an entity like Death, or Didi from The Endless; I really like her depiction of Death. She is with everyone from the moment they are born and is there when they die. But what stood out to me about her was her kindness and, admittedly, how hot she was.
As the cold settled in and I felt everything go still, I wondered, or hoped, if someone like her would be waiting on the other side.
Then, right when I was ready to disappear completely, or whatever happens when you die, something laughed softly in the dark.
Death, such an abstract concept in both real life and fiction, is meant to be a near-absolute thing. Yet in both fiction and reality, Death can be overcome and held off.
In reality, you can be dead for up to four minutes, and sometimes even longer, and as long as you get CPR, you can be brought back from the embrace of Death.
In fiction, many a character has been brought back from the embrace of Death; characters like Natsuki Subaru, Jon Snow, Goku, Jason Todd, and Superman have all faced Death, embraced Death, and returned from Death.
Almost everyone I have met in my admittedly short life has feared and seen Death as something bad. They think that the act of dying and the unknown that Death brings is the worst.
I had thought that Death is peaceful; it is a natural part of life. All things must come to an end. The process of Death may be bad depending on how you die, but at the end of days, you are at peace.
I do not, had not, and would never believe in gods, the afterlife, or any higher divinity. The ideas can be beautiful, and sometimes I might even wish for someone to find peace in a heaven or some promised place.
But for me, personally, those realms don't exist. What exists is this life, this moment, and the inevitable ending.
I've always loved the way Death appears in fiction, not as a simple obstacle to be conquered, but as a presence. In DC, Marvel, or Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Death is not good or bad. Death is an absolute force.
It does not bargain, it does not hate, it does not forgive. It just is. That neutrality, that knowledge that all things must end, is what fascinates me. There is a strange comfort in something that does not pretend to be anything other than what it is.
Life, I think, is the same. People say, "Live your life," as if life and living were separate things. You can be alive without truly living, moving through days without meaning or connection.
In the same way, you can be dead while still breathing: numb, resigned, already surrendered.
To me, Death is a mirror held up to life. Knowing it is there, waiting, forces a question: if this is all we have, what do we do with it? Without gods or the knowledge of their afterlives to lean on, the responsibility for meaning falls on us alone.
That thought can be terrifying, but it can also be freeing. Death is, just as life simply is. What matters is what we choose to do in the space between the two.
I think I lived my life as I wanted. I had a good, loving family; they must miss me. I also had a good group of friends; while there weren't many, they were loyal and good friends.
When I look back, it wasn't a bad life. I played sports like swimming, watched TV, movies, and anime. I also read manga, webnovels, light novels, manhua, and their Chinese counterparts.
I feel bad for leaving everyone as I did, but I had no control over it. I had fun, and I hope the people around me had fun with me. I thought that as I closed my eyes, as the endless black engulfed me.
I died.
And it was for a stupid reason too. I remember walking with some friends and some people from school when a woman? A girl? A senior from our school, who was with her older boyfriend, passed by. The whole school knew about it and how bad it was.
Most of us wanted to keep walking, me included, but someone from the group of students I did not know wanted to jump into others' business, and I felt bad for the girl who got caught up in it.
She was like 17 or 18; she was not a child, and she wasn't stupid either. She had some really good grades. I only knew that because my older brother was also a senior.
That reminded me of my family; we were tight-knit. It was my mother, father, older brother and sister, my younger siblings, and me.
While I was somewhat of a shut-in, when my family wanted me to do things with them, I did, like bowling, even though I didn't like it that much.
But the kid saw how the man was treating her, and so he wanted to stop it like some hero. I wouldn't call myself a bad person, but just as I don't fear Death, I very much liked living.
So I tried to mind my business, and unless it crossed one of my personal lines, I usually wouldn't bother. But it seemed we were not the same, so when he went over, we hung back; we didn't want to leave him alone, nor did we want to join him.
So we watched. We watched as he went up to the man and the senior, trying to tell her she could leave, but she didn't want to. Her boyfriend got annoyed and pushed him to the ground.
While I don't understand why he did what he did, I did not want to see one of my classmates be attacked by someone much older. So I stepped in and pulled him back. I was a swimmer and nominally on the soccer team, so I was reasonably strong for sixteen.
But he wanted to fight the man, and I just kept trying to break it up while my friends joined in to help me. For some reason, the man felt threatened, so he pulled out a gun. I let go of that fool and backed up,
trying to de-escalate, but he was crazy. His girlfriend, the senior, also tried to stop him, but he pointed the gun at her. At the time, I did not care, but I saw her put her hands over her stomach.
That's what changed my mind. One of the few things I find unacceptable is anything truly bad being done to children; just below that is rape. So when I saw her protect her stomach, I wanted to help her.
And just as I did all my life, I did what I wanted, as I wanted, when I wanted. I was able to get the gun from his hands, but sadly not before he was able to shoot me in the aorta.
One of the five worst places to be shot, since it was the human body's main and largest artery. I only had seconds to live, but I was able to see the man run away as some of my friends chased him down.
It was painful, and I hated it. While I thought all that about Death, one of the many iterations of the Joker was right about one thing: people's true colors come out on the brink of Death.
And that's how I died, surrounded by only a few friends, people I didn't really know, and some girl I couldn't care less about. That sounds like a shit death, and a newfound reason to hate Death.
While I agree the way I died was shitty and stupid, I don't regret it. I did what I did, as I wanted, how I wanted. And so I was met with the sweet yet cold embrace of Death.
Yeah, I wish I could have lived longer, but I just was not that lucky. But just as Death is inevitable, and people go out of their way to avoid it, I did as I did; I lived my life to the fullest I could, and this is what I chose, and this is how I died.
I do hope that there is an entity like Death, or Didi from The Endless; I really like her depiction of Death. She is with everyone from the moment they are born and is there when they die. But what stood out to me about her was her kindness and, admittedly, how hot she was.
As the cold settled in and I felt everything go still, I wondered, or hoped, if someone like her would be waiting on the other side.
Then, right when I was ready to disappear completely, or whatever happens when you die, something laughed softly in the dark.
Death, such an abstract concept in both real life and fiction, is meant to be a near-absolute thing. Yet in both fiction and reality, Death can be overcome and held off.
In reality, you can be dead for up to four minutes, and sometimes even longer, and as long as you get CPR, you can be brought back from the embrace of Death.
In fiction, many a character has been brought back from the embrace of Death; characters like Natsuki Subaru, Jon Snow, Goku, Jason Todd, and Superman have all faced Death, embraced Death, and returned from Death.
Almost everyone I have met in my admittedly short life has feared and seen Death as something bad. They think that the act of dying and the unknown that Death brings is the worst.
I had thought that Death is peaceful; it is a natural part of life. All things must come to an end. The process of Death may be bad depending on how you die, but at the end of days, you are at peace.
I do not, had not, and would never believe in gods, the afterlife, or any higher divinity. The ideas can be beautiful, and sometimes I might even wish for someone to find peace in a heaven or some promised place.
But for me, personally, those realms don't exist. What exists is this life, this moment, and the inevitable ending.
I've always loved the way Death appears in fiction, not as a simple obstacle to be conquered, but as a presence. In DC, Marvel, or Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Death is not good or bad. Death is an absolute force.
It does not bargain, it does not hate, it does not forgive. It just is. That neutrality, that knowledge that all things must end, is what fascinates me. There is a strange comfort in something that does not pretend to be anything other than what it is.
Life, I think, is the same. People say, "Live your life," as if life and living were separate things. You can be alive without truly living, moving through days without meaning or connection.
In the same way, you can be dead while still breathing: numb, resigned, already surrendered.
To me, Death is a mirror held up to life. Knowing it is there, waiting, forces a question: if this is all we have, what do we do with it? Without gods or the knowledge of their afterlives to lean on, the responsibility for meaning falls on us alone.
That thought can be terrifying, but it can also be freeing. Death is, just as life simply is. What matters is what we choose to do in the space between the two.
I think I lived my life as I wanted. I had a good, loving family; they must miss me. I also had a good group of friends; while there weren't many, they were loyal and good friends.
When I look back, it wasn't a bad life. I played sports like swimming, watched TV, movies, and anime. I also read manga, webnovels, light novels, manhua, and their Chinese counterparts.
I feel bad for leaving everyone as I did, but I had no control over it. I had fun, and I hope the people around me had fun with me. I thought that as I closed my eyes, as the endless black engulfed me.
I died.
And it was for a stupid reason too. I remember walking with some friends and some people from school when a woman? A girl? A senior from our school, who was with her older boyfriend, passed by. The whole school knew about it and how bad it was.
Most of us wanted to keep walking, me included, but someone from the group of students I did not know wanted to jump into others' business, and I felt bad for the girl who got caught up in it.
She was like 17 or 18; she was not a child, and she wasn't stupid either. She had some really good grades. I only knew that because my older brother was also a senior.
That reminded me of my family; we were tight-knit. It was my mother, father, older brother and sister, my younger siblings, and me.
While I was somewhat of a shut-in, when my family wanted me to do things with them, I did, like bowling, even though I didn't like it that much.
But the kid saw how the man was treating her, and so he wanted to stop it like some hero. I wouldn't call myself a bad person, but just as I don't fear Death, I very much liked living.
So I tried to mind my business, and unless it crossed one of my personal lines, I usually wouldn't bother. But it seemed we were not the same, so when he went over, we hung back; we didn't want to leave him alone, nor did we want to join him.
So we watched. We watched as he went up to the man and the senior, trying to tell her she could leave, but she didn't want to. Her boyfriend got annoyed and pushed him to the ground.
While I don't understand why he did what he did, I did not want to see one of my classmates be attacked by someone much older. So I stepped in and pulled him back. I was a swimmer and nominally on the soccer team, so I was reasonably strong for sixteen.
But he wanted to fight the man, and I just kept trying to break it up while my friends joined in to help me. For some reason, the man felt threatened, so he pulled out a gun. I let go of that fool and backed up,
trying to de-escalate, but he was crazy. His girlfriend, the senior, also tried to stop him, but he pointed the gun at her. At the time, I did not care, but I saw her put her hands over her stomach.
That's what changed my mind. One of the few things I find unacceptable is anything truly bad being done to children; just below that is rape. So when I saw her protect her stomach, I wanted to help her.
And just as I did all my life, I did what I wanted, as I wanted, when I wanted. I was able to get the gun from his hands, but sadly not before he was able to shoot me in the aorta.
One of the five worst places to be shot, since it was the human body's main and largest artery. I only had seconds to live, but I was able to see the man run away as some of my friends chased him down.
It was painful, and I hated it. While I thought all that about Death, one of the many iterations of the Joker was right about one thing: people's true colors come out on the brink of Death.
And that's how I died, surrounded by only a few friends, people I didn't really know, and some girl I couldn't care less about. That sounds like a shit death, and a newfound reason to hate Death.
While I agree the way I died was shitty and stupid, I don't regret it. I did what I did, as I wanted, how I wanted. And so I was met with the sweet yet cold embrace of Death.
Yeah, I wish I could have lived longer, but I just was not that lucky. But just as Death is inevitable, and people go out of their way to avoid it, I did as I did; I lived my life to the fullest I could, and this is what I chose, and this is how I died.
I do hope that there is an entity like Death, or Didi from The Endless; I really like her depiction of Death. She is with everyone from the moment they are born and is there when they die. But what stood out to me about her was her kindness and, admittedly, how hot she was.
As the cold settled in and I felt everything go still, I wondered, or hoped, if someone like her would be waiting on the other side.
Then, right when I was ready to disappear completely, or whatever happens when you die, something laughed softly in the dark.
Death, such an abstract concept in both real life and fiction, is meant to be a near-absolute thing. Yet in both fiction and reality, Death can be overcome and held off.
In reality, you can be dead for up to four minutes, and sometimes even longer, and as long as you get CPR, you can be brought back from the embrace of Death.
In fiction, many a character has been brought back from the embrace of Death; characters like Natsuki Subaru, Jon Snow, Goku, Jason Todd, and Superman have all faced Death, embraced Death, and returned from Death.
Almost everyone I have met in my admittedly short life has feared and seen Death as something bad. They think that the act of dying and the unknown that Death brings is the worst.
I had thought that Death is peaceful; it is a natural part of life. All things must come to an end. The process of Death may be bad depending on how you die, but at the end of days, you are at peace.
I do not, had not, and would never believe in gods, the afterlife, or any higher divinity. The ideas can be beautiful, and sometimes I might even wish for someone to find peace in a heaven or some promised place.
But for me, personally, those realms don't exist. What exists is this life, this moment, and the inevitable ending.
I've always loved the way Death appears in fiction, not as a simple obstacle to be conquered, but as a presence. In DC, Marvel, or Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Death is not good or bad. Death is an absolute force.
It does not bargain, it does not hate, it does not forgive. It just is. That neutrality, that knowledge that all things must end, is what fascinates me. There is a strange comfort in something that does not pretend to be anything other than what it is.
Life, I think, is the same. People say, "Live your life," as if life and living were separate things. You can be alive without truly living, moving through days without meaning or connection.
In the same way, you can be dead while still breathing: numb, resigned, already surrendered.
To me, Death is a mirror held up to life. Knowing it is there, waiting, forces a question: if this is all we have, what do we do with it? Without gods or the knowledge of their afterlives to lean on, the responsibility for meaning falls on us alone.
That thought can be terrifying, but it can also be freeing. Death is, just as life simply is. What matters is what we choose to do in the space between the two.
I think I lived my life as I wanted. I had a good, loving family; they must miss me. I also had a good group of friends; while there weren't many, they were loyal and good friends.
When I look back, it wasn't a bad life. I played sports like swimming, watched TV, movies, and anime. I also read manga, webnovels, light novels, manhua, and their Chinese counterparts.
I feel bad for leaving everyone as I did, but I had no control over it. I had fun, and I hope the people around me had fun with me. I thought that as I closed my eyes, as the endless black engulfed me.