Tranquility
Jack felt lightheaded.
His body wriggled and flopped as his neck began to burn, the pressure around his throat making it harder to stay awake. He felt his eyes give up and then...silence.
He thought about these last moments. “I will be dead soon. The brain can only operate for so long before it completely shuts down”. He pictured Sophia and almost felt guilty for thinking about her first. “Not mom. Not my brother or my friends. Why not them? Why her…”. His mind grew hazy. “Oh well, I guess it doesn’t really matter...”
He opened his eyes and saw...his room. In the middle, hung by a noose, was his body. He looked around, an odd darkness spread across the room like a tint in an image filter. He thought back a bit.
"Wait, I opened my eyes?”
You sure did.
Jack looked beside him to see...himself.
Obviously, we have questions.
“We?”
It smirked: you, I, we, what’s the difference?
“I don’t understand”, Jack uttered.
You know I can hear you, right? Your thoughts.
“Then why are we talking?”
Its face twisted for a moment, seemingly pensive. Honestly, you’ve never asked that before. You’re always more surprised I can hear your thoughts. Jack’s face was the one to twist this time. “This is kind of confusing…” They both laughed: him nervously, It…not so much maybe.
So, you finally did it. It walked toward the noose, outlining the rope around Jack’s neck with its finger. Analyzing it, maybe. “I didn’t really see a reason why not.”
Really now? It stopped feeling the twine and looked Jack in the eyes. Because last I checked, you were deathly afraid of...It chuckled, well, death. Jack looked at himself, lifeless and swaying back and forth: almost peacefully, maybe. “Fear never was a good reason to keep me from what I wanted.” It looked at him. What you wanted? This is what you wanted? Jack turned to look at it, “obviousl—”
Jack was no longer in his room. The tint was gone, a foggier shade now covered his field of vision. In front of him was a parade of black-clad figures, a light drizzle permeated the black with translucent beads. He looked beyond the standing congregation to a preacher raised over a casket. His casket.
“I’m pretty sure I said I didn’t want this.” It laughed. You sure did. But your parents didn’t listen. They were afraid. Jack turned to himself. “Afraid? Afraid of what?” Jack began walking toward his coffin, It following in his steps. Afraid of you being shunned by God. They reached the preacher, his hand held high as he waved it, his eyes closed as he spoke. “They knew I was an atheist.”
Jack blinked, the preacher now sat beside the podium, the visage of a girl stood in his place. Sure, and imagine how you would feel if your child died believing in something that would ultimately condemn him by a higher power?
Her hair was a lighter color than usual, the black wrapped around her body evoked familiar feelings for Jack: love, lust, loss. Her eyes were red and seemingly struggled to stay open; the bags under her eyes were damp with lines cutting down toward her chin—the path her tears took; her voice ached and cracked as she spoke but Jack couldn’t hear her.
“Sophia...” He could feel his voice quiver as he said her name, her pain so evident. You know, the worst part is you thought she wouldn’t care. Her face came crashing down on the podium, her arms shaking and her legs bent at the knees, unable to support her. Not that you did it, but that you did it to prove a point.
Jack’s family came to help her up and carry her away, her face buried in their embrace. A point you would’ve never been able to prove anyways. She’s devastated. You were her rock. No matter what happened in this world, or to her, or to you, she could always depend on you to hold her hand and guide her through it.
Jack blinked again, his mother at the podium now. The same tears, aches, and pains spread across her body. Her emotions visible to his eyes. Then it was his father, brother, friends, teachers, coworkers...Every blink a different person until there was no one left. Jack stood there beside It, looking down at his grave. He read his tombstone, an odd chill coursed through his body.
ALWAYS REACHED FOR THE STARS
NEVER SETTLED FOR LESS.
