Lying in total darkness and unaware of his current situation
he had to rely on sounds to find out what was going on.
The surface he rested on was hard and coarse, almost like rough sandpaper.
And his position was very uncomfortable; that much he could tell
"Is this blood?" he had an iron almost metallic taste in his mouth
With words fading in and out, he was only able to make out three words: accident, pulse, and defibrillators
accident pulse and defibrillators Alex was scared he tried to remember what had
happened how he ended up like this but he couldn't the world he knew was
going away and the thoughts of death slowly drowning him I'm too young to die
I'm only 19 and have my whole life ahead of me I never got to see the pyramids
climb the Eiffel Tower I promise to take Monica to see the Aurora lights above
the Iceland sky hang in there buddy said the paramedic don't give up it's
important that you talk to me tell me something about yourself can you do that
for me blink twice if you understood this hurry we're losing him as the
ambulance raised through the street no this isn't how I died I had to man help
I demand to be alive he screamed but no one could hear him for his thoughts had
no voice Alex was from Colorado Springs where he studied software engineering he
and his girlfriend Monica had been together for five years he plans on
marrying her one day as soon as he found a good-paying job and set everything up
he had always planned on traveling with her around the world but despite his
best efforts he couldn't say these things out loud
he couldn't even blink Alex's blood pressure started dropping as alex was
being unloaded from the ambulance teams of nurses and doctors rushed toward him
the doctors grabbed the pedals and began resuscitating light began flashing in
and out his chest sinking and rising his fingers feeling cold and now his entire
body feeling stiff is this really how I died
has it all been for now thing what I have been forgotten in two
years time what will they say at my funeral
they'll talk about the boy who got killed by a car
pathetic and why did this happen to me what was the angel that was supposed to
watch over me it doesn't matter anymore my heart must have stopped beating and I
feel my brain running out of oxygen I'm going to sleep
but Alex didn't die instead he fell into a state of deep coma his friends and
family kept visiting him they shared updates with him cared for
him cried and laughed with him but Alex was in another place between life and
death and in that state Alex would find himself sitting on a bench in the
playground there he saw a young boy and a girl sitting on a teeter-totter he
walked toward them and asked where he was but they didn't notice him at first
maybe they too are between life and death
he insisted they tell him what they were doing there but the children continued
playing wholly immersed in their game after a while the boy finally noticed
Alex turning his head and looking at Alex the boy presented himself as death
and the girl his sister as life both never stopped playing only putting their
feet down to push back up he explained that if they stopped playing all would
disappear the entire existence is the result of our game
yours too both life and death are needed for you to exist and yet people value
only life and despise death why is that why do you refuse to see us as one Alex
had no words to say he was still processing the idea of being in a coma
and talking to death and life he asked the boy if he was dead and the boy
replied there is no such thing as being dead I am death and yet you see me
playing with life I am life said the girl and yet you see me playing with
death we are inseparable we are black and white together creating all the
colours you see around we are silent and sound together creating voices and
music emerge for too long have humans plotted new ways to separate me from my
brother you portrayed him in the worst possible ways described him as an old
wraith with a scythe lurking around the corners Alex felt anger in his confusion
he felt like the teeter-totter life and death were playing on life claimed he
was being unfair to death and death was saying he was taking life for granted
what we are doing is the universe said life and you are a part of it you two
are playing it it is a place for both dead and living it starts sometimes
feels right sometimes wrong and then ends and if it
didn't end it wouldn't be worth playing and when this particular game ends
it doesn't mean another isn't starting but you people aren't living nor dying
you are merely surviving demanding to be alive you must go on you mustn't get
sick and you mustn't give up why because of your fear of dying
you are only surviving not living enjoying nothing afraid of everything
and in the moment of death you regrets not living you regret not
seeing pyramids because you thought there would be enough time but how much
time is enough time oh the future is the sweetest lie on
earth said life no one ever thinks that you and all the people you ever met will
eventually die until death did you genuinely consider it did you accept the
inevitability of death you didn't otherwise you would cherish
the present very dearly you would love your friends and family on the level you
couldn't understand did you truly love them
did you cherish the present you weren't for you would appreciate every moment
and every fiber of it you were breathing feeling seeing hearing scenting and
tasting you had the opportunities for living and you took it for granted
hooked on the drug of the future tell me when did time ever solve anything did it
work out for you what life and death had spoken to Alex had him burst into tears
regretting not living in life and dying in death as Alex stared at boy and girl
rising and falling he understood the game life and death the constant push
and pull are in no one's hands but the choice to fear death is the same as
fearing life boy and girl gave him a choice to either wake up and live or die
and leave everything behind he chose life they told Alex he wouldn't
remember having this conversation but he will bring with him the feeling of
tranquility from now on he will know that no matter what happens
death will remind him that everything is going to be alright in the end and if
the fear of dying sometimes overwhelms him he will accept it he will no longer
curse death but see it as a gift of nature a chance to let go of everything
he held dearly to experience pleasure and love to experience death he will see
the huge role it plays in his life the magnitude and the importance of it in
some weird way he will see that death is life
thus life snapped its fingers and Alex woke up with the help of his loved ones
he quickly regained strength Alex eventually graduated and together
with Monica saw the pyramids climbed the Eiffel Tower saw the Aurora lights in
Iceland and married each other at the age of 72
he held Monica's hand as she was dying in a hospital old and sick to honor the
promise they made to each other he traveled to England and brought her
ashes with him he was there witnessing the Stonehenge sunset he dropped a tear
as he scattered Monica's ashes and said goodbye when he came back home Alex
visited the nearby playground he enjoyed the bright and sunny day there he saw a
boy and a girl teeter-tottering playing as if there were no yesterday
today or tomorrow they were out of space-time and themselves
at that moment he felt unexplained tranquility at that moment he was
absolutely willing to die
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