[ WP ] You have just been told that you are the last human being who will ever have to die .

`` You want a cigarette?'' 
 
 `` No, no. Smoking's bad for you, do n't you know?'' I smiled at my wit. It was a dark smile, and I knew it. I knew it because I was going to die, anyway, and that was a god-damned dark place consider no one was following me. 
 
 `` Suit yourself.'' Charles lit up, and I could smell the tobacco smoke waft into my nose, and fill me with memories of an uncle who'd passed many years ago. `` What's it feel like?'' 
 
 `` What's what feel like?'' 
 
 `` Dying.'' Charles said, exhaling a cloud. 
 
 I snorted. `` We're all dying... or at least we were all dying.'' 
 
 `` Born too early to live forever.... Hell I do n't know how to finish that one.'' 
 
 `` Born too late to have everyone die with me.'' I smiled again. `` I guess I could make that happen if I tried.'' 
 
 Charles shot me a look, but I just smiled. Who the hell was he to disapprove of what I said when I was on the precipice and he was still comfortably on the ledge. No, I figured I could say whatever I wanted, I figured I earned that right, being the sacrificial lamb of humanity. 
 
 `` I'll be like Jesus,'' I said. 
 
 Charles made a sound like a rim-shot. `` Not even dead yet and you've got a pretty high opinion of yourself.'' 
 
 I glanced at Charles, and he was smiling. 
 
 `` Well, I figure, I'm dying so that everyone else can live immortal lives. Do n't you figure that makes me kind of like Jesus?'' 
 
 Charles kept smoking, and when he'd finished his cigarette, he started another one. Damn fool thought immortality meant he'd escape the ravages of emphazema. He'd just live the rest of forever struggling to breathe and hooked up to a tank. Maybe with one of those little holes at his through. Would n't that be an irony, living forever, but living like that. 
 
 `` You do me a favor when I'm gone?'' I asked. 
 
 `` Sure.'' 
 
 `` You start a religion, with me as the son of God, sacrificed to let the whole world live. I bet you plenty of people would buy it.'' 
 
 `` Maybe they would. Why would I do that, though, sounds like a lot of work?'' 
 
 `` Call it my parting gift to you. People pay lots of money for something to believe in. And...,'' I leaned over and lowered my voice. `` You have all of eternity to do it, my friend.'' 
 
 Charles shrugged. `` I guess I would. If I remember you that long.'' 
 
 He was smiling again, I could feel it. Charles was getting used to the idea of me being gone, too. Seemed like he was starting to get his legs under him. Not compared to when I told him. 
 
 Back then, he cried. Do n't think I'd ever seen him cry that way before, not even when his mother died. 
 
 `` Hey now, is n't that the point? You start that religion now, you wo n't even have to work to remember me. Everyone else will do it for you. Is n't that a fine way to be remembered?'' 
 
 `` I suppose.'' 
 
 We sat in silence, like that. It had been happening a lot, more recently. Just the two of us, sitting in silence. We tried to live it up, make the most of our time together. But sometimes, it just felt right to sit down and talk or just sit an say nothing at all. And I was okay with that. I figured I could die happy that way, just sitting and talking, and slipping away in one of those long, thoughtful pauses. 
 
 That's how I wanted to go -- quietly, peacefully. 
 
 Charles kept smoking. I kept remembering my uncle, who I supposed was going to pick me up once I'd passed on into the other side the way he kept making calls to my mind. 
 
 `` I'd call it Jane-ism.'' Charles said. He forced a chuckle out. 
 
 `` What?'' 
 
 `` Your religion, the one I'm going to set up for you. I'm going to call it Jane-ism.'' 
 
 I scoffed. `` Took you that long to make that name up?'' 
 
 `` No, no. It's a good name, I swear. Look. You're name is Jane, and that's the obvious part. But there's also another religion called Jainism.'' 
 
 `` No shit?'' 
 
 Charles nodded, in that way where the only thing a person spoke after was truth. And it made you believe them, even if you did n't really want to believe them anyway. 
 
 `` Some kind of religion where you're not allowed to harm others. Animals too! They're vegetarian. And I figured that be a good name for a religion where you're the savior and no one should harm each other.'' 
 
 `` That does sound kind of nice,'' I said. A religion where people actively avoided harming others. I wondered what that would look like. But maybe I was too cynical because I could n't see it. 
 
 `` Sure sounds nice,'' I said. 
 
 We lapsed into that familiar silence, again. And I no longer felt like talking, or sitting, so I pulled the cigarette out of Charles mouth, and before he could protest, I kissed him. And I did n't mind the taste of ash and burn. Maybe, it even made him seem more manly, more attractive. So I kept kissing him and I pulled him into the bedroom. 
 
 And after that, feeling his warm body against mine, just laying there in silence. I looked up at Charles, and I smiled and I felt happy. The world seemed normal again. Everyone seemed normal again, like they were all there, marching their way to an inexorable end, and they took comfort in each other in that way only a human could. And maybe tomorrow would, in fact, be a normal day, and I could forget everything and just lead the life I'd been given without worries to the hand that everyone else had been dealt. 
 
 After a while, Charles lit up again. I plucked the cigarette from his lips again, but this time I just put it between mine and sucked down the smoke. 
 
 `` Smoking's bad for you, do n't you know? It'll kill you.'' Charles said. 
 
 I could feel his smile. `` I know.'' 
 
 I smiled and took another drag. The smoke looked blue in the pre-dawn light. Rising up to the ceiling, and dissipating, just smoke in the wind. 
 
 `` I know.'' 
 
 ___ 
 
 *Thanks for reading! You can find more of my work at /r/chrisbryant. * 
 
 

