[ WP ] On the day of their death , every human gets to have a vision of meeting the man they could have become .

I was n't afraid—I never was—until they put the rope around my neck. 
 
 I guess when a man is about to die, his spirit braces itself. Their mind slows down and all of your emotions sort of swirl, not quite knowin' what to do with themselves. So I stood there, sweating more than I would like to admit, as my spirit was clawing around trying to get out. 
 
 And then it did. 
 
 I saw it leave my body like a snake sheds it's skin. It whirled around in a cloud of luminescent blue until resting in front of me as a person. I looked around me to see if anyone else was seein' what I was seein', but they was all standing around frozen. 
 
 The fog had finally come to a rest, and it was me! it had my nose and everything, although less broken... 
 
 `` Dammit, Joel!'' I flinched as it suddenly came alive and yelled into my face. 
 
 `` Wha—but—'' I stammered, tryin' to make sense of the situation. 
 
 `` You had to go and get yourself lynched huh? Just had to kill the guy...'' 
 
 `` Are you... me?'' 
 
 `` Yes. Well, no. I'm the *you* you should've been.'' 
 
 `` I should've been?'' 
 
 `` Yes, should've been, but did n't become.'' 
 
 `` Well...'' I just stood there wide-eyed and silent. I guess that's how most men are at the gallows, but I suppose meetin' myself was n't quite what I had expected. 
 
 `` Well I guess I could've done things a bit differently...'' 
 
 `` Of course you could've. But that does n't matter now.'' 
 
 I looked down at the ground and thought about it. I guess my life sort of, well, flashed before my eyes. 
 
 Dropping out of school was probably my worst mistake. But my parents sure did n't help. When I got Mary pregnant, that was n't good. I got a job though. One that kept me busy too. But I lost it soon enough, never held a job for more'n a couple years after that. 
 
 I did n't mean to kill him. He was just in the way, and the boys told me to deal with him. I guess I just punched him too hard. Maybe it was meant to happen. Maybe it's better that I died. 
 
 `` Yeah, does n't matter anyways,'' I said. 
 
 `` Damn...'' My spirit was staring off into nowhere now. `` Coulda really been somethin'.'' 
 
 ``'scuse me?'' 
 
 `` A few more years and you would have found her. You were going to come around, ya know. We can sense things like that, spirits.'' 
 
 `` Wait... find who?'' 
 
 `` Who do you think? Your daughter. She's been lookin' for you. She'll find you now, a bit late though.'' 
 
 I was wide-eyed again. She was looking for me? No one was ever lookin' for me... 
 
 Suddenly I could hear the people moving around me again. My spirit just stood in front of me without a word. I heard them pull the lever and I my stomach lurched as I fell, but that was it. Did n't feel nothin'—like fallin' asleep, really. 
 
 All I could think of was my daughter, probably more beautiful than her mom even. Out there looking for me... is n't that somethin'? 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

