[ WP ] The sound of sirens is heard as you watch an ambulance make it 's way down your road . You look to see where it stops as you realise it finishes it 's journey outside your door . A hooded figure in black makes his way to the door . You clutch at your chest as you feel your heart struggle ...

`` What? An ambulance?'' 
 
 `` WHERE AM I?'' 
 
 16th Main st. was where it happened. 
 
 I'm 23... was 23, I suppose. I moved here after Mom and Dad died, just a year ago. It was a car accident... right? Or was it...? No, it was, I think. 
 
 Everything felt strange and fuzzy, almost ethereal. My thoughts felt chaotic and disorganized. When it happened, my life flashed before my eyes, and the aftermath was still wreaking havoc on my psyche. I was... adjusting? Yes, that's the what was happening. 
 
 I... live here. Yes. Now I remembered. I did n't have a job. I never finished school either. After they died, I had to live on my own. 
 
 Oh, I almost forgot. I was what society called a bum. A loser. 
 
 My body felt light as a feather, but oddly free. I was unbounded by physicality. 
 
 `` Am I dreaming?'' 
 
 `` Unfortunately, not this time,'' the hooded answered as it melded and slipped like a wisp through my door. 
 
 I'm dead. The realization hit me. 
 
 `` Hmm,'' I muttered. 
 
 `` Well?'' The hooded figure replied. He was Death, or so I presumed. 
 
 `` I thought I would be more, you know, panicked. Scared.'' 
 
 `` And just how do you feel?'' 
 
 `` Tranquil. Free.'' 
 
 `` It's time to go.'' Death raised his long, arcing scythe high above his silhouetted head. It was notched and clearly sharp. On the blade and handle were ornate, yet hellish designs. Skulls, bones, blood. Horrible screaming visages of mauled carcasses. 
 
 `` WAIT!'' I shouted. The scythe stopped mere millimeters from my throat. Another half a second and my ghost of a head would have been rolling across the floor. 
 
 `` W-where exactly are we going? I have so many questions.'' 
 
 `` Your place is n't to know,'' replied Death as he again raised the scythe. 
 
 `` What happened to me? Ca n't you at least tell me that?'' 
 
 `` Look around if you wish,'' said Death with almost a chuckle. `` Ignorance is bliss, I'll warn.'' 
 
 My mind was starting to clear now, and I started to put the pieces back together. I froze as I looked to the bed. My body sat motionless like a statue, a needle in its arm. 
 
 I was a drug addict. All that on top of being a lazy bum, I was the worst part of society. I was depressed. With dead parents, no direction, no friends, no support, only one thing took the pain away... 
 
 But this... was one needle to much. 
 
 Friends... no. I did have one friend. Dave. He had everything together. Job. Girlfriend. You name it, you better bet your ass Dave had it and I did n't. I remembered. I was jealous of Dave, but I needed him. He was the only person who ever tried to offer me his support. We had plans. Rehab, getting my life together. 
 
 He suggested picking me up for dinner. I could n't decline, I only had enough money for drugs these days. I figured I'd shoot up before he got there. So that's how he found me... 
 
 Were I in my body, tears would have flooded down my face. 
 
 `` Are you satisfied?'' Death chided coldly. 
 
 `` No.'' I could think of no other reply. How could this be how it ends? I had my whole life ahead of me, at least I thought. 
 
 `` No! Please! It was just going to be one more time! I swear! Let me go back, I want another chance. I want-'' 
 
 `` You want?'' said death. `` It is because of what'you want' that you are here.'' 
 
 `` Please, not yet! The Paramedics! They might revive me! There's still a chance!'' 
 
 `` There is not. They will not revive you. I have seen the outcome. And that's why I am here. You see now why I wanted to make it quick?'' 
 
 ``... Where will I go?'' 
 
 `` It is not your place to know.'' 
 
 `` But is it true? Is there something beyond?'' 
 
 `` If there is, a wretch like you would be hardly deserving of it.'' 
 
 `` But what did I do?'' I pleaded. `` My actions... I was lazy, good-for-nothing! But I never hurt anyone! The only one I ever hurt was myself!'' 
 
 At this, Death began cackling maniacally, almost hysterically. 
 
 `` Boy, have you forgotten what you've done? About them? I had hoped to protect you from that, to give you peace in death, but since you struggle so viciously...'' 
 
 `` What the Hell are you talking about?!'' A memory, though cloudy as it was, began to unveil itself in my mind. And then I remembered. Everything, this time. 
 
 `` I see,'' I said solemnly. `` Take me away, then.'' 
 
 It was me. The car that hit them. I was driving. I was under the influence. I hit them dead on. I killed them both. I survived. I was in the hospital. I was in a coma. I gave up, and my heart gave out. 
 
 The needle in my arm and the respirator in my mouth were the only things that kept me alive for one year. And Dave was the only one that visited me. I had been driving his house for dinner when it happened. 
 
 Death raised His scythe, and in one fell swoop my being and every connection to this world were severed. 
 
 `` Mom. Dad. I'm sorry.'' 
 
 And that was the last thing I ever thought.
