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Personal Narrative On Death

Decent Essays

The holograms should’ve warned us to take a deep breath. Close our eyes. Then again, the holograms should’ve done a lot of things. Like told the truth.
Travelling through a vertex is like being dragged underwater through blinding ice. The mask of the universe suffocates me, ignoring that I’m a human being who needs oxygen and heat to survive.
I have one thought as I’m pulled through a blanket of frozen light:
This. Is. Death.
My body fights with my mind as my muscles and lungs scream, Go back. Please, please go back.
But I can’t go back. I made my choice.
I chose friends.
I chose truth.
I chose death.
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Before my chest explodes, before my anxiety has time to kick into overdrive, I am pushed through the vertex onto my hands and knees. Blinded …show more content…

Despite the utter disorientation, my mind dizzy with the lack of oxygen, I scan the surroundings for any sign of attack as the purple-pink glow around me fades in intensity.
I am in a huge, windowless space that resembles a concrete warehouse the size of Dad’s grocery store before the looters on Earth burnt it down. Before my world fell apart. Up ahead, hordes of people from Earth who made it through before the comet disintegrated, wait in lines for their turn to enter through unmarked passageways. Holograms identical to the ones that betrayed us stand guard. It reminds me of a massive airport security checkpoint. Destination unknown.
I glance behind me at the empty white space. The metallic blue vertex I traveled through from Massachusetts disappears in the fading magenta light. I have no passage back to my world. To my parents.
I gulp air, slowly grasping what I have done, what I have lost. The room spins as my body begins to sweat. No, no, don’t think about it now. Don't fall apart. You can't fall apart. Stay pissed off. Think about the others. They need to know the truth. They need to know it was a colossal …show more content…

“Welcome to 2359, River Picard. Please wait in line to join our world.” It bows and adds, “May your contribution lead to freedom."
More politeness. A cover for world domination.
As I join the last of the people in line, I watch families and friends hug, relief and gratitude spilling from their naive, worried faces. All oblivious, scared, grateful victims. I bite my tongue to keep from screaming, Run! Fight! It’s all a cosmic scam! Looking at the holographic guards, I know it's not the time. I need to pretend that I don’t know the comet was a fake until I uncover why humans from the future sent holograms to trap us here. I need to understand their motive to know my next move. I need to wait. I need to find my friends first.
Waiting is the absolute worst.
Standing last in a crowd of loud lines, I examine myself to see if my clothes are ruined, my skin shrunken or decayed, my hair burnt off. Same fleece lined hooded coat, short black boots, jeans. My curly, long hair not singed away. The silver heart ring from Dominick and the charm bracelet from Rita, reminders of my 18th birthday only months ago. My fingernails painted with the color Meet Me on the Star Ferry, chipped by me peeling them as usual. When I chose that color, I imagined reuniting with Dominick on another planet, that it would be romantic even if the Earth had been destroyed in an apocalypse. How sick is

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