Waking Up !: A Narrative Fiction

Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death by Irvin D. Yalcom is a raw and unfiltered look at one of the most difficult challenges everyone faces, death. He takes you through the real-life experiences of his patients, past and present, and shares his thoughts about death. The real-life examples have a way of grasping your attention and pulling you in. He assists his patients in recognizing the reality of death, but not fearing it. Yalcom suggests that people have varying degrees of death anxiety. For some, death is not even a thought, while for others it may consume their thoughts. He also suggests that our everyday anxieties may ultimately originate from our fear of death. He includes observations of approaches used by famous philosophers. While reading, you cannot help but to contemplate your own life and envision your death.

“There was a heavy thud. A couple of seconds later, I felt a wave come through the room. The thick concrete walls were bent like rubber. I thought war had broken out. We started to look for Khodemchuk (his coworker) but he had been by the pumps and had been vaporized. Steam wrapped around everything; it was dark and there was a horrible hissing noise. There was no ceiling, only sky; a sky full of stars." A stream of ionizing radiation was shooting star wards, like a laser beam. "I remember thinking how beautiful it was."

“I’ll smoke that last cigarette,” he said to his wife. “Stupid of me- it was the one thing I forgot to bring back from the farm.”

Even with all that iridescent magic up there, your eye will no longer linger on the light, it will no longer trace constellations. You’ll care only about the darkness and you’ll watch it for hours, for days, maybe even for years, trying in vain to believe you’re some kind of indispensable, universe-appointed sentinel, as if just by looking you could actually keep it all at bay. It will get so bad you’ll be afraid to look away, you’ll be afraid to

Pulling the zipper up, I push through the narrow opening to a scene of chaos.

When faced with the inevitable fate of death, the reaction of the population is very different because of their relation to life. Some men did not stop for death; they “hurried to and from” grinding their teeth in anger, which indicated their frustration in their inability to change the inevitable. Some “hid their eyes and wept” because of their unwillingness to accept the end while others rested “Their chins upon their clinched hands.” The latter watched their world fall apart bravely and smiled at their fate.

The next day, I was the lucky one to be elected by my mama to go and grab the pile of past-due notices that were surely piled up in the mailbox. As I started rummaging through them, I had noticed that there was one in particular that stood out because this one had consisted of a high-quality stationary. The envelope was clearly addressed to my mama, Janine Barrett Singer, and it had the words OPEN IMMEDIATELY TIME SENSITIVE printed on it diagonally in bold, black ink and in all capital letters. The return address said it was from the law offices of Schlitzmeyer and Brown located somewhere in Elmira, NY.

I am so emotionally invested in my clients, which allows my clients to actually IMPLEMENT and DO everything we create. I couldn’t do this if it was an automated, generic, run of the mill, done to death business mentoring program. If I give them that, that is exactly what they will create and THAT is not smart, savvy or a success generating lifestyle and business. Nor is it the change I want to see in the world. The past weeks of my AWAKE program we have been putting together what would seem to business basics, BUT that doesn’t it cut it in my eyes. We go so deep that my clients are amazed at the result, because they have never done anything like it (most of my clients have had several coaches, mentors and been around the block a couple of times)

My eyes stare into darkness. I have no control of my of my body. I just float. I’ll run out of oxygen soon. I accept my fate. This is how I will die.

Death looked and with its piercing eyes, it created an unquenchable void within my core. With every passing moment we proceed closer to death. Fear of death turned into a fire in my bosom that compelled me to start a journey for truth and meaning. And by facing death, by facing the void, I found life.

Brian heard the screaming from around the corner as he ran, from his sick classmates. He grabbed Mia’s hand as he ran, pulling her into the library where they barricaded the door, and hopped that whatever was outside would soon go away. As they sat Brian thought about his sister Alica, his best friend Tyler, and the rest of the theater club. Hoping that they were ok, but also knowing that they could become one of them at any moment. When Brian looked at Mia he could see the fear, and the tears building up her eyes. He held her hand tighter, and tried to give her a reassuring look, even though the possibilities of them ever getting out were slim to none.

We took a bag of food and water that can last us about a week,

I can’t control my stomach this time. The combination of image and smell are too much. I bend over and vomit. When my stomach has nothing left to give, I straighten up, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. The remaining acids burns my throats and tongue as I spit, trying to rid myself of the bitter taste. It’s probably best if I don’t look back at the rotting dog. I’d rather not vomit again.

Death is a topic that unites all of humanity. While it can be uncomfortable to think about, confronting death in unavoidable. “Dying” addresses that discomfort and universal unwillingness to consider the inevitability of death. Pinsky’s use of imagery, symbolism, and tone create a poetic experience that is like death, something every reader can relate to. In “Dying,” Pinsky describes how people are oblivious and almost uncaring when it comes to the thought of death. Pinsky is trying to convince the reader that they shouldn’t ignore the concept of death because life is shorter than it seems.

The sky is black. The moon is nowhere in sight. I’ve been seating in this car for hours. I can hear the sound of the wheels on the pavement, going over small rocks every few minutes. My phone does not have signal, so there’s pretty much nothing to do. I rest my head on the window, and am taken aback. In the night sky, a sea of stars light it up. They’re so big. So many. I’ve never seen so many in