Introduction

I have Death's sickle pressed against my throat. I can sense the end of my being. It isn't true what they say, about your life flashing before your eyes. Rather, a feeling rises in you, like a scream stuck in the back of your throat. You wish you could focus on one thought or image, but you are overwhelmed. A very complex sensation that encompasses everything you've ever lived glows like a coal spreading warm understanding throughout your body: enlightenment through acceptance. So much information released all at once, all you can do is bask in it and wait.

Bright lights, noises, and muffled voices. Max couldn't move. He had trouble keeping his eyes open. There was a dull ringing in his ears accompanied by persistent voices that sounded diluted, like they were speaking underwater. His blue irises struggled to focus. Max didn't understand. He felt warm all over, but he couldn't lift his head to see what was causing the sensation. A face came into view: a woman concentrating. Their eyes met. Concern replaced her concentration. She moved her mouth. Max could make out bits of what she said, something about hearing and blinking. Her hand moved into his vision; it was gloved. She dragged a white forefinger across his face, Max's eyes followed. Another face came into his constricted view, a man's. His mouth moved similar to the woman's earlier but with more intensity.

"IF YOU CAN HEAR ME BLINK TWICE!" The medic shouted just as the ambulance ran over a large pothole. The E.M.T.s jerked backward and Max's legs wobbled.

No. Max didn't want to blink at all. Blinking twice would confirm that this was real. It would mean that the head-on collision did occur. It meant his world would be forever changed for the worse. Blinking twice would kill his family.

Instead, Max cried. The salty tears stung the glass carved abrasions on his face then disappeared into his black hair. There was nothing he could do except weep knowing that his world had perished in a gruesome instant.

The white hands returned, holding a syringe and a plastic tube. The woman depressed the plunger injecting a clear liquid into the line and he drifted into sleepy darkness, temporarily free of the world and its truths.