Time To Die

Chapter 1 - The River Bank

Along the river bank the sun began to set. Tall woodland trees secluding the small camping spot, placed perfectly in the clearing. A small tent for shelter and a roaring wood fire for the evening's heat, as Jet and Sarah sit supping cider from cans, laughing and relaying past history like they were teenagers again. The calm waters can be heard beneath the rustling of the trees, as dawn approaches Sarah breaks the laughter with a more serious line of conversation.

"So the big C has got me good Hun. You know I'm going to die right?" The question left open and unanswered. "I want you to help me! Die I mean." Jet looked perplexed and shocked at the statement. "Chemo hasn't worked, Radiotherapy didn't work, fuck even the herbal bullshit didn't work. You know I even tried a voodoo healer." She laughs as if there's no care in the world. "Jet, come on, you have to help me. I don't want to end up a vegetable, in pain and gasping for my last breath. Let's do something mental, go out with a bang, or at least something that will make me drift to sleep and not wake up. I don't want to go through all that pain and trauma, and I know you know how to do that stuff. You're like Miss Herbalist 101 down there." She laughs again looking longingly at Jet for an answer. "No one even knows we are here."

Sarah Christian had been suffering with thyroid cancer and battling for over a year now to survive. At thirty six she had suffered a long life of eating disorders, heart problems, medication overdoses, and endless lines of self harm and mutilation. Hospitals and specialists around the country all failing at easing the suffering, and after several failed attempts at therapy she had made the choice to end her own life. Jet remained quiet as she stared intently into the flames. Sarah not even realizing that Jet had already thought long and hard about euthanasia, and had already made up her mind on the matter.

"So will you help me?" Sarah said all big smiles and doe eyed. Jet pondered on the words and replied rather cryptically.

"Dude you know what I probably will" She laughs and retrieves two more cans from the hamper. "For now we drink and party, it's just us and the woods baby. Just us and the woods." They both begin to howl at the now slowly rising moon, laughing and drinking long into the night.

After the night of teenage antics both Sarah and Jet settle down for the night, sleeping bags tucked up tight and a small headlamp illuminating the tent. Sarah being exhausted was the first to fall asleep, Jet however could not get the thought of killing someone out of her head. Mumbling to herself "I have the perfect solution right here in front of me." Rattling around in her overnight bag, producing a hypodermic needle and a vial of clear liquid. It was pure fast acting insulin, one hundred millilitres exactly. Jet knowing full well that when her blood sugar was in the thirties and high off the meter scale, a mere sixteen units would bring her back to normal. Having been diabetic nearly all her life, she knew that the astronomical amount of insulin would cause diabetic coma and death.

"She's already asleep... It's what she wanted" Jet whispered to herself slowly filling the syringe full to the brim with insulin. "I considered this for myself too once you know, it has to be a peaceful way to go surely?" Sarah slept peacefully beside her, totally unaware that this would be her last time to dream.

Unzipping and pulling back the sleeping bag Jet slowly exposed the top of Sarah's body, rolling the cover down Sarah stirring gently, rolling onto her front, and exposing the top side of her ass cheek. "Perfect" Jet muttered, breathing in slow and deep she placed the syringe over Sarah's skin, gently pressing down the needle went in with ease, as the plunger went down slowly the liquid begins to disperse, until all one hundred units were gone. Jet releases the syringe and covers Sarah's body with the sleeping bag, keeping a close eye on her breathing, as the insulin would take twenty minutes to half an hour to take effect.

Knowing what she had done, Jet could no longer sleep, her mind racing in a million directions. Sitting outside the tent back at the fire Jet contemplates the idea of why she doesn't feel upset. "I have just killed my friend... yet I feel nothing? What the hell is wrong with me?" At that moment a loud coughing and gargling sound came from inside the tent, Jet racing to see what's happening. Sarah's body was convulsing and twitching, an off white foam oozing from one side of her mouth. With one last rattle and a huge gasp she was gone.

"Fuck!" Jet is now panicking slightly. "Dude I'm so so sorry. It was meant to be peaceful, not like this." On secondary panic Jet then checked for a pulse. She was definitely gone. "Now what the hell do I do with you?" Again Jet shocked herself at how calm and unemotional she felt. "Hmmmm I have a river... River leads to a small lake. That will do nicely." Collecting her bag and basket of food Jet started to clear the tent, all contents outside baring that of a dead body. Removing the poles one by one the satin-like dome collapsed in on itself, covering Sarah's silhouette. Tired and adrenalin hyped Jet then rolled Sarah's body up in the tent, adding stones as she went around, once tied up with guide ropes and filled as much as she could with weight, Jet then made her way to the river bank dragging Sarah's body along the grass, so as to not rip and tear the fabric.

At the water's edge, again the thought popped into her head. I murdered my friend and now I'm disposing of the body. "What the hell?" She said aloud as she rolled the body into the water, slow and steady the orange bulge began to sink and bubble, as it sloped into the depths of reads and marine plants. The ripples and bubbles take a while, but eventually they come to a stop, leaving only the woodland noises and the sound of the river. "I killed my friend, but that's what she wanted, and Jesus I don't feel bad about it" Jet headed back to the camp site as rain slowly started to come down, killing any remaining remnants of the fire. Collecting her belongings and filling the rucksack she headed for the short walk home.

As she arrived home the thoughts started to swirl. Throwing the camping gear into the porch and heading straight for the kettle, a strong warm brew was needed. Do I have no heart? She thought to herself, stirring the contents of the cup, and reaching for the tobacco pouch in her back pocket. After the smoke was rolled, Jet sat at the dining room table. "I need a brain dump. Where's my diary?" Jet often sat and wrote for hours, using the pages to clear her head of any unwanted thought or emotion. Looking up at the clock it read 2am... The phone rings.