One-shots and story outlines

Reminiscence 2

⚠️ Sad and could really affect some people.  Skip if you're here for good vibes only.

"The last moment before you die is always one that brings speculation. In my experience, time slows as your mind begins to think faster than it ever has. These thoughts are all you can feel. Whether they are thoughts of happiness, or pain, they are there. However, death is not something to fear. Yes, you may be in pain. But, in your final moment, it is far from pain. Your body is to enter an eternal slumber. So, be sure to conjure up your best dream, close your eyes, and never fear the reaper."
- Silent Shadow

A quiet song played on the radio. The melody was accompanied by the static of a weak signal, the radio hardly able to pick anything up whilst under a metal roof. It was a gentle song, no voice, only instrumental. The melody swung to the sound of a piano and strings, passion and sadness accompanying every note. There was a somber feel in the place. A tinted glass mask akin to a fishbowl sat on a nearby nightstand. A modern cellphone that had run out of battery quite recently lay beside it. A mattress had been tossed out of its usual place on a bed frame and leaned against a closed window. The walls are a shade of grey, painters tape still yet to be removed from the ceiling. The lighting in the small unvented apartment was dim, a lamp the only source of light. In the centre of the room, arms slung on either side of a twin bed frame, sat a young woman. The soft yellow glow that peeked through the lampshade illuminated her face, emerald eyes staring into an unseen void. The woman's expression was blank, breathing quiet in her silence. On her lap was an open box, inside lay a stack of paper and shards of uncommon minerals. The lid of the box had long since slid off of the lap of the young woman, no visible intention to put it back on. The woman sat there without the need to be anywhere or do anything. This was a relatively new building to her, as the life she had shaped made the necessity to move constant in order to avoid her past.

The young woman's eyes narrow. Seeming to return to the world around her, a burst of impulse results in the box being pushed off her lap. The stack of papers slide out like a deck of cards being laid out across a table. The woman stands, taking a few steps forward to cross into the kitchenette. She runs her hands down her face, the action usually unavailable while wearing a mask. Contemplative, the young woman looks down, reaching and detaching the air content alarm from its place plugged into the wall. Immediately it beeps it's disgruntlement before being shushed by the woman's hand. Flipping a switch, the alarm is turned permanently off before being tossed onto a counter. Following the action, the woman deactivates the lighter pilot on the gas stove before her. She closes her eyes, forcing herself to rethink her next course of action. There was much to consider. For so long had she suffered, life filled with more conflict than most. She had just lost a number of people she deeply cared for. It made sense to put an end to it all. Yet, there was still someone to stay for. Someone she loved dearly.

Minutes pass, the woman moving back to her spot on the floor and picking up one of the fallen letters. She reads it.

...Dear Ms. Shadwell,
Below are the results regarding the ASPD testing performed on...

She picks up another.

And another.

Sentence after sentence, letter after letter, a small smile begins to stretch across the woman's tired face. It had taken two whole years to learn to give a genuine smile, too bad this was to be the last one. She had always strived for control. Control over others. Control over her future. Of course, that will never happen, as everything had been wasted the day she lost the ones she cared for with every ounce of her being. With the words of the letters memorized in her mind, she tilts her head back, mind spinning from fatigue.

Maybe... in the next life.

She closes her eyes.