Death is the Start

Calm Before the Storm

For most people death is feared because it is viewed as the end of something because you don't know what happens afterwards. If only it were that simple for us death is feared not because it is the end, we fear it because it is the beginning, the beginning of something awful. "Hey get back here you little shits!", shouted a man covered in paint at two girls running away. "As if old man! You want to hurt us you'll have to actually catch us first." the taller girl with long blonde hair shouted. "Please don't antagonize the angry man any more than you already did Sarah." said the smaller and slightly chubby girl with medium black hair. "Why it makes being chased by him a lot funnier, I know you agree Chubs." Sarah responded in a joking manner. "You know that's not my name", Chubs said defeated. "I know but Chubs is way cuter than Chelsea, come on we're almost home free just around the corner and..." suddenly Sarah was cut off by a wooden plank smacking her in the face.

Sarah fell to the ground in daze but was able to shake it off quickly and looked up at her attacker what she saw was a tall muscular man with a very pissed off look on his face. Annoyed and slightly angry at him for hitting her she said, "What the heck is wrong with you smacking a cute girl in the face with a wooden plank Blake. What kind of city chief does that?" Blake retorted, "A cute girl where? The only one that I hit in the face with this plank was you." Shocked and offended by this Sarah tried to come up with a come back but couldn't partly because her brain was still a bit rattled. Blake then continued "So why did you dump paint on that poor innocent storekeeper like that? If you give me an answer I like that punishment will only be slightly cruel." as he said this he started to crack his knuckles as he had a crocked smile on his face. Sarah then blurted out, "That shopkeeper was not innocent he's been harassing women who came to his store for the past month staring at them and the 'accidental' bumping into them. I just thought it was time to give him some payback." Blake didn't even look surprised with Sarah as she went on with her explanation. As chief he had to deal with Sarah and her antics on multiple occasions and has pretty much heard all of her excuses. These excuses started to repeat to the point that he's been keeping a mental list of how many times he's heard them, the whole "This person was sexually harassing people" excuse was used 15 times including now. The chief cuts Sarah off in her rant and asked, "Sarah your what 17 now, I thought you'd grow out of doing these pranks years ago but you keep doing them why is that?" Sarah then took on a serious and slightly agitated look and said, "Why? You want to know why? We're stuck in this city walled off from the rest of the world, and to make matters worse we can't even die without causing a problem for everyone. Basically we're trapped in a prison and I'm the only one who realized it."

Blake was taken a back by this, as he looked into Sarah's eyes he could tell she was serious this was a side of Sarah he never say before. Blake then sighed and said, "Chelsea you can head home I'll discuss Sarah's punishment." Chelsea fumbling on her words said, "Th-thank you sir p-please go easy on her." she then ran off. Blake took Sarah to the edge of the city and told her to stand there for an hour with a bucket of paint on her head. Blake then put one hand on Sarah's shoulder and said to her, "Your right you know, we're basically stuck in a prison of fear because of what's outside, it'd be ok if that was but even in hear we're not safe. Come talk to me tomorrow I think I have a way to make you feel better that doesn't involve pranks." Sarah then looked at him with a playful, "Sorry but I don't think of you like that." Blake then said annoyed, "No I was talking about a job I want you to be my assistant. Your smart cunning and you know the in's and out's of this city better than anyone, you might just be the next chief."

After saying that Blake left Sarah alone as she thought about what the chief said and before she knew it an hour had already passed. Sarah not wanting to go home yet decided to go for a walk though the main area as she walked along she heard what sounded like crying. As she tried to find that source of the crying she found a little boy hugging his grandma as two men tried to pull him off. One of the men said, "Come on kid you have to let go of her, your just making this harder than it needs to be. She's already 75 it might be too late if we let her live any longer." The child still cry and he struggled to speak said, "No I don't want to say goodbye to grandma I can't." as he said that the two men got him to let go of his grandma as he screamed out, "NOOOO!" One of the men gave the child back to his mother and told her to keep the child close and don't let him see this. The grandma now free continued to walk forward towards a platform with a row of nooses ready for her the other elderly and the terminally sick and injured. Sarah forgot that it was that time of the month again and continued on her way not wanting to see what comes next.

When Sarah got home she was greeted by her parents who scolded her for pulling pranks again and telling her that she can't keep doing stuff like this. Normally Sarah would've laughed in there faces but today she just apologized and said . Sarah didn't want to tell her parents about the job offer knowing they'd force her to take it, and she still hadn't decided yet so for the rest of the night she stayed quiet lost in thought. As she went to sleep that night she thought about today could she really be the next chief, "Maybe I can change things around here." she thought. "I can change it so we won't have to live in fear of death." her voice then trailed off, "Maybe something around here will finally change." Sarah fell asleep that night unaware that come sunrise everything would finally change.