Short Stories

Every Second

The flashing lights in the background swerve past us, the sound of the sleeting snow crushing under the wheels. The snowflakes bumped into the window glass. I stare outside the window, my little brother pestering me about some card game or whatever. Pondering about what to do once we arrive home, I could hear my father speaking to me.

"Daren, you know we love you, but you have to think about your future or else It'll slip by without your word. Your mother and I won't always be here to protect and guide you."

The thought of a world without them didn't seem to faze me whatsoever, it wouldn't matter if they had died or not for this world is full of death. It mattered not if they were to live or not. At least... Not to me.

"Big brother, can you play with me?"

I peered at my little brother who was holding a deck of cards in his hands. I opened the window slightly, taking the deck of cards before tossing them outside. My little brother didn't react to me tossing the cards away, he only shut his mouth and sat in silence.

"Daren! Why would you toss your brother's cards!" My mother pestered.

"Because he was annoying."

"Daren!" My father turned around to look at me, "we know you're upset that we moved from Arizona, that we have to abandon everything that you loved. But this is for the better, we can't keep living in that little shack forever."

"If we did, then maybe you wouldn't have this little shit next to me."

"How dare you talk like that about your little brother!"

"He doesn't matter to me whatsoever, if he died then I wouldn't care whatsoever."

Ahead of us was a truck honking at us, my father peered out front before screaming, the truck wouldn't slow down. My dad tried to swerve around the truck, but the sudden impact crushed most of us. The tumbling, white, the jostling of the car as we were sent flying. I would soon blackout before anything.

In the midst of the aching pain in my left hip, all over my body, I peered up and attempted to sit up. I couldn't hear anything, all but the ear-piercing screech that came in my ear. Once it began to fade away, I could hear the wailing sirens in the background, the people shouting over one another. I couldn't feel my legs. Peering down at my waist all I was met with was a large piece of metal that had pierced into my stomach. Blood seeping from my wounds.

Looking at the remains of my father's car, that of which was lying underneath a large bit of debris. Inside was my mother and father motionless, with people trying to carefully extract my brother who was crying in pain.

"No..." I mumbled to myself, trying to move forward, my body wouldn't let me. It was in too much pain to move, I began noticing my vision was blurry. My hearing, my voice, all was beginning to shut down. A single tear ran down my cheek before I passed out on the blood-covered snow.

Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep... Wake up...

Gasping for air, I rose up from where I was. Analyzing my surroundings, I was in a black abyss, that of which was grounded with this watery surface from which I could see my reflection. The insatiable seeming nature of this void, this-- whatever it was. I ventured around for a moment, unsure if I was going anymore or was just moving in a stationary position.

"Greetings, Daren," a voice called out to me from the abyss.

"What is going on?" I asked, my eyes darting from left to right to locate whatever the source of the voice was.

"I am a God, one of which needs you to stay alive. For you are to discover something important, that of which is an archaic method of a certain branch of lessons. A branch which you humans haven't discovered yet."

"So... What do you want me to do?"

"Restore balance within yourself."

"That's easier said than done," I retorted.

The voice chortled at my words. "Yes. It is easier said than done if you are willing to do what is said to be done. If you don't try, those words will always be just that: Words."

I peered around this place, unsure where the voice is coming from. Since it came from all sides. Pondering about what I would need to do in order to restore balance within myself. What could I do to simply do just that?

"So what is it?" I inquired.

"I will return you back to the time when your brother was born. You have to fix your relationship with him and your family from that point onward to resume back on the original path... Though you are more than free to reject this offer, go back to the heavenly realms and enjoy whatever it is that you wish to enjoy in the afterlife."

"So, can I go and finally die? I would rather die than go back to that old cruel world," the image of my brother, mother, and father dying right in front of me. My brother wasn't dead but might as well for how much damage he had sustained, his left arm was practically snapped in half, and a large amount of blood on his legs.

I nodded to finalize my decision.

"Just so you know, because you had chosen to waste every moment you could have possibly wasted. Just so you can escape reality... You never deserved an extra second."

Hearing a God say that I didn't deserve an extra second was disheartening at the very most. It showed how much of a terrible human being I was, or at least to this one's eyes I was a terrible human being.

A searing light beamed down from above and I was lifted from the ground. Floating I was reaching the light ever so closely with each passing second. Till the blinding light was all I could see. I wasn't glad that I wasted every second of my life dwelling on the past, but as long as I can fade away and die. Then it didn't matter at all... None of it mattered anymore. Every passing second is one of many things I did not care for.