My Life with Death

Hoover's University Paleontology Las Vegas, Nevada April 9, 2008, 6:52 p.m.

 I was standing on a hot roof sprinkled with gravel. The last rays of the sun were resting on the raised ledges. There was no wind. The glow was disappearing over the horizon. Suddenly, time seemed to stop. It was as if the whole world had stopped. Suddenly, I felt a great heat on my chest, stinging and then icy cold again. The morning came. A hot blow to the chest. Hot as the flames of hell. I couldn't stand on my feet anymore. I was lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Blood was pouring out of my chest. From where the bullet went in, so fast I didn't even realize it.

A moment before that, I heard a shot. I turned sharply and didn't know why, but it was too late. The blow jerked me backward, and I was lying on the ground. I don't know how long. But I felt like I was going to die. I felt it. A chill enveloped my entire body. I couldn't feel my arms or legs. I couldn't feel a single bit of my body, just a bleeding wound in my chest. I was weak. As I fell, my head shattered, and blood flowed from my poor body. Drops of blood fell on the roof of—stained paper folders. Bruises popped against the pale skin. I was lying among the files blown away by the wind, which had not been here a moment ago. The blood-stained text was unrecognizable. I tried to scream, but I didn't have the strength. I barely made a sound.

"Help...," quietly.

I passed out, and I don't remember anything from that moment. I felt like I heard something, but I didn't understand anything. And finally, I thought it was all in my head. But it was all reality. It happened. And I lay there thrown like a doll with pain in my heart.