When Time Runs Out

00.00.00.05.12.47.08

"Why do you like her so much?" Tristan asked you, pointing at the poster on the wall.

You're sitting on the desk chair in your bedroom while your best friend Tristan sits on your bed, resting his back against your headboard. You note for the tenth time that afternoon that he did, in fact, lay the plastic protective covering over your sheets before climbing up. God forbid an evil microbe travel onto those sacred linen protectors of dreams! He is staring straight ahead at the life-sized poster on your pale pink bedroom wall directly opposite your bed. (The color of the wall is just a holdover from the days before you learned that you hate people and that life is meaningless. Obviously, your parents just wouldn't allow you to paint it the color you really wanted – black, like your soul.)

The poster is of Danita, the lead singer of the world's current love-to-hate-them, scandal-ridden alt-rock band. She stands with her mile-high legs spread apart, leaning forward with her hands behind her back. On her face is the perpetual mischievous smirk that told the world they can take all their disapproval and shove it. That's why you like her so much.

You could lie in bed for hours just staring at that poster. At her powerful stance just daring you to come closer. At her grin, almost shouting that behind her back isn't where she'd prefer her hands to be. She embodied everything that you want to be. With maybe a few less DUIs.

You snap out of your reverie long enough to answer Tristan's question. "Danita is the epitome of effortless cool. She's -"

"She's the epitome of the After School Special villain," Tristan scoffs. "Don't accept the weed cigarette from her, Naïve New Girl!"

"Shut up," you say, playfully tossing an eraser at him and laughing at your ostentatious best friend. "You're so dramatic. And I don't care what you say; I'm going to her concert on Friday and it's going to be the best night of my life."

You notice Tristan's smile falter just a bit. "I wish you'd spend Friday with me. With your friends and family - you know, the people that care about you - and not with a bunch of strangers."

"I'll see you guys after. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," he replies, holding your gaze with the most intense look you've ever seen on his usually exuberant face.

Why can't he understand that you need this?

00.00.00.02.15.33.52

You stare down at the question on your quiz for your Study of Humanity class. You had decided to skip it and come back to it later. Secretly, you hoped that you wouldn't have enough time to go back to it. Then you wouldn't have to deal with the implications of your answer.

             What happens to human beings when their
             time runs out? 

a. They are forced into the intangible plane.

b. Nothing.

c. No one knows for sure.

d. They turn into a beautiful oak tree.

You feel a chill starting in your left thigh begin to travel down your leg. You rub your hand across your jeans trying to warm it back up and stop the spread. You glance around the room and notice your classmates focused on their papers. Some of them don't even know how lucky they are to not have to think twice about answering this question right now.

You circle the choice you wish was true just as the bell rings to signal the end of the day. It doesn't really matter if you chose the right answer anyway.

00.00.00.00.02.44.27

You don't remember much of that day. You don't remember what you had for breakfast, or which outfit you wore during the day. It's not clear if you were on the bus home or in a debate teammate's car when you passed the billboard of the suited, fat middle-aged man with the toothy smile asking, "Are you prepared for the intangible plane?" (God, you hated those things.) You don't remember if you ate before the concert or decided you were too excited to keep anything down anyway. You don't remember if your mother saw you leave the house in your sheer black crop top, black leather skirt, and knee-high black heeled boots. The whole day is a blur now. But you remember that night; you remember the concert.

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You remember the heat of the crowd – a relief from the crisp autumn air outside, still moist from the rain that had been falling all week. Someone bumps into you from behind and you feel a slight sharp pain, but you can't bring yourself to care.

00.00.00.00.00.01.10

You remember the sweet scent of over-priced beer and perspiration mixing to form a smell seldom found outside sports stadiums and rock concerts. You feel your own sweat running down your body in dizzying streams.

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You remember the booming sound of Danita's voice reaching you in the second row and belting out the bridge of "Bittersweet Dreams" – the song you had come to hear. The song that would grab you in your darkest moments and whisper to you as you wept in its arms, "You're not alone. All will be well." You lean your head back and raise your face towards the ceiling, allowing the music to wash over you in a feeling of peaceful euphoria.

00.00.00.00.00.00.05

You remember your body suddenly feeling heavy and hearing the sound of Danita's beautiful voice and the roars of the crowd become a muffled hum.

00.00.00.00.00.00.04

You remember feeling time slow down and your blood run cold as your whole body tips back towards the floor just as Danita would have reached the climactic note in the song's bridge.

It can't be happening now, you think. Not now! All sound has completely left your ears, and all you're left with is the screams inside your head begging for just a few more minutes. You have to hear the end of this song! You have to say goodbye to your family! You promised Tristan you would see them after the concert.

00.00.00.00.00.00.03

There is a rush of confusion and hasty movements in the crowd that spreads from the spot you're standing at to the edges of the stadium.

00.00.00.00.00.00.01

You could have sworn there was more time. Had you not been paying attention? How could you have miscalculated? Were you an idiot to go to a concert and surround yourself with an unpredictable crowd tonight of all nights?

00.00.00.00.00.00.00

Your eyes snap open and you find yourself perched atop a soft, giant, white puff of cotton. Then the mass below you opens up to reveal a girl on the ground, collapsed. All you can see from your perch above on the edge of the intangible plane is a mob of traumatized concert-goers staring down at your lifeless body on the stadium floor.