CHAPTER 1:

WHAT? DID I DIE?

(Big change: Italics mean what’s he’s thinking. It doesn’t apply to when he’s talking.)

I’m in a kitchen. Maybe not an actual kitchen but good enough. I survive on junk food and pop. Not that far but my consumption of that stuff is pretty insane. I thought there was a use for the life skills class I took in high school! But, I’m not fat either. And I don’t have diabetes too so that’s okay. I do eat other foods but at home. I Could just cook something. Maybe a hamburger or hot dog. It’s not like I can't cook.

I look down at the kitchen floor. It’s a ceramic, black and white, and checkerboard floor. Nice but pretty common. The kitchen is about 6.5 square meters big and includes everything you need. The upper cabinets and ones on the island are my only food storage. But, the fridge. The only exceptional thing in the room is the fridge and that takes up an entire corner. It doesn't touch the ceiling but if it was about 0.25 meters taller it would. The ceiling is 2.5 meters of the ground and there’s a small island. The small island has a granite top and wooden cabinets space underneath it.

The fridge is almost all grey except for the inside which is white. I open the fridge and a small hum from the fan appears. I grab a bag of Frosty O’s in one of the upper cabinets and some kind of milk in the fridge. “Ugh, I wish college could be a bit later,” I mutter then open a cabinet to get a bowl. The bowl is from my pottery class. It has many shades of blue lines circling in it but the inside is just plain white.

I pour some cereal and milk into my bowl and start eating. I hate that I have to go early but that’s fine and I can put up with it. But, why does it have to be near 5 AM? High School was bad enough and I’m a mess at this point. Well, I’m better off than some of the people in my class. Like, a house and a job are awesome. Some of my friends still live in their parent’s houses because they couldn’t get a job on time.

Wait, do I have any assignments or homework? I think I tried to finish that engineering assignment quickly last night. If it was on paper then nobody would find it unless it was in my backpack. Oh well. What else do I have to do? Ehh, shower and packing stuff are already done so just doing the rest is left. And those rest are showering and brushing my teeth. Plus, packing my backpack.

I walk over to the garage door and grab my backpack that’s leaning on it. Do I have anything upstairs? Upstairs there’s nothing I need except for my laptop and I take that almost instantly and then stuff it in my backpack.

Within that time I could have a shower and get the rest of the things ready. Luckily, Oxford is only 10 miles away so it wouldn’t take a long time. I walk to the staircase and go to my bedroom. After I take a shower I get on clothes and I do all that I need to do, A small bell rang from my phone. I set up an alarm so I would know that school starts in 5 minutes and students have to be in class in 10 through 15 minutes.

I walk downstairs and grab my backpack sitting next to the island. The door is white and decorated glass is in an oval shape. I unlock the door and go outside. My porch has three chairs and one table. The table is bolted to the wall and the chairs are around it. The table is made of metal and wood while the chairs are made up of interlaced plastic. A small flower was in the center of the table and my address is on the pole holding up the small piece of the roof over the porch.

I lock the door. My car is an old 2007 Ford Taurus Sedan that I found when trying to find a good, reliable, and cheap car. Me and my mom I worked on that car for a straight 5 hours after getting new parts. I’m glad to be in Arizona since when I was in Michigan the salt would literally. rust all of the cars in 3 or 4 years. “Salt is a way of life.” That’s what my mom said. Plus, I used to drive this exact model with my mom when I used to live with her in Michigan.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The car itself is pretty much all grey except for the tires and windows. I get in and sit on the worn-out seat cover that I use to keep pop or food stains off the actual seat. The cover covering my steering wheel has not been damaged though. I should replace that seat covering soon if I get the free time. I start the car up and drive to Oxford.

[Time Skip]

“It feels great to get out of college,” I say and then stretch my arms and hands. I got a good grade from my engineering thing. If I were to fail that then that would put me in a position where one wrong move will make me restart the class. I don’t have the money to pay for that because I work in between the breaks we get in college.

If they didn’t allow us to have a 2-hour break for lunch then I wouldn’t have a job. Well, let’s not think about bad things. Okay, what is there to do before bed. There are a good 6-7 hours until I have to sleep or I get sleep deprivation so I’m not sleepy again when I wake up. I look towards the college before I go. The metal sheets near the window and stair sections reflect the quite hot son. Many people are leaving through a brick arch near the entrance and that says “Oxford Community College”. The walls are made up of red cinder bricks and the entire building is three stories tall.

I get to my car and unlock it. I sit down and the cushions under me spit out air. I start my car and drive down the road that connects the college and the road to my house. Hmmm, there is that new VR game launch that launched about 2 days ago on Steam Train. Plus, due to my finishing that engineering project there is no homework or any papers that needed longer than a class to finish as small mercy for the students. I could also play War Lightning. That game also came out around the same period and it’s pretty balanced from what I could tell at launch.

I come back to driving and a steel gutter appears almost immediately in my brain in front of me. I slam on the brakes so hard that the smell of rubber and the sound of the screeching almost takes up all of my senses. The car swivels and swerves. “Thud!” The airbags in my car explode with air and that hits me back. Shock and stinging pain feel my senses. “Ugggg!” I push the airbags down and look around.

The steel bars in front of me are ripped, flattened, or bent. The hood of my car is bent in such a way that it hit the windshield causing it to shatter but not break entirely. Oh, come on. Oh well, at least the body is damaged. My car is tilted to the front and I hear small cracks. I look down and start to open the door. The door is jammed because the steels are bent in a way so it locks the door.

“OH ****!” Okay, calm down Luke. It’ll have to do for now. I’ll wait until someone comes. I reach down to my pocket and try to grab my phone.

The ground finally gives and small rocks fall off the cliff. My head moves forward and my body is frozen in shock and fear but my brain is racing. OH, I'm GONNA DIE! PLEASE NO! IS THIS THE WAY I’M GOING TO DIE?! I DON’T WANT THAT AND I’M ONLY 18!

My vision returns to normal and I see how close I am to the ground. Pieces of the stone and steel bar hit the ground in front of me.

It’s like time is frozen. I can't move but I can think. Is this HOW I’M GOING TO DIE! Time moves at an unbelievably low speed. But, it still moves and then the car hits the ground. G-force sends my body forwards ripping the seat belt in half. My waist and neck feel like somebody sent a bullet through them, again and again, I feel like my mind and body are separate things. The amount of pain I’m experiencing dulls then both my mind and body enough pain for a lifetime. NO! WHY!? It stops and everything goes dark.

[End of Chapter 1!]