Life: the one thing many strive to perfect. It can vanish at any moment, but I suppose that is what makes it so valuable. 

Life has always been forgiving to me, yet I still strive for something more. I look towards the city below me; manufactured lights act as the only stars I can wish upon. The book I paused reading sits on my lap, waiting for me to return to a better world than my own. I abide by its wishes as I would prefer to escape the sinkhole that appears once reality sets in. 

. . .

Inevitably, however, reality pulls me back in and the day has come upon me. I peer through the window and watch as the sun peaks above from the horizon. I start to retrieve my items from my apartment: keys, check, laptop, check... I create a list in my mind as I prepare for the day.

Though I yearn to return to my book, the noise of the city wakes me up as I head to my, unfortunately, nine-to-five office job.

I don't notice the car until it strikes.

The whirlwind of moments that follow hits me in a panic. I feel the adrenaline rush through my body as my brain fights to understand what is happening. 

A sharp ringing pulses in my ears while I lay on the hard asphalt helplessly. The irony of it all hits me like a bullet in my last moments. I wonder, is this really how I die? Killed in an accident and not to be remembered by a soul but my own. The witnesses will pass by and forget the occurrence in a week, and that is it. I become another droplet in a lake full of deaths that no one seems to look at until their fate is at stake. 

I start to lose consciousness.

Still, I try to reach out for a chance at life, but I can't be sure whether my motions are simply a figment of my imagination or truly real. Then, like a film's end, my life fades to black.

And that is how I died...

until life appeared for another visit. 

~ End of Chapter 1 ~