Lex stood in front of his old mirror, tying his worn-out tie. His face appeared haggard, and exhaustion was evident in his eyes, a reflection of the grief that weighed heavy on his heart. "Today is the day," he murmured to himself, the words barely exiting his lips.
Today, he would go to the cemetery to bury Ms. Mlinda, a gentle soul who had dedicated her life to nurturing the children at the small orphanage where he had grown up.
She had died just a three days ago, surrendering quietly to the relentless embrace of old age. She had been one of the few people Lex truly considered family. From his earliest memories, she had been there for him.
With a nurturing spirit, she had guided him through the ups and downs of his education, she even helped him reach the university level despite his many academic struggles and financials. Though he was only somewhat above average in his studies.
The void her departure created in his heart was insurmountable, for the past two days, Lex had done little more than sit in silence, his heart heavy with mourning.
He and few of his friends from the orphanage had gathered to hold a small but meaningful funeral in her honor.
Although they couldn't afford anything great, they were determined to celebrate her life and legacy in the most heartfelt way they could muster.
Lex shrugged on his old brown coat and grabbed the remote from the couch, switching off the TV just as a news anchor mentioned a rising death toll from the recent earthquake.
He stepped out of his modest apartment, the door creaking softly shut behind him. Three minutes later, he reached the roadside and raised a hand to hail a taxi—unaware that the ground beneath him was already shifting.
"To the city cemetery, please," he instructed the driver with a hint of sadness in his voice.
As the car moved through the bustling streets, Lex gazed out the window, his mind swirling with thoughts and memories.
The city moved past him in a vibrant blur, but he was lost in rumination. He wondered what she would have thought of their efforts, he wished she would feel the pride and gratitude he felt for all she had done in her next life.
As they approached the cemetery, the ground began to tremble violently. "What's going on?!" Lex shouted, his focus returning as he gripped the seat tightly, his knuckles whitening.
The old taxi driver felt a surge of panic as his eyes widened, his grip on the steering wheel tightening instinctively as he fought to keep control. However, it was in vain; the road burst open beneath them, cracks spreading across the surface like a web as if the ground were tearing itself apart.
The car careened wildly off course, colliding with a massive truck in a cataclysmic crash that reverberated like thunder, drowning out all sound.
Lex felt the force of the impact as it slammed him forward, his body thrown like a ragdoll against the hard, unyielding surface in front of him.
A searing, white-hot pain exploded through his chest and limbs as if every bone had been crushed and every nerve set on fire.
His ears rang with a deafening roar, drowning out the chaos around him—screams, sharp and desperate, pierced the air, blending with the cacophony of shattering glass and the sickening crunch of metal twisting and folding in on itself.
The world seemed to slow down for him, and everything became a blur.
Blood trickled down his forehead, warm and sticky, pooling in his eyebrows before dripping into his eyes. His vision clouded, the world around him fracturing into twisted, indistinct shapes.
He blinked, trying to clear the red haze, but the blood kept coming, mixing with the sweat and dust clinging to his skin.
He took quick and uneven breaths, each inhalation introducing a new surge of pain in his ribs and lungs.
He tried to drag himself out of the car, but his body refused to obey. His arms felt like lead, his legs numb and unresponsive. Panic clawed at the edges of his mind, but he fought it down, forcing himself to focus.
"Don't fall asleep," he muttered through gritted teeth, his voice barely audible over the chaos. "Stay awake. Stay awake." The words became a mantra, a lifeline he tried to clung to as the darkness threatened to pull him under.
His thoughts turned to the family he had always dreamed of; a wife with a kind smile, children with bright eyes, and laughter that filled every corner of a warm, welcoming home
He imagined holding his child for the first time, their tiny fingers wrapping around his, their laughter echoing in his ears.
He wanted that more than anything. He wanted to give them the love and security he had never known, to shield them from the loneliness that had haunted him his entire life.
But dreams were just that—dreams. The pain was too much, it constantly struck him like relentless tide pulling him deeper into its cold, unforgiving embrace.
His vision darkened at the edges, the world shrinking to a narrow tunnel of fading light. The screams around him grew distant, muffled as if he were sinking underwater.
His eyelids grew heavy, and no matter how hard he tried to remain open, they began to close.
The last thing he felt was the warmth of his blood pooling beneath him, and the last thing he heard was the faint, fading sound of the people rushing to help them.
Then his vision was blanked into darkness.
When Lex opened his eyes, he wasn't in the wreckage anymore. The chaos, the pain, the screams, all of it was gone. He now found himself floating, weightless as if the world had released its grip on him.
Below, he could see the twisted remains of the car, its metal frame crumpled like paper and the people removing the body of the old driver.
His body lay inside the car, broken and still, surrounded by shattered glass and pools of blood. The sight should have horrified him, but it didn't. It felt distant, like watching a scene from a movie.
A strange calm washed over him. It was as if all his emotions; fear, pain, regret, had been stripped away, leaving only a hollow stillness.
He felt no terror, no sadness, not even relief. Just nothing. He stared at his mangled lifeless body, trying to make sense of what was happening, but his thoughts were slow, drifting like leaves on a calm lake.
Before he could fully process what was happening, he felt a sudden pull, it was an invisible and powerful force gripping him, pulling him away from the scene below.
He tried to resist, to fight back, but it was useless. The world around him dissolved into a void so dark, so vast it felt like it stretched forever. He was moving, faster and faster, he couldn't tell if he was falling or ascending.
He looked around in the darkness and realized there was no sense of direction; he felt there was no up, no down, just the endless void and a sense of utter powerlessness.
The calm he'd felt earlier began to fade, replaced by a creeping unease. "Where am I being taken? What's waiting for me at the end of this dark journey?" he asked himself, though he had no answer. Still, he braced for the worst.