Almost After

Prologue

There's been a mistake.

I didn't ask for this. None of this was supposed to happen to me, and yet I still remain the victim. The dreams play over in my head every night; the nightmares still wake me in a cold sweat. It's terrifying because you can't hide from it. It makes your heart pound because you can't run from it, even though you've tried thousands of times. Once it catches you in its grip, there's no escaping.

It caught me once—a few times actually—and it'll be a very long time before I plan on it catching me again. No one announces when your time is up. I just assumed decades still ticked along in my eternal clock of existence. Except... I was wrong. Listen and learn from my mistakes. This doesn't happen to just anyone, and I want everyone who reads this to understand that there is danger involved with the choices I had to make. Don't let yourself think this was all a walk in the park or a Sunday picnic—I risked my life for a kid I hardly knew.

I didn't ask to die.

But my time expired.

So when it comes to death or time...

Which are you more afraid of?