24 Hours to Live · Tupac

• preface

September 07, 1996 ; 11:15 PM

LENA CLENCHES AND unclenches her jaw repeatedly, nostrils flaring, knees knocking, tears jerking, lip trembling, heart pounding, stomach twisting, ...you get it. No, you don't get it. She didn't either-up until this very moment.

Her hands shake as she clasps onto the steering wheel, in a rush to come up with a single solution, any solution. Her palms are sweaty, her hair is highly dampened but she didn't care nor did she think about caring.

To Lena, it feels like multiple balls of cotton are being shoved down her already dry throat, no words would vacate from her mouth and she felt as if she could not move. She runs her tongue over her chapped lips and clears her throat out, attempting to form a sentence.

Lena's eyes are visibly bloodshot red from the deprivation of sleep, heavy bags lay under her dull green eyes, and even though she's been tending to lose her balance all day, she was more alert than ever before.

"Ma'am, are you okay? Oh my goodness," a faint voice rings in Lena's ears. "Call for help somebody!"

Lena takes the question literal. How do you answer to that? Lena doesn't feel like herself at all, she was starting to figure that it was because of lack of rest... but somewhere deep, she knew it wasn't that. She trails her eyes to the woman's face and simply shrug, wincing at the pain of her scarred shoulder.

Forcing herself to reach for her seatbelt, Lena struggles with unbuckling herself. It was consuming too much time and she was beginning to lose all hope. Breathing out of her nostrils just wasn't doing the trick, she started to inhale and exhale through the mouth, coughing a little bit.

She was stressing herself out to the maximum, that was the only thing that she could clearly point out. The short breaths shifted into heaving, and the heaving remained, forcing tears to spring out of her eyes. Finally, after much hassle, the seatbelt is off. As she climbs through the truck's door, leave it up to Lena Harrison to trip over her own foot.

Luckily, her palms weren't callused due to them being bloody and drenched in sweat. She rolls over on her knees, not knowing what to do. She'd never reach her destination in time.

The lady who was once gawking, was nearing Lena, "Miss, are you okay? Paramedics are on their way. You were driving way too fast."

Instead of trying to stand, Lena remains in the same position, letting the first thought in her gut finally win. There was nothing else to believe, as far as she knew, it was happening. It was happening and there was nothing she could possibly do to change fate.

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DESCRIPTION: Psychotherapist Lena Harrison meets a famous celebrity for the first time in her life that goes by the stage name 2Pac. Surprisingly, Tupac grieves over everything, his mental stability, past, current thoughts, lost friends, love, family and most importantly, his will to live. He isn't sure if he'll make it through the next day, and if correct, he'd like to spend his limited hours with Lena, a new acquaintance that will not judge him for such beliefs.

A simple twenty-four hours seem like nothing, but it grows to be the most important day of Lena's life. Together, they learn about each other, social issues, conspiracies, and self worth.