Prologue

Death

The worst part about death isn't the actual passing into oblivion, but the endless waiting for it to happen. Here I was, an overweight but highly paid software engineer, on the cool linoleum watching his lifeblood quickly draining out of his body like a water-balloon with a pinhole. I had gone to pickup milk and eggs at the store, and walked into what I guess was a robbery. It was not even really that late at night, but late enough that I didn't want to take the extra ten minutes to shop at the megamart down the road. I had entered the store and with an, "Oh shit!" heard the deafening POP and found myself falling. Hell it happened so fast I never even saw who it was who shot me.

I knew I was dead. It was really just a matter of time, the feeling of doom and dread was there as I thought to my wife and son at home. I flickered a smile, or tried to anyway. Between my life insurance from work and the personal plan, they would at least be ok. Not well off by any means, but enough to pay for college and make ends meet. My wife was good at stretching a dollar, and they both were strong. But the pain of what they would have to go though, especially my 8 year old son, hit like a hammer and the darkness that I had originally been fighting with every ragged breath, forced it's way a bit closer to my brain.