As I awaken from what seemed to be a long slumber, I couldn’t help but wonder where I was. I

remembered nothing leading up to this point. I was sitting in a cold and dark room. There was no

windows and no door. All that was in here was a matters, a television that was turned on but all

there was was snow, a flickering light, and a clock. The clock didn’t look like a normal clock. It

was counting backwards. It was at 7:38 the last time I looked at it. I didn’t know what it was for.

Then I heard a noise. It was coming from the t.v. I didn’t know what was happening. Then it

started to play a video. A man popped onto the screen. He was wearing a mask so I couldn’t tell

who he was. He started to talk. He said, “hello. You don’t know me but I know you. You have

taken the one thing that means the world to me. And now you have to pay. You are breathing in

a toxic gas that will kill you. Nothing can save you, it is your doom to die. At the end of this video

I will show you what you did to deserve this.” All I could do was cry. I looked back at the clock. It

was 4:26. I couldn’t believe I was going to die in 4 minutes. I looked at the t.v. to watch the video.

It showed a woman sitting in her car in an abandoned parking garage. Then I saw it. I saw

myself going up to her, telling her to get out of her car. She refused to. Then I took out a gun.

She started to get nervous. I remembered she was trying to calm me down, she was trying to

stop me from getting in any real serious trouble. She told me if I put the gun down she would take

me where I needed to go. She wouldn’t tell the police or anyone. I would have gotten away, free.

I considered what she had offered me. I thought of the pros and cons, pros; get where I needed

to go, get off free. Cons; she drives to a police station and has me arrested, she has a gun and

is just waiting for her chance. I couldn’t take the risk. After a minute of thinking I told her my

answer. “No.” Then, bang. I shot her cold blank in the chest. It only took her 15 seconds to die.

I looked at the gun in my hand then back at the woman. I pushed her out of the car, took her

keys, started the car, and left. As I drove away I looked in the rear view mirror, I could see her

lifeless body laying on the cold cement floor, blood draining from her body. I couldn’t help but

feel sorry for her. I started to cry. That was 4 months ago. I looked back at the clock, 1:03. All I

could feel was the cold from the room and guilt from what I have done. My eyes were starting to

get blurry, my nose started to bleed, my hands went numb, my stomach started to ache, it felt

like  I drank paint thinner. I was scared to look at the clock. Some how I found the courage to look

at it. It read :56 seconds. I was zoning in and out of conches. When I found myself feeling a little

better I looked at the clock, :28 seconds left. I decided not to look away from the clock. I wanted

to look death in the eye. I didn’t want to die, but at the same time I didn’t want to suffer any more.

“Finally, the last :10 seconds.” I said. I didn’t want to live with this guilt anymore. I started to

countdown the final seconds. “:9, :8, :7, :6, :5, :4, :3.” When the time got to three the lights went

out completely. The only light I could see was coming from the clock. “:2......” When the clock got

to 0 it turned off. I lay in the dark slowly fading away. My last thought; why did I do this?