The Search for Death

Chapter One

One by one in rows. On. Off. On. Off. Like Christmas lights in March. Until the blackness seeped from the corned. Darkness came closer and closer, Engulfing the back of Dr. Maddon's back.

Without looking away with his face nothing but a shadow, he paused at the IV with a grunt. "One day you must learn that darkness is everything in our world now."

"No. NO! You can't keep doing this to me!" The scream rang as a final countdown just as his finger pressed the bold green button.

An ear shaking bang rang like a gunshot to my chest.

Instantly, I was alone.

The eternal night at its beginning.

Weight held me in place like every time I've come. With nothing around, an emptiness took its form. No longer did shivers rattle the examining table below me. The tap of Dr. Maddon's bootie had echoed out of my mind, never returning. The sterile smell of alcohol pads, gone. And so was the awful taste it always gave me whenever a new IV was started.

There was nothing.

Nothing but me in a cold paralyzed state.

My eyes stretched as open as they possibly could, attempting to see anything. An outline, a light but this was total darkness. It's how I pictured space, in the middle of the universe.

"Get me out of here!" I used to scream at the top of my lungs for what felt like days. Soon enough, you'll realize that without air or water nothing comes out. The pain will come sooner the more I fight.

So I wait.

Like every goddamn day.

"Oh, hey, Aurora. I have a great idea. Let's sign up for this amazing science program run by your favorite scientist." I mocked myself. "Oh yeah. Great idea. Oh, oh, then you could really see how fucked up science is. But it's breaking the boundaries of knowledge! Right. And who could forget the big girl act you had to have. Let's save our family! Wishful fucking thinking."

I've gone as mad as Dr. Maddon.

There weren't many more nights I could take of this. Just because my heart couldn't stop, doesn't mean my brain is as strong.

"Hello?" I searched the darkness, "If anyone is there, please help me. I may have gotten myself into a bit of a fucked situation. May have? No. Definitely did. I am most definitely in a fucked up scenario."

Nothing.

"I'm not too sure how it happened. One day I'm having breakfast with my family. Chocolate chip pancakes. They were Austin, my little brother's favorite. I was more of a coffee and run type but he was upset. I remember his little nervous tick. He'd do this small fidget with the bridge of his glasses. That's when I'd know he was uncomfortable. I'd do anything for him but, that morning, breakfast was all I could muster."

I took an airless breath in reminiscing on a distant past.

My parents were barely making it by with the both of us to feed. I could see the stress affect mom's blue eyes that were decorated with bags. And Dad's smile, though unmoved, began to fade. He refused to eat the nights he could only harvest a few potatoes and since he butchered our last rooster, my mind was made up.

I needed to leave the house. To save my family from starving in our bleakened, famine ridden world. The options were slim, especially for a teen. Working in the dust storms was the easiest but deadliest at the time. They would accept anyone to attempt to fish for gold and only earning the 20% you found didn't get you far. Then there was the military, guarding the high priority VIPs and leaving the rest of us here to starve to death.