7 Days

Chapter 1

I guess this is it. My last seven days on Earth. There's a heavy, empty feeling that settled in my stomach as I sat as still as possible inside Church. I believed in God, not only because I was going to die in a week unlike most of the people around me right now. It was more crowded than the usual, and we all knew why. If our beautiful, happy lives here on Earth were cut short, might as well make sure that our life after death will include sipping on Piña Coladas up in the clouds. Some people imagined heaven as the tops of the mountains, some as a castle on a cloud, some as a beach. While some people dream of a place of paradise after they die, I think otherwise. Heaven isn't a place. It's a state of being. It's when your soul feels peaceful. It's not when your soul is getting a tan under the sun. With that thought aside, let's talk of how instead of where.

The priest kept blabbering about the end of the world and how this moment right now was a good time to forgive others and reassured us that God's loving arms are open and will welcome us on the day of judgement. Now, how do people go to heaven? That is a complicated answer. It is hard. You're supposed to do good your whole life. You are to love your enemies. Give away everything you own. Yet here are the people hearing mass because they believe that going to mass once in your entire life will guarantee you a pass to the gates of heaven.

Life is short. No matter if you live 'til 99 or 18, like me, it is still short. The scientists predicted that this meteor would be striking on Earth's surface about fifteen years ago. Ever since then, everyone changed. People hugged their lives and dared to do whatever they couldn't do before knowing that they will die in a decade and a half. Bucket lists are even being taken seriously these days. In my case, I have probably ticked most of mine off already. I met my favourite band. I've been to ten concerts. I have coloured my hair pink about a year ago but it's gone now. I've been to the Maldives, Greece and went on a tour in Europe with my family, I learned how to play an instrument (a ukulele). 

There are a few more things on my list though. Maybe I can actually finish my list!