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Saber Alli
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#1
Old 11-18-2007, 05:17 AM

DED
-Part 1-->
The sun was shining brightly. Much too brightly, but it would soon go down. It always went down. The house was eerily quiet, no AC churning or appliances humming. Lia just couldn’t take it anymore and abruptly got up to turn on the television before quickly running back to her spot. It was easier to concentrate with the background noise to distract her. She slowly continued to stare at the object in her hand. She had probably touched every little bit of it by now. How funny that something so small and innocent looking could tear up the country like nothing else. It was so young too, just over 8 months old. The device looked much like a bulky watch colored in muted tones of black and dark grey. It always felt cool to the touch and would sit lightly on your wrist as though it wished to be unnoticed. The Death Expectancy Device had come into the world quietly enough. A gag gift it was called at first, but that didn’t last long. When turned on it would cheerfully light up and count the years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds to your death. And the Death Expectancy Device was always right. The Creator had spoken about it, to defend it. His spiel had been about how wouldn’t you like to know how long you had, so you could say good bye and live your life as full as possible. Howeve, he had only gotten to speak once. It was not long after the interview that his house was burned to the ground with him in it. No one really cared at first until it became apparent that our scientists were completely baffled by the device. Everyone who was anyone tried to find the secret of how it worked, but no matter how many tests they did or times they took it apart it was still a mystery. It didn’t take them long to give up and ask to speak to the Creator, but lo and behold it was too late for that. Oops. Guess they should have thought of that before the place was torched. Lia gave a grim kind of smile as she wondered if he had been in possession of a Death Expectancy Device, and knew what was coming. You couldn’t postpone your death, had he been trapped by his own creation?
Slowly a voice flowed through Lia’s mind, “Shoulda Woulda Coulda don’t mean squat sweetie!”

She shies away from where that line of thought leads, her hands shaking. Resolutely Lia turns her thoughts back to the Death Expectancy Device. People, surprisingly, were getting desperate for the item now that there were no more being made. Once they had been turned on they only worked for that person, even after the time had counted down. You had to be careful, as a co-worker of hers had found out the hard way. He had talked of how he couldn’t decide to turn it on or not and so had stuck it in his bedside drawer for the moment. It took less than a day for his house to get broken into and the Death Expectancy Device stolen. Lia always wore hers on her arm and figured everyone thought it had already been turned on, since no one commented on it. It was truly interesting the reactions people had to the device. There seemed to be two main groups. Those who went crazy and ran about in a panic, determined to do anything to stop it. They were always scarily hysterical at the end. Then there were the ones who went quiet. Doing nothing but stare at the numbers counting down, their lives slipping away, swallowed by the ever slow marching of the end. The television was filled with all kinds of gossip and theories on the Death Expectancy Devices. There was even a petition to make it a cause of death! Then there were of course the conservatives; the bible-thumpers who maintained it was unnatural and that we aren’t meant to have such knowledge.
In the background she hears the Wicked Witch of the West telling Dorothy something, followed by her maniacal laughing.
Lia slowly put the Death Expectancy Device back on her wrist, thinking it wasn’t worth the fuss or the thoughts, but the curiosity… now that could kill you.
Again she hears the bubbly voice in her mind, “Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt ya know!”

Lia shot up from her chair, knocking it over in the process, to hurriedly walk towards her bedroom. It was getting late. Even as she got ready for bed, her unruly mind tries to go back to that place. Why was it so hard to not think about something? The more she tried to push it away, the more it seemed to pop in at any given chance. She is so tired, her head aching from the thoughts she has been repressing. Her dreams swallow her up and her mind, now free of her will, goes where it wishes.

They are skipping down the sidewalk, Cassie and she, their shoes making slapping noise on the pavement. Cassie frequently turns to face me as she talks, so that she is walking backwards in front of me. In each of their hands, protected by its plastic, is the Death Expectancy Device. They are but a couple blocks from Cassie’s house when she exuberantly decides she can’t wait any longer. Lia carefully puts hers in her pocket, as Cassie rips open the plastic. They come closer to the first intersection as Cassie, still walking backward in front of Lia, extends her arm so Lia can help her put the device on. Lia continues to hold Cassie’s hand as she gives a thumbs-up sign and a big mischievous grin. With a small squeal she reaches out with her other hand and presses the on button. Bright licks flicker across the screen as both girls lean forward to look.
Lia sees the screen.
0 Years. 0 Months. 0 Weeks. 0 Days. 0 Hours. 0 Minutes. 6 Seconds.
Before she can even begin to comprehend it she feels Cassie’s hand jerk out of hers followed by the squealing of tires and then smell of the smoke assaulting her senses. Oh so slowly it seems she turns her head to look. She cannot comprehend. All that fills her mind as she stares at the carnage is 3… 2… 1. Lia walks as though the ground moves under her feet, unsteady and unsure, towards the wreckage. There is noise in the background of screaming and sirens, but she hears it only distantly. As she comes closer she sees the arm, bloody and torn under the car’s belly. She walks towards it and leans over to see the Death Expectancy Devices flashing all zeros. Lia jerks away and her legs fold all by themselves. She lands with a small thump on the pavement. Lia makes herself watch as the body is removed, recovered. Did Cassie know? Did she see? Lia hopes not; she prays her last seconds were filled with the excitement of turning the device on, the smiles and nothing else. The images are haunting her, the life accusing her.

With a strangled sob Lia jerks awake, her whole body shaking as she struggles out from under the covers. Her breath comes harsh and painfully. She touches the device on her wrist. The one that connects her to her friend, and the one she fears and hates with all of her person. It hurt she couldn’t make it right.
Her friend was dead, D-E-D, ded.



Soundtrack: Pale by Within Temptation
Quote: “Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing."

Saber Alli
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#2
Old 11-18-2007, 05:18 AM

reserved for part 2

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#3
Old 11-18-2007, 05:20 AM

reserved for part 3

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#4
Old 11-18-2007, 05:22 AM

OPEN! PLease read and then tell me what you think so far!!

She Who Must Not Be Named
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#5
Old 01-08-2008, 03:51 AM

Wow I really like the idea you have here. Its original and interesting.

I would make more paragraphs in order to make reading easier ^^

Saber Alli
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#6
Old 02-12-2008, 06:51 AM

Thank you! ^_^

 


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