A Befitting Demise, a Young Adult fanfic

Hands tremble, sweat. Eyes search, close tightly. Breath quickens and catches and resumes again in shaking, desperate, shallow gasps for air. The shadows swirl and grow and crawl across the walls; engulfing, all-encompassing, indomitable. Everything moves and morphs around me, even with my eyes shut against it all. The only factor that remains fixed is my heartbeat, seeming impossibly loud and erratic.

It’s coming.

Maybe it will come loudly, in the shot of a gun or a slash of a knife or some raging, clawed beast. Or maybe it will choose a more subtle form; a careful drop of poison in my food, a disease lying dormant, waiting to spring to life. I don’t know. What I do know is that it will find me – and soon. The terrible pounding of my heart will cease, lungs will still, eyes staring blindly. My skin will grow cold and my thoughts will finally stop churning and all I will know is blackness.

I am going to die.

“I think I’m going to die today.” I inform my family as we sit down for breakfast. My father lets out a slightly annoyed-sounding sigh but doesn’t look up from his newspaper; my sister, unfazed, takes a bite of the apple she’s having for breakfast; my mom ruffles my hair and says, “Just be careful, honey.”

I imagine my statement would have had more of an effect if I didn’t express this belief every single morning. Actually, there’s no need to imagine, because I clearly remember the first time I told them, and I received a considerably more dramatic response. I recall the sound of my father’s coffee mug clattering to the floor in his surprise, my sister was caught off guard to the point where she almost looked concerned for me, and my mom’s appalled look and searching questions about how I could ‘possibly say such a horrible thing’. It took a very long, nerve-racking conversation with them for me to assure them that I was in no way suicidal, that no one was stalking me and out for my blood, etc., etc. It was just a feeling.

A feeling that I’ve had for a very long time, as I’ve come to realize; but has been considerably more prominent these last few months. When it grew to the point where I’d shake and find myself unable to breathe in the middle of the night because I heard a noise outside, I decided it was time to express my feelings.

“No, but I’m serious today.” I continue in a dour tone, which leads to my father actually folding down the top of his newspaper and peering over at me from behind the thick-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. He doesn’t ask why, just looks at me, and so my mom decides to jump in.

“Why is that?” Does she need to ask? I believe it’s really quite evident. The first day of school – well, for me. The rest of the students in this town have already been going to school for the last few weeks, which just makes it all the more uncomfortable for me to enter.

I brush her question off and instead turn to my sister, asking beseechingly,

“When I die, will you feed Imhotep?” She pauses and sends me a scathing look while she finishes chewing her mouthful of apple.

“No, I will not feed your Satan-cat, it can fucking burn in hell with you for all I care.”

“Language, Jadyn.” My mother admonishes half-heartedly, while my sister merely utters ‘ugh’, rolls her heavily made-up eyes, and stalks off in classic Jadyn fashion. I turn to a new victim with my best puppy-dog eyes.

“Mommy?”

“Yes, whatever you say, dear.” She tells me pleasantly, and I’m satisfied for the moment.

Chapter one, version two. I decided for something shorter that will hopefully draw people in better…? Please, please review. It keeps me writing. If no one’s interested I probably won’t continue. Also, there’s a picture of what I envision the main character to look like in my profile.

Preview of next chapter:

“Ahem!” The boy asserts, standing uncomfortably close to me, with hands braced on his hips and irritated but curious eyes. “You, sir, are sitting in our spot.” A bit territorial, is he? But I’m the new kid and therefore lower on the social food chain, so I sigh and grab my backpack, standing up and starting to walk away. But before I can get very far, I am abruptly knocked over by the aforementioned boy jumping on my back. I drop my backpack and sway on my feet, attempting to gain my balance, but ultimately fail and tumble to the ground with him sitting on top of me.