The End

I don't know if this is every one's experience, but for some reason I've always been able to view the last moments of my life with more clarity than any other time period.

The trauma... perhaps. It's all crystal clear. I swipe my card and walk into the room. Walk up to the machine, put my card in, 7-3-6-9-5, "WOULD YOU LIKE A RECEIPT WITH THIS TRANSACTION?" No.

For some reason, it's very clear to me that I felt the cold before I felt the barrel of a gun against the back of my head. It was a strange feeling, foreign to me, a completely new experience. I was dead cold, as though my body was trying to tell me something bad was going to happen. Completely useless information considering it came about half a second before the gun did.

A hand reached around me, its fingers pressing the button for maximum withdrawal. As the phrase "INSUFFICIENT FUNDS" appeared on the screen I felt the cold again. But this time it passed quickly and took with it all my worries. It was only a split second, but it felt like an eternity. It seemed strange at the time, but I've since learned that it's an almost universal experience. You can't move on without first accepting your fate, and that's what happened to me in that paradoxically brief yet timeless moment.

When I saw my own blood roll over the reflection of my face on the screen, I didn't even flinch. Everything was so perfect and surreal. I'd never been trapped in a moment like that before. No regrets, no thoughts of dreams unfulfilled, no flashing of my life before my eyes, all I could think was how my blood's red was several shades darker than I'd expected it to be. I knew that once I closed my eyes it was all over, but for some reason, that was okay. And then I did, and it was.