Maybe if he'd given you ten or even five thousand you'd feel more comfortable making the risk of "starting over" but with just a thousand, you're not that confident even with your new found self sufficient approach to life.

Besides, you're not even sure where the hell eastward even takes you. For all you know it ends in wilderness, you've never been out of your own town before. Better to take your chances with the devil you know.

As you drive down the empty road, you pass long stretches of trees and wilderness. You never realized until just now how rural in an area you lived in before.

You briefly check your phone again to see if anyone has called, but as usual nobody has. Nobody cares.

You continue driving thinking about probably having to deal with the near state of anarchy the town is in. Assuming you even get home in one piece you'll have to deal with Peter and his car. You figure you'll have to at least give him this one.

All of which isn't going to help you with Kelly who is still intent on throwing you out by the end of the week. Chances are if you attempted to "pay rent" with some of your money she'd just punch you in the face and take ALL of your money and let you stay another month at best which means being on a time limit and scrambling for a job again. You got very lucky once with the job situation as fast as you did, and you don't think you'll manage it that quickly again even if the town wasn't all fucked up.

That leaves your plan "B" choice of living with your sister Donna and your so called best friend Julie which isn't much of a plan at all so much as it's just a free living arrangement. What a joy that's going to be, dealing with their partying every night. You might as well be living out in the chaos filled streets given how they carry on. Hell, you might even be safer. You'll definitely have to make sure to keep your newly acquired loot well hidden.

You try to take you mind off of all this by turning on the radio…Ground Zero ads.

"Ground Zero…how fucking original." You say and turn the radio off, shaking your head.

You continue driving and driving and driving; your thoughts continuing to go back and forth about why you're even going back to town.

It really would be so much easier to just stay with Jack.

You turn around

You suddenly slam on the breaks.

"What the fuck am I doing? I don't really want to go back to that shithole town! I don't want to deal with shit on my own! Fuck this!" you exclaim and then spin the car around.

You drive back justifying everything in your mind that this isn't really abandoning your goal of being self sufficient, it's just a minor set back.

"You're not going back to your old ways Suzy, you just need to some help. Jack wants to help so why shouldn't you let him help? There's no shame in it. Besides, you're not going to whore yourself out and he's not expecting you to. Everything is going to be fine." You say to yourself.

After several times of thinking this, you have probably managed to convince yourself of it to a minor degree.

Eventually as day turns to night you see the Gray Building looming in the distance.

"Besides, it's very dangerous in town right now. It's probably safer to stay here anyway. Yeah, it will be safer…" you say ignoring the fact that you'll be completely alone with a perfect stranger in the middle of nowhere. Well actually you aren't really ignoring it, so much as you're trying to mentally block it out.

You park near the building, get out of the car and head to the door. Remembering that Jack told you to knock three times, you do so and the door opens. Jack isn't at the door, but you assume he's probably got it on some sort of automatic system.

You enter the large front room and shortly after the door closes, you see Jack exiting one of those rooms in the back and quickly walking towards you.

"Suzy! Are you alright?! You're not hurt are you?" He asks.
"Um, I'm fine Jack. I just decided that you might be right about how dangerous the town is right now and I should stay here awhile just to play it safe. No point in being proud for no reason." You say.
"So you never actually got back to town?" Jack asks.
"No, why?"
"Because the town is currently under marshal law as well. After fucking around with the radio a bit more, I managed to get a little more info on that military frequency. My heart sank when I heard it knowing you were probably heading back that way. To be honest, I really worried."

If Jack's playing up his concern, he's doing a really good job because you're fairly convinced he's being genuine.

"Well…I guess its good I decided to come back then." You say realizing that this happy coincidence is only going to reinforce your more slothful tendencies. Still, you ARE glad you avoided potentially getting shot by the National Guard or something.

Attempting to avoid awkward silence you move on to a topic of immediate need.

"So, you got a shower I can use? I think I'm about due."
"Sure, you know that room you woke up at? Well there's a bathroom on that same side of the corridor towards the end of it, can't miss it mainly because it actually has a door on it. Plenty of unused towels too…um, I don't really have any spare women's clothing lying around though. Not that I remember anyway. I suppose anything's possible with all the shit I have laying around."
"Well I'll just wear these and figure that out later. I also just realized I haven't eaten anything since Monday."
"Oh, there's a kitchen area across from the bathroom conveniently enough. Help yourself to whatever in the cupboards or refrigerators. Got plenty of stuff. I can even try to cook for you if you tell me what you like."
"You can cook?"
"Well, I'm not an expert, but I can get by. I'm mostly lazy though and just pop in a frozen dinner."
"Same here and that's what I'll probably do. No need to trouble yourself." You answer.
"Okay, well I guess I'll leave you to it. Oh, and you're welcome to use that room to sleep in again. I think that's it, if you need me I'll be messing about with my radio as usual."

At this point Jack raises his arm in a gesture to invite you back to his home.

"Thanks Jack." You say as you walk by.
"I'm just glad you're safe." Jack says.

You head to the bathroom, which is a fairly mundane one with all the usual amenities. Plenty of towels like Jack said. You lock the door and take a much-needed shower. You get a half paranoid thought that Jack is going to suddenly burst in on you, but that doesn't happen. So far Jack is still staying true to his gentleman form.

You get dressed and then head to the kitchen where you find Jack wasn't kidding about having a well stocked one. You grab a drink and find the frozen dinner that takes the least amount of time to heat up in the microwave and then eat. Once again you think Jack is going to come in to check on you, but he doesn't.

After eating you sort of just sit in the kitchen looking around for a moment. That of course becomes boring fairly fast and you go back to your assigned bedroom, which looks about the same as it did before.

It isn't any more interesting in there either. Normally, you would've had your laptop to keep you occupied, but it's sadly back home and you're unlikely to see it anytime soon. Even your phone has recently gone dead. You almost want to go through the dresser in the room, but you sort of think that would be a bit intrusive since it's probably just filled with Jack's things.

Lacking any other ideas, you try to go to sleep, but you're just not tired yet. Not to mention you're still too anxious about sleeping here. Your usual method of "easing" yourself to sleep, isn't an option since for one thing your battery powered boyfriend is also at home. However, even if you wanted to take matters into your own hands, you'd rather not be in the middle of spittin' the kitten if Jack does decide to walk in to check on you.

So you do the very thing that's you've been expecting Jack to do to you, you go seek him out to see what he's doing. (The irony isn't lost on you)

He mentioned he would be in that radio room so that's where you initially head to, but then you hear a few noises in another one of the side rooms. Sounds like a video game.

You take a look and see a proper living room like area. Odd that you didn't notice it the first time you were here, but then you weren't really paying excessive attention to every room you were passing last time.

There sitting on a sofa is Jack playing a video game on a sizable screen.

"Well I guess you got sick of listening in on the military huh?" you ask causing Jack to look in your direction.
"Oh hey, I thought you'd be asleep or something." Jack says pausing his game.
"Can't sleep and I left any sort of stimulus to keep myself entertained at home unfortunately. This looks promising though." You say.
"Got another controller, you can join right in if you want." Jack says and points to some controllers on his coffee table.
"Nah, that's okay. I'll just watch for now." You say and just as you're about to sit on the sofa, Jack starts to get up.

"How come you're getting up?" you ask when you sit down.
"Well I can sit in that seat over there." Jack says.
"Jack it's your home, no need to move on my account. I'm fully comfortable sitting next to you. I need to get over my paranoid scenarios about you anyway."
"Scenarios?" Jack asks while sitting back down.
"Yeah, I kept thinking you were going to come rape me in the shower."
"Yikes. I thought you said you didn't think I was a serial killing rapist anymore." Jack says not taking offense and going back to his game.
"Yeah, but…well I can't help thinking the worst of people."
"Well I get that."
"If it helps, I'm about ninety nine percent sure that you aren't a serial killing rapists anymore and I just think there is something weird about you."
"Well looks like I'm doing better then." Jack says with a smile.

You watch Jack kill something on screen before he speaks again.

"Well Suzy, I'm not sure if this is going to disappoint you, but I'm going to admit something to you that I've never told anyone before." Jack says.
"Uh oh." You say.
"I'm completely boring. Seriously, there is nothing remarkable about me at all. Like I said, I mainly kept to myself and lived in my mom's basement until she tragically died, then I lived alone in her house…and now I live here. The end. Oh and collected a bunch of shit along the way."
"Wow, way to sell yourself to me there Jack." You say.
"Well I figure if saving your life a couple times and being honest isn't going to get you to like me, nothing will." Jack chuckles, causing you to snicker a bit too.
"Hah, I knew that's why you saved me." You say.
"Oh well, I guess the secret's out." Jack replies.

You have to admit, you're starting to become more at ease with Jack, the guy is very laid back and you're certainly not used to dealing with that sort of personality. The closest was your older brother Ben's hippy wife Moonshadow and she was an annoying flake. (She did have pretty eyes though)

"So am I actually going to learn anything more about you?" Jack asks.
"You know what Jack? I think you will, what the hell…" you say.

You open up to Jack, and begin telling him of your life. The funny thing is while you find it pretty dull Jack finds it pretty fascinating. You imagine that's probably due to your "colorful" family members who probably would be a lot more amusing to someone else not having the burden of dealing with them.

Jack stops playing his game altogether when you start going into your Uncle Ed and Bobby. He hangs on every word, asking you for clarification at times which you provide.

You don't know why you're telling him all this stuff, you suppose it's because you feel very comfortable with him, not to mention telling him all this stuff almost feel like a weight has been lifted off of you, since it isn't like you talk to anyone normally.

"Holy shit Suzy. Your life wasn't all that boring what with all the psycho family members and your cultist ex. Wow. Maybe I should be scared of you given how you managed to survive it all." Jack says after hearing everything.
"Eh, seems like someone's always saved me or I've been lucky. I mean Bobby saved me from my uncle. That's probably why I fell in love with him…(Sigh) Sort of fucked up right?"
"Well I think I understand it. I dunno, never been in that position myself, so I'm not really one to judge. Obviously it was love while it lasted. I mean he didn't try to kill you when you broke up."
"True. So how about you?" you ask though you're starting to get sleepy.
"How about me what?" Jack says.
"Any long lost loves in your life?"
"Not really any love whatsoever really…it's a rather depressing tale. I'd rather keep the conversation upbeat."
"Mm. Shit, wave of sleep is starting to hit me." You say and then yawn.

"Are you going to bed?" Jack asks.
"You mind if I just sleep on this sofa? I think I mentioned how I'm used to sleeping on one." You reply.
"Sure. Sure. I'll move and you just stretch out and be comfortable." Jack says and gets up so you can lie down fully.

Jack turns off his console and as you settle in to sleep you continue to speak a bit.

"I like you Jack." You say.
"I like you too Suzy…um…I feel I should tell you something though since you were so open with me."
"What, you're a serial killer rapist after all? Well, if I'm still alive tomorrow, I think I'll be able to look past the raping if you at least still respect me." You darkly joke as sleep continues to creep up on you.
"No, I just was going to say, while I wasn't lying about not being a remarkable person, I suppose I've acquired some remarkable things in my dealings."
"Oh, well you can tell me all about your rare antiques tomorrow. I'm sure I'll find it interesting."
"Well, I suppose I do have some of those, but I was referring to this building actually…um…I guess I'll tell you tomorrow since it's really important you know and I think you'll want to be attentive when you hear it." Jack says in a serious tone.
"Sure…whatever (Yawn)…" you say.

With those last words Jack leaves you to sleep and you drift off…

Next day…

THURSDAY


You wake up to the sound of…well you can't quite place it. White noise might be the closest thing you can think of, but that wouldn't be correct. It's like an annoying hum or buzz going straight to your head. You get up and see that the TV is off from yesterday, so it isn't that.

"Jack? You hear that noise?" you call out in a groggy tone.

There isn't any answer, just that increasingly annoying noise.

You attempt to get up and it takes you a couple tries, not because you're naturally lazy, but more because you're starting to feel nauseous. The noise you're hearing isn't helping matters.

You get up on your feet and stagger to the door way which when you get to, you lean up against and feel like you're going to puke.

"Jack…" you just barely manage to shout, before you have to stop to keep from vomiting.

You look up and down the corridor and find that the lights are flickering. Some are out completely. You have no idea what the hell is going on, but you'd probably be more scared if you didn't feel so sick.

Mustering up all your willpower, you head to the bedroom thinking Jack might be asleep in there. Nobody there, but you can't fight the sickness any longer and you run as fast as you can to the bathroom nearly falling over in the process.

You just barely manage to make it to throw up in the toilet. The lights are going nuts at this point and you notice the bathtub and sink are both on. After recovering a bit, you notice the stuff coming out of the sink isn't exactly water. It's black and tarry looking. You don't risk touching it, you just get the hell out of the bathroom.

No sooner have you done this, when a sudden loud noise hits you so hard you actually stumble and fall to the floor. You wouldn't even be able to describe the sound, it's just really horrible and even though you've just puked, you still feel pretty damn nauseous.

Picking yourself back up and leaning against the wall, you slowly try to make your way to the room where Jack was messing about with his radio stuff. You don't feel like you're getting anywhere though, in fact the more you walk, the more you feel like you're on a treadmill in an endless corridor.

You continue on, but as you pass by rooms you can swear you're seeing weird things out the corner of your eye. You then start thinking you're seeing shit in front of you as well. Shadowy humanoid figures blink in and out existence along with the lighting.

At this point the feeling of terror is becoming stronger than your feeling of sickness. The white noise is still drilling into your head, but now it's accompanied by an insane laugh, which varies in pitch and tone. When you pass the flight of stairs, you hear whispery voices beckoning you go in that direction. You're hardly enticed to do so.

As you get closer to the radio room, the shadowy figures can be seen running about in the large room up ahead. As you get closer, these figures are becoming less shadowy and more "solid." These figures are starting to no longer look humanoid either.

It is around this time that you notice your surroundings are becoming… warped. Walls are melting around you and you're seeing those shadowy figures in the next room starting to move in slow motion one moment and then other times you see them rapidly moving back and forth in a repetitious manner. You nearly jump out of your skin when several of these beings appear right in front of you and you get a good look at them now that they aren't so shadowy anymore.

They're a mass of tentacles, teeth and misshaped features that would make any horror movie demon jealous, unfortunately this is no movie. The screeching, wailing, and gibbering are bad enough, the visual is bad enough, but the fetid smell is what puts it over the top in just vile nastiness.

You see one particularly disgusting one with a mutilated face like raw meat and a the scent of a rotten corpse on a hot day, transform into something even worse looking before it opens three of its mouths to reveal its tongues which not only look infested with disease, but have ugly little faces on them.

When it attempts to lick you, you turn and run only to find yourself in a wide open space where everything now looks like it's been put through a multicolored filter. You feel like you're in a rainbow void. When you look behind you however all you see is darkness save for the creatures now moving towards you.

You don't run far when all of a sudden the rainbow filter disappears and is replaced by a flickering affect that you're actually back in a "real" location. It isn't the corridor though, it resembles more of a large college auditorium and in the center is a single figure sitting in a lotus position.

He's bald and not dressed in modern clothing and in fact looks like he's from some sort of nerd cosplay convention. He appears human however.

One thing that's about him that doesn't look human though is his eyes are completely white and not just normal "blind eyes" sort either. They're glowing pure white light.

You become very disorientated as the flickering of this reality disappears and slowly just becomes a blank gray open space with more gray as far as you can see despite there not being any more walls. You see that the creatures behind you aren't following, but they definitely want to get closer. It would seem this man's presence is at least holding them back somehow. At this point you you're completely lost to as what is going on, but you approach the man if it means keeping the monsters at bay.

The man suddenly speaks as you get close to him. He's not really looking at you though, more like looking through you.

"You…I…don't belong here…everything changes…so many changes…been here…before…somewhere else…so much to do…bring balance…the future is beautiful…the past is beautiful…everything is ugly…corrupted…it's beautiful…" the man utters in a fragmented way and you have no idea what the hell he's talking about.
"Where is Jack?! What's going on? Who are you?!" you ask trying to figure out this situation.

To your horror you notice your hands and arms become weathered and wrinkled. From what you can tell, your hair has gone completely white as well. With some hesitation, you feel your face and it definitely doesn't feel smooth anymore.

"Oh my god…" you utter.

"…time is short…fleeting life…the others do not like this place…disrupts balance…" the man says still not moving from his spot.

You then notice your hands and everything else have gone back to normal. This entire situation is very fucked up, and you don't have the faintest idea what's going on, but you hope that "Mr. Lotus" has some answers with all the cryptic shit he's spouting.

"Look! I need answers! What is going on here and who are you?!" you ask again while still looking back to make sure those creatures are still staying away from you.

"A footnote…forgotten… traveller…cursed…blessed…nobody… you must choose… Suzy…" the man utters.
"How did you know my…" you start to ask before you're interrupted.
"You must choose…the others…they come…"

You turn your head and see that the monsters and the darkness are indeed starting to move towards you once again.

"Choose? Choose what?! What are you talking about?!" you ask again.
"You must choose…" the man says again with less of an air of indifference and more of one of authority.
"What am I choosing?"

The area surrounding you and the man begins to darken and now you're getting creatures starting surround you as well.

"You must choose or die…" the man says again.
"Alright! Alright! I choose! But what the fuck am I choosing!?!" you shout with a mixture of fear and frustration.
"You'll know when the time comes…" the man says.

For a brief moment your surroundings change from that of the large classroom auditorium again with the man still in front of you. The blackness has disappeared, but the monsters have not as you see several floating tentacle creatures in the room with you. They aren't quite as disgusting, but they're still dangerous and giving off that aura that's making you feel nauseous again.

Just as you think you see a more humanoid figure enter the room there is suddenly a blinding flash all around you causing you to shield your eyes. Everything goes completely white, to completely black and then when you open your eyes again, you find yourself in the large front room of the building. Items are no longer neatly stack and are instead scattered about all over the place, some of them probably broken.

Still completely baffled by what the fuck is going on, you look around for something to protect yourself with amongst the junk all over the floor. You eventually see a sturdy looking bat and pick it up. Upon inspection you notice the words "RUTH" on it, no doubt one of Jack's valuable purchases.

Speaking of Jack you still haven't seen him, but you soon hear him.

"Suzy?! Suzy? Are you here? Where are you?" you hear him call out. Sounds like it's coming from the corridor, but you don't see anyone. Maybe he's upstairs? You haven't been up there yet, but given what you just experienced, you're a little reluctant to go deeper into this place.

You remember Jack said he was going to tell you something about this building before you fell asleep, well whatever that was, it's apparent that you were right that something about him was weird. Not just weird, but dangerous.

You don't think you're ever going to quite get some of the images out of your head, you even feel a little different. Maybe the sensory overload has made you a bit numb rather than reducing you to a gibbering wreck.

Numb or not, you still have a good mind to just walk out the front door and get the hell out of here.

Maybe this was the "choice" that strange guy was talking about.

You leave the building

You like Jack and all, but obviously you need to break this habit of going for guys that save you and have really complicated baggage.

You head towards the door, open it revealing that it's almost night already and get out of the building. Your car is still parked in the same location and you waste no time in starting it up and driving away.

You almost don't want to look back at the building, but you're compelled to do so anyway. However when you do, you see absolutely nothing in your rear view mirror.

"What the fuck?" you say and then briefly turn your head to look directly and it's confirmed, the Gray Building is gone. You didn't see it disappear, but it obviously has. Where, you have no idea, but you feel a little bad for leaving Jack now. You can only imagine what might have happened to him.

"He already knew what that building was, Suzy. He'll be fine and if he isn't…well YOU had to get out of there right? In fact HE'S an asshole for not telling you what the hell that damn building was about in the first place…yeah…goddamn it…" you say to yourself.

In your haste to forget about some of the stuff you saw, you absent-mindedly turn the radio on.

"Fuck, it's going to just be ads for Ground…what the hell?" you say as you hear something you didn't expect.

"…and talks today were very successful between the President and several other world leaders. It would seem that despite previous disagreements, tensions in the world are lower than they have been in quite some time. In other news, financial experts say things are looking up for the economy ever since…"

You change the station and find actual music on; in fact you do this several times and find no annoying Ground Zero ads at all! Just the normal annoying ones in between the music, but the fact that anything else is on is very surprising to you. No doom and gloom as far the news goes too or at least not as bad as it was when you remember.

What the hell is going on?

You also remember that Jack told you he heard on the radio that your town is under marshal law; maybe that's no longer the case too? You certainly hope so, because you have no idea where else to go.

As you drive you wonder about the Gray Building and what it might have done. You start forming weird theories, but given what you just went through, maybe they aren't so weird.

You first wonder if maybe you went through time somehow. Maybe the passage of time goes slower in there or something. You do remember that frightening bit when you aged and then reverted back briefly. (You look in your mirror again to make sure you are indeed still young and of course you are) Maybe all the troubles in the world subsided and things are back to normal? If so, you can't imagine that it's just been a couple days and everything would be okay again. You would have had to been gone a long time.

It also occurs to you that maybe you went back in time and maybe this is before the whole world started going to shit (as well as your town).

The immediate hole in either of these theories is the fact that the music playing on the radio stations is current. Of course you could just be listening to the "oldies" station and perhaps a shitload more time has passed than you thought.

Wouldn't support the going back in time theory though if that's the case and unless every station is an "oldies" station you quickly start dismissing the idea that you might've travelled through time.

You dismiss it altogether when you hear a newsperson on the radio announce today's date.

So you haven't travelled through time…maybe you went to a different dimension? You certainly don't think those things or that bald guy were from your world. Then there was that flickering effect that you experience where you were in a halfway normal location that looked to be an auditorium.

If this is a different dimension though, so far a lot of shit is the same. Same famous musicians on the radio at least. Same world leaders mentioned, same celebrities mentioned that you know of.

Of course things seem to be a lot better as far as the world not nearly being on the verge of blowing itself up. You suppose you won't really know until you get back to town.

The drive is a long one, and it's nightfall by the time you reach your town. You aren't seeing any military trucks or any blockades, so that's a good sign. As you drive into town, you notice that it isn't an anarchic mess that it was when you left. It doesn't even look like there was any riots or disasters at all. Just normal traffic and there isn't even much of that going on right now.

It is at this time you know this can't be your reality and while you're certain glad you aren't in immediate danger anymore, you can't help but feel a bit lost.

What are you going to do? Do you still go home? What is home going to be like now? Will you still have the same crappy life? How much is different?

Once again, about the only thing you can do is find out, hell it isn't like you have much better to do now.

You drive home which is a lot easier to do when there aren't assholes throwing bricks at your windshield or general chaos in the streets.

When you arrive at what you presume is still home you park on the street and you notice it's slightly different. The house doesn't look like it's in a state of disrepair mainly. It doesn't look like the lights are on either, which isn't excessively unusual since Kelly is usually working at this time, Peter's in the garage and you're in the basement so there isn't exactly anyone in the front living room or even upstairs where you might see a light.

Peter's car isn't in the driveway either, maybe he's out or maybe he doesn't live here, you can't know. You aren't even sure if this is your house. Who knows, maybe you don't even live in this town.

Surprisingly even after all the mess you've gone through, you still have your house key so after taking it out of your pocket, you get out of the car an head towards the house.

You walk up to the front door and you're about to try your key, but then you wonder if maybe you shouldn't just ring the bell or knock first.

You try your key

You might as well try your key, if it doesn't fit then you can ring the bell.

You try your key. It works! Maybe you live here after all.

It's pitch dark inside and you fumble around for a light switch on the wall, but apparently it doesn't work which already seems like something that would happen in your own house. Unable to achieve illumination that way, you see the silhouette of a lamp in the darkness and you head to it. Unfortunately you end up tripping over a bunch of shit in the dark, because apparently the furniture is arranged differently in this house.

You end up breaking the lamp in the process of trying to turn it on. You curse and just sit in the dark for a moment holding on to your bruised shin and knee. You then attempt to carefully get up since the last thing you want is broken shards of the lamp in your hand or anywhere else in your body.

Just as you're about to carefully make your way to the kitchen and turn the light on there, you hear a creaking noise. Sounds like it's coming from upstairs.

You go in that direction just in time to see a figure at the top of the stairs followed by the muzzle blast of a double-barreled shotgun. The impact throws you against the wall and you wheeze for breath and cough up blood.

"Got that fucking burglar!" you hear a vaguely familiar voice shout as you bleed out.
"George?! Is it safe?" another voice calls out. Sounds female and you can't believe you're hearing it after all these years…either of the voices actually. But especially hers…

Suddenly the upstairs light comes on which provides just enough illumination to shine down on you and the voice of who you now know belongs to your father becomes very panicked.

"OH SHIT! OH FUCK! BERTHA! BERTHA! CALL 911!" your father shouts and runs down the stairs nearly tripping the process.

He drops the shotgun and goes over to you, but you're already well on your way to death.

"Suzy! Oh my fucking god! I didn't mean to…what are you even doing here?! I thought you were visiting Saturday! I didn't even know you still had a key to the house! Oh shit! No! Hang on!"

While your dad attempts to hold you, your mother who apparently is also very much alive in this reality still doesn't quite know what's going on until she sees the carnage.

"SUZY! NO! GEORGE WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" your mom screams and runs down the stairs.
"I didn't know! I didn't know!" your father exclaims.

You can't talk or do anything except gurgle and choke on blood right now, but as the light begins to fade from your eyes and the life starts leaving your body, you watch your mother approach and tearfully embrace your bloody body.

And somehow seeing your mother one last time before you die doesn't make it quite so bad.

You just wish it had been under better conditions.