• I looked about, seeing nothing except the gruesome and vulgar color of death. Everything was covered in its glossy veneer. It ran down the walls in thick curling tendrils, pooling on the concrete floor all around me, my own visage staring back at me from the viscous mirror; terror flowed in my veins causing my body to shake uncontrollably. I touched the cold and lustrous surface, watching as the substance clung to my skin like glue. A spasm rippled down my spine as the mass of cold enveloped my hand. I watched as a single drop of crimson fell from one finger as I lifted my hand to my face; time seemed to stop as the droplet held its perfect spherical configuration as it made its agonizing decent to the floor. My lifetime seemed to flash past me; several of the few happy moments my life had contained seemed to hang in my mind like still frames. Still I could not believe that my time had come and that this would be the end of me. Images of heaven and hell jumped to the forefront of my mind as the alien cold crawled along my flesh causing the hairs on my neck and arms to stand on end. I clenched my teeth as my hand went numb; the icy feeling reaching up my arm to my shoulder; along both arms now. My entire body grew cold and numb as my senses faded away into oblivion, leaving me in a black void where darkness mingled with the unknown. As my senses faded away and the last images of heaven’s valor and hell’s fury settled from my mind I let what I thought a sigh escape from me before I gave into the darkness that dragged me down. It was here in the darkness I felt the weight of the world lift from my shoulders; none of the troubles existed here but as true as that was none of the joys were expressed here either. I felt my consciousness leech away from me as I disappeared from the world of the living.