«This chapter means a lot to me personally. This is the last chapter before the epilogue. I admit, writing this chapter was the toughest of all. While writing, I've got so emotionally attached to this story and its characters, its really difficult to end it off. But, that's what the plot demands!»
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"Life asked death,'Why do people love me and hate you?' Death responded,'Because you are a beautiful lie and I'm a painful truth.' "
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I had dozed off in my seat. 2hrs had gone. 7 more were left to kill. Flights can be dead boring. I switched on my seat's video unit and searched for a movie. Finding nothing worthwhile, I switched on 'The Martian' . I've seen that movie about five times, but I never get tired of it.

After watching through it to the point when Matt Damon gets the hang of growing food in Mars,( I know that's weird, but the film's awesome) I put it off. I was getting too restless.

Well...a little secret. I'm dead scared of airplanes. Maybe psychiatrists can term this feeling of mine into some phobia. I'm sure I have that.

I'm not a frequent flier but, I could tell the weather wasn't pleasant. The tension in the skies could be understood well. Soon, the pilot switched on the seat belt sign for the passengers and the crew.

" Hi everyone. This is the captain speaking. As I'm sure all of you have felt it, there is a sudden change in weather conditions. Requesting all passengers and crew to buckle their seat belts and stay seated."

Great. That's an awesome surprise for a flight-phobiatic young girl travelling alone. I did the needly and looked outside the window. The sky was grey. An angry grey. Like it was perturbed on someone. Or maybe, it was depressed. As depressed as I felt. It was raining below. How I wish I was at my house and do generally what I do when it rains. Stand in the balcony with my hands outreached outside, to collect water droplets. Needless to say,I love it when it rains. The musty smell of the wet earth, the water, the clouds, it feels so soothing. So relaxing. Refreshing.

Meanwhile our flight shook and shook. And, it rocked out the calm in me and my fellow passengers. Little kids started crying, clutching their parents. I had no one to clutch. No mom. No dad. No gran. And, the recent addition, no Calvin.

There was tension in every face. Every heart. Everywhere. The crew could be seen making intra calls inside the flight. The feeling was ominous. Evident to all.

I kept telling myself, its just normal turbulence. Don't worry. Don't worry. You over think, Ann! Shut your pessimistic thoughts. But, the hope died down when the fear came clawing up to the surface. What if the aircraft doesn't make it? What if...what if...what if.

I could see the aircraft trudging along the clouds. It was knocked down, it came back up. Knocked. Descend. Lift. The process continued. A minute felt like forever. Panic spread like wildfire. I wanted this uncertainty to stop. To end. Anyway round, just stop!!

My fear turned into hard, solid reality. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry",I could hear the pilot speak in the microphone. His voice gave away the fear,the guilt,the shame and many other dark feelings I'm unknown to. "I....I've lost control of the aircraft."

What? No. No. NO! That can't.....

Was that it? Would I just die under debris? That was all my life came to conclude to? I'm only 15....how can I die? No. There has to be someway out.

But all I did was sit and wait for death to come and carry me into its realms.
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I looked at nowhere exactly when my flight tumbled down. They say, when you die, a flashback of your life comes to you. I realised it wasn't some supernatural flashback. It was my reflecting back on my life. 15 years. I remembered my childhood. It's rightly called the golden period of one's life. I saw a little Ann giggling and running and playing with her toys. I saw her sitting on gran's lap and talking. A small smile crept on my lips even at this hour. The habit of sharing everything with gran came back from long.

Then I saw school. People hoarding around me. Bullies. Laughter. Shrill cry. Punches. Kicks. Screams. Running. I was always left out. I was a prey to the others. I pushed myself to a wall whenever anyone came to snatch away my book and call me a nerd. I cried. I shouted. I screamed.

Then came the time gran was diagnosed with cancer. Innumerable nights spent crying. I remember that's the time I started sleeping alone. I needed the privacy to cry my heavy heart out. I saw gran twitching in bed. Gasp for some oxygen. Some relief from this painful world. Cancer. Spreading of cancer. Chemo therapies. Wishes to die. To quit. Struggles.

Then I reeled to Calvin. The day I met him. Our meets. Our sweet moments. We laughed. I looked shyly at him. Considering the chance of telling him how much I.....loved him. Saw the nights I lay awake, tossing and turning, debating with myself. Should I tell him? No stupid! Don't! I'll tell him once I reach Canada. Over phone. Less casualties. That day never came. I now get that. Too late. Too late.

I remember grandma's reoccurence-day. When she was hospitalized. Nightmares relived.

I got to the day when mom told me I had to go to Canada. Better opportunities. Better education. Hope for better. Huh. What a game life is right? Topsy turvy. Crazy.

Today morning. Bidding last goodbyes. Definitely last goodbye now. Loss.

Everything was tearing away from the seams now. As the flight crashlanded, I miraculously, didn't die at once. I expected a great Thud! And boom! I'm dead. But, it was far more torturous.

Blood oozed as I lay in the debris. All I saw was blackened remains of humans. Fire. Remnants of the aircraft. Death everywhere. Why couldn't it just take me and leave?

You call death the biggest mystery? Think again. The biggest mystery isn't death. Death lies right in front of you. Inevitable. It's bound to happen. But, life? It's like a maze. A maze you are in and its changing its paths everyday. You don't know what's there in the next turn. You just go along with it.

What did my mom explain life as? "In between birth and death, it's what we do that makes us stand out of the crowd. This life here, that we are living right now, is a gap. And all we need to do is bridge this gap between life and death. Life is all about bridging the gap.

I bridged the gap, no doubt. But did I do it well and proper? I'd never know. But there was one thing for certain. I died the death I always wanted.

No old age. No pills. No diseases. No anticipation. Just....cold and raw death. It wasn't that bad, was it?

Above all. I won. I defeated death. I had challenged death to a face off, remember? I had challenged death to come, fight me and take me away if necessary before it took gran. "Listen death, before you take my gran into your realms of oblivion, I want a showdown. Well...why not? Why can't we progressed humans beat this shrowdy, invisible reality called death? Why does it have to always win?" I had said.

Dear death(the irony of it!),
You came. You saw. But, I conquered.
You couldn't take gran away. I got sacrificed, alright. But, I won.

I tried laughing my last hysterical laugh, but all that came out was a groan.

I bridged the gap between life and death.
I won.
Gran was fine somewhere.

My vision started giving away. I could feel death crushing me under its weight. Why stand rigid now that I've got all I wanted?

I gave in.
Not to death.
But to life.