The cover was made by  Mysteriousmaiden1473. Inspired by the book: Three seconds to midnight. Sit back, relax, enjoy and vote.

***

I woke up with a startle from the voice of a loud crash from outside. This was a rather weird occurance for me because I lived in a quiet neighborhood.

Curiosity got the best of me as I contemplated whether to go outside or not. I walked down the stairs and passed my parents room. It was unlit. They must be asleep or outside. It doesn't matter though. It's not like they ever cared about me. I grabbed my jacket on the way out. It was mid November and winter had decided to show up early this year.

I opened the door and walked out, immediately feeling the cold air bring goosebumps on my skin. I rubbed my hands together in hopes of seeping some warmth in them. I walked down the road from where the sound came from and I saw a woman in her mid thirties walking on the path opposite of mine.

I decided to ask her about the crash. "Um hi. Did you hear that crash sound just now?"

She looked at me blankly for a moment then started walking away but not before saying a single word. "Remember", she said.

I looked back at her retreating figure and wondered what she meant. Deeming her as a sick and mentally unstable person, I walked over to the next block. As soon as I reached there, I saw it. The crash. A lot of people were standing there gathered around the victim involved in the accident. Wanting to see more closely, I walked ahead and tapped a man on his shoulder.

"Excuse me?", I said to him as he turned to look at me. What was weird though was that he wasn't the only one who turned to look at me, everyone standing there did. They looked at me for a moment and parted a way for me to get through.

'How weird'

I ambled through the swarm of people. At first, my gaze fell on the car that hit the innocent person. The driver was standing near his car looking absolutely baffled and horrified at what he'd done. For some reason, I felt guilty upon seeing his face. Then I looked at the victim of the accident. Her leg was bent in the most horrendous position and so was her left arm. A pool of blood had formed around her, still pouring out of her noggin.

And then I looked at her face....

My heart almost stopped beating and my blood ran cold. The same brown hair. The same oval face. The same eyes that I looked into daily while standing in front of the mirror. The only difference was that they were now lifeless, staring emptily straight through me. I wanted to scream. I wanted to yell. I wanted to run but I was stuck. My feet couldn't move and my mouth couldn't speak. I turned my face to look at all of the people. They stood in a circle smiling at me. I turned back to look at the girl and my breath hitched in my throat.

She was now standing. Standing on one leg while the other was bent. Her back was arched sideways and her hair were dangling over her face. Her face was morphed into a scowl and her eyes were filled with hatred as she looked at me.

"This... is all... your fault", she said barely above a whisper and with every word, blood oozed out of her mouth and her glare was fixated towards me. "This is ALL YOUR FAULT", she screamed loudly at me while everyone in the crowd cackled and chanted the same sentence over and over again.

"This is all your fault, now pay the consequence.", they all said.

Tears filled my eyes because of how scared I was. I felt a bright light on my face from my left side and I raised my hand in front of my eyes. I squinted my eyes at the light. It was getting closer and I found out that there were two lights instead of one. Two headlights. A car! I tried to run, to move out of there but I couldn't.

In the end, all I could do before the impact was close my eyes. The impact did come and it was straight with my ribs. It was so powerful that I was knocked off my feet in the air. Blood oozed out of my mouth because of my broken ribs. I fell head first into the ground immediately opening up an unstoppable wound. I writhed in the unbearable pain and agony on the ground. I tried to breath but no oxygen got to my lungs. I felt like all of my limbs were being torn apart one by one. Everyone in the crowd laughed out loud at my misery and after what felt like an eternity, I felt my consciousness fading away. The last thing I heard before I lost consciousness was that one word- 'Remember'.

I woke up in my room and on my bed. I was covered in sweat. I checked out for any wounds on my body but there were none. As soon as I was about to let out a sigh of relief, I started walking by myself. My feet took me downstairs and out the house against my consent. Tears poured out of my eyes as I wondered what I had done to deserve any of this. I passed by the same woman on the street.

"Remember", she said once again.

This time, I didn't think of her as a sick or mentally unstable person. How could I when I was the most closest to losing sanity. So I did what she asked. Tried to remember. I did it all the way to the next block. I was standing on the pathway staring at the car that was coming my way. In the end, I couldn't remember and the same thing happened again. The same pain. The same laughter. The same one worded message before I lost consciousness and woke up in my room again.

I started walking down the stairs once again. This time I was determined to remember. What happened before I woke up in my room? What happened?

I stood on the road again. The car was headed straight for me again. I was losing my sanity. With the last bit of it that was left, I tried to remember.

And then I did.

'"You are so useless, nerd. Can't you finish our homework? I am sure you finished yours before you were even born", A guy named Raymond from my class said as everyone laughed at me.

"I am busy, Raymond", I said looking down wishing for this to be over soon.

"Busy with what? To get abused by your own daddy? Or busy getting slapped by dear mommy? Don't you see it nerd? You are useless. No one needs you.", He said and everyone replied with ooh and aah.

No one needs me

I walked in my house as quietly as I can. My mom and dad were watching tv.

"Hi, Mom and Dad" I said and only got a wave from my mom in return.

No one loves me

I was so embarrassed to do this but I got dared to by the only friend I have. I walked towards Simon and awkwardly stared at him. What will be his reaction?

"Uhm hey, Simon. I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me?", I asked him as my face turned as red as a tomato.

"Hear that, Ray. Nerds wants to go out with me", Simon says talking to Raymond and then he turns to me. "Don't dream while awake, nerds. I wouldn't go out with you even if you were the last girl on this earth. Don't take it personally, it's not your fault, nerds. You are just not lovable"

No one will ever care about you. So why not just end it? End it all and you'll be happy and in peace.

I stood on the pathway looking as the cars rushed by me. I will be okay. I will be happy. I will be in peace. I saw a car moving in the same direction I was. Making up my mind, I stepped off the pathway in front of the car.'

I waited for the impact with the car but it had stopped a mere inch away from me. Everything had. And then the woman from earlier walked towards me.

"Why did you do it, Lily?", She asked, her voice void of any emotions.

"Because I wanted to be happy, loved and in peace and I didn't get any of those things while being alive.", I replied in a monotonous voice, not being able to feel much at the moment.

"And are you happy now? Are you in peace? Are you satisfied? Your mom was going to surprise you that day because you were accepted into the college of your choice. That's why she didn't talk to you."

"What...?", I gasped as I stood up to look at her.

She kept staring at me with the same blank eyes. "What's more, you would've grown up to have the profession of your choice. You would've found a loving husband and you would've had two kids. How unfortunate is it that you lost all that for such minor problems. The future was going to be bright, if only you had some patience. But you chose this instead of all that."

No no no. It can't be. It's not fair. I want to go back. I fell down on the ground, not being able to hold my weight. I sobbed into my hands once again blaming life for my problems before I realized that life was not at fault. I was. For not being thankful for having such nice parents when there are people out there who don't even have them. For not finding the right people to spend time with and trying to please the ones that were never my friends. For not being myself with others. For not being thankful for what I did have and searching for the things that never were going to be mine and most of all, for not being more patient.

"You understand now, don't you?", She said to me. "You see, death isn't about pain, forgiveness or love. After all these years, you have your answer."

What is death abou- oh, now I get it. I felt numb all of a sudden, devoid of emotions as realization seeped through me.

"Regret, death is about regret... isn't it?" I said turning towards her but she was gone and very soon... so was I.