Death Be Not Proud

Inwe Tasartir

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

Sonnet 72

John Donne

Chapter One: Life In a Nutshell

Four years ago my father left my mother, my brother, and me so that he could go live in Tokyo, Japan. He had fallen in love with the country while there on post for the army and had wanted to live there permanently. My mom wouldn't make the move, so after a lot of arguing he packed his bags and left. Then, we live in Louisville (pronounced Lu-uh-vull all you non-Southerners), Kentucky, living the ordinary, dull Southern farm life.

My twin brother, Sean, and I thought, for the first year at least, that our father would regret the choice he made and catch the next flight back home to us. But we soon learned that life doesn't always have a fairy tale ending. In fact, it's often cruel and horrific even when you've done nothing to deserve it. I learned that the hard way then and was slowly getting used to the idea as the years went by.

After that first year of wishing, hoping, and listening to our mother cry night after night, Sean started to change. I knew he was angry at our father and was trying to find an outlet to vent, I myself choose to spend more time at the dance studio. But he chose the wrong outlet in everyway. Sean turned to racing.

I guess I'm to blame as well. I was never home and I was so wrapped up in my own anger that I didn't even notice the strange way he had been acting. When he finally told me I never tried to talk him out of it. I just figured that it was a phase that he was going through that would eventually pass with time. Then, one night, Sean took it too far.

My mom and I had been cooking dinner when we got the phone call. Sean had been racing when one wrong turn landed him inside the grocery store. Luckily no one had been killed and Sean made it with only a broken leg and a few cuts and bruises. But my mother's reputation in town had been killed. She couldn't go anywhere without people whispering behind her back so she decided to move. We promptly packed our bags and moved to Woodbridge, New Jersey. We lived there for about a year before Sean got into trouble for racing along Rahway Avenue. Since then, we've lived in Albany, New York (too cold there for my liking), Tampa, Florida, and sunny California. All in the past two years.

Now, because of his latest escapade in the Shangri-La Estates, my mom kicked us out of the house. So here we are, on a plane headed for Tokyo to live with my father…This should be interesting.

AN: Hey, thanks for making it through the first chapter. I've decided to ditch my King Arthur story and start this (which I am determined to stick through cause it was my New Year's resolution). I'm ending my King Arthur story simply because I didn't have enough time to work on it and ended up losing all inspiration for it during that period. This is the hardest year I've ever had in schooling (I've already broken down crying twice and mouthed off to a teacher, which I never do. Granted the man is an ass and he was the one who made me cry.) and at the same time I was doing our school play (which started at 6pm and ended at 12) so every night I was getting home at 12:30 and I can't drive so I had to stay at school the entire time. I practically lived there. So I'm really sorry about that. I won't completely trash the story though, instead I'll update from time to time whenever inspiration strikes. I really am sorry.

どうも　ありがちお。

Inwe Tasartir.