Chapter 1
In Spite of the Heavenly Morphine
"Astronomy is the equivalent of scientific sex."
-Anonymous Astronomy Professor
I didn't lose consciousness, but when the pain welled up, I wished I did. I opened my eyes (a searing pain shot through the left one and I couldn't see through it), and found my head on my horn. The sound gradually came back to me, but the horn only continued going for so long before it cut out, probably due to the crash.
I heard a car door open and shut, and then another open and shut. There were quick footsteps and there was a knock on my window. I rolled my eyes in spite of the great pain to see the guy that crashed into me- he somehow escaped injury.
"Hey, don't move, kid. Don't move a muscle, you hear me?"
I felt blood beginning to leak out of my mouth and nose.
I heard another voice.
"There's been a bad accident on 93... no, I'm not involved. Two cars collided. One guy's walking around. He looks alright. The other guy is just mangled. Uh-huh. By exit 53. Just send someone quick."
The guy talking took a few steps towards us.
"Listen, man. I've got an extinguisher in my rig there. Lemme get it in case this thing catches fire."
I'd started shaking, like I was cold. My breathing was heavy, and very painful. I found it difficult to remain coherant, but I made every effort not to move too much.
I had to credit the emergency services response time. It didn't take them five minutes to get to us. Or, maybe it did. At this point, I was slipping in and out of consciousness. The guy that crashed into me kept yelling, telling me I'd be fine.
"I'm so sorry about this, kid. I wish it were you yelling to me right now."
The emergency personnel couldn't open my door. They had to use the Jaws of Life, or another hydraulic rescue tool.
When I was conscious again, I was in an ambulance being treated. I didn't stay conscious for very long.
I found myself in darkness, hovering above my mangled body. Suddenly, I could see through my left eye again. I felt good. Fantastic, even.
"My, my..." uttered a voice. Floating next to me was a beautiful woman in a white dress with red markings. She smiled mournfully at me. "You poor thing."
I said nothing, simply choosing to stare at the heart monitor in the ambulance. It was flatlining.
"Fear not the darkness, young one. Man's machines will chase it away this time."
She poked me in the chest and I felt a jolt. Then, she did it again, and I pulled in a breath of air from the gurney again. My body was racked with pain, and I was rapidly taken from the ambulance. Again, consciousness left me.
This time, I was out for a long while. I have no recollection of anything in that span of time. All I know is, when I woke up, the first thing I heard was a steady beeping.
My pain was dull. I opened my eyes (or eye, as there was a bandage over the other one) and the first thing I saw was a morphine drip, and I'd then learned just how much I heart morphine.
I would've said something, but there was a tube down my throat. It was helping me stay alive, I'm sure. Or my doctor is just a sadistic douche.
"Richard Miller... I hope you're feeling a bit better."
I tried to roll my eyes to the voice, but I felt a sharp pain in my left (even in spite of the heavenly morphine), and the heart monitor reflected the pain, if the BEEBEEP was any indication.
The voice, as if understanding my attempt, walked into my field of vision. It was a pudgy man with pink cheeks and not a hair on his head.
"I'm Greg Peabody, your physician. Listen carefully: You were in a near fatal car accident. Your eye was blown out, you punctured a lung, you broke nine ribs, and your stomach was perforated. Your heart stopped en route for nearly a minute."
At this point, the heart monitor went from steady beeping to fast paced beeping. Good ol' Dr. Peabody, though... he wasn't done.
"You underwent surgery, where you nearly died again. That was a few days ago now. Presently, you're stable. We have you on antibiotics as a deterrant against infection. Your insurance is covering this treatment, don't worry."
Good. I'd have wanted to be unplugged if it didn't.
I was struggling with the prospects I was presented with for a long while. After a few days, some things fell into place to my great relief. My professors, having heard of my accident and hospitalization, gave me a W in my classes and I was offered a re-take when I recovered. One professor told me that I was lucky to some degree. When he taught in California, one of his students was hit by a car on the way home and killed instantly.
The tube came out eventually, and I could breathe on my own again. My family and friends were surrounding me, I was given "Get Well Soon" cards from my classes and those that could not visit, and I was made only to rest. Even my place of work sent me a card.
Then, things took a turn, as they will.
I don't know what happened. I was watching a TV show about a fake psychic detective called Gotcha! and all at once I had a problem breathing.
I felt my heart start beating erratically, and my mother stood up.
"Rick? Ricky, what's wrong?"
She left the room as quickly as she could looking for a doctor. At this point, I was no longer struggling, and I didn't feel my heart beating anymore (the machine told me it was still going, albeit slowly).
When Peabody got to the room, he kicked those visiting me out.
"He's had an event. We'll do what we can."
I felt myself shiver, and then my body... again, I felt fantastic. There was no more pain. I felt no stress. I was ageless.
The heart monitor was flatlining again.
Peabody tried to work on me. For a split second I felt again, but it only lasted a moment, which is what a split second is, if you didn't know. He called for more doctors, they tried the defibrillator again, but... it didn't work.
They worked on me for another ten minutes. Peabody looked at his watch.
"Time of death: 5:32 PM. I'm sorry, son. I'm so sorry."
With those words, he shut my eyes and pulled the blanket over my head.
Though the passing is painful, the sleep is peaceful. Requiescat in pace.
End of Chapter
1, 145 words. I forgot to upload this part yesterday.
I've never been on morphine myself, but I've heard that it doesn't get rid of your pain. It makes you forget you had any.
Next chapter covers what happens after death. And you read it here on fanfiction, so it's obviously factual.
Finally, and I forgot to mention this earlier, but imagine this guy being from a universe where the How To Train Your Dragon franchise does not exist.
