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Cursed with Life

March 2nd, 2022, that is the last date anyone can remember anymore. Time doesn't

matter now, nothing does. The only thing the world wants now, is for it all to end. On the

morning of March 2nd, news outlets all across the globe gave unbelievable reports of all coma patients in hospitals woke up, injuries were healed, and diseases were all cured. It was a miracle and science was incapable of understanding the causes of what happened. Across the globe humanity was lifting the hands in prayer to their God thanking Him for His kindness. Even atheist quickly threw away their beliefs and flocked to churches wishing to ask for forgiveness for their lack of belief. By that night, another report shocked the world. Not a single death was reported amongst all nations. There wasn't even an admission to any hospital for an injury. It

was as if pain and death did not exist in the world that day. Parties erupted everywhere in

celebration. You would have thought it would be an impossible challenge to find a single person who was not full of joy by the recent events. After all, loved ones who many thought were soon to die or would never wake up again was right there with them celebrating as if whatever tragedy that had befallen them never happened.

We were fools though; we didn't understand what we had lost. The temporary joy blinded us from the hell that was soon to follow. By March 3rd the internet was flooded with videos of people inexplicably defying the natural law of death. Crimes caught on tape where a victim was fatally injured had their wounds heal instantaneously. It didn't matter whether it be a gun shot, stabbing, or beaten. The injuries would just disappear as if they didn't happen at all. The blood, flesh, bits of bone, etc., any trace of an injury left behind would just vanish and the wound would be back to normal. The only sign that anything actually happened to the victims was the feeling of pain. Even though the damages lasted for a mere second or two, the victims

felt the pain of the injury felt the pain it caused during that time. A majority of the population saw this as yet another miracle but some started to feel a tinge of fear at the sight of this "miracle". By March 5th some individuals who felt particularly fearless posted videos of their attempted suicide trying to test out this new miracle's effect of making people incapable of dying. Videos of people shooting themselves, cutting their throats, and jumping from high places flooded the internet to the point where others had the opportunity to watch them before being taken down. For each and every video, the fatal injuries were healed within seconds and the leftover blood or body parts disappeared from the surroundings and

reappeared back onto the body as if nothing had happened at all.

To give governments some credit, it took another 2 weeks for negative side effects of

this miracle to hit the news. They tried to hide it as much as they could to prevent mass panic, but it couldn't be contained for long. There were just too many sources of the information cropping up. Humans were not the only things effected by this. Plants, animals, or any living organism seemed to be unable to die as well. That is when the reality of their situation started to show itself. If animals weren't capable of being killed and plants unable to be harvested, food supplies would quickly dwindle and not be able to be replenished.

Like I said, governments really did try their best. They acted quickly and began food

rationing on a global scale. Naturally some people weren't happy with this new arrangement and tried revolting against it. And while bullets were incapable of killing them, getting shot still hurt like hell. This was a strong enough deterrent to settle the majority of those trying to protest the rationing. It was by no means a permanent solution but they hoped to buy enough

time to study what was happening and try to reverse the cause of it. Of course, it was all in vain though, despite having the greatest scientific minds from across the world study the phenomenon, there wasn't a single solution they could come up with. By their understanding, this occurrence was impossible. Science couldn't explain what was happening. One set of trials consisted of causing various injuries and types of butchering techniques on animal test subjects. Hoping to see how any similarities or differences the various types of injuries would affect the process of repairing itself. However, no matter what they tried, one moment the test subject's blood and flesh would be on the ground and the next they would just disappear and reappear back in place where the injury occurred. No scars on the body or faint traces of blood on the

ground. Another test used different kinds of plants, but they ended all the same. Any leaf,

thorn, fruit, or any other parts of plant life that was removed from the plant would immediately disappear and reappear back where they were removed from. Acid did nothing too, any biological substance that was dissolved by acid would reappear just as fast as it was dissolved. Creating a loop dissolving and repairing until the acid was neutralized. No matter what kind of

test was done, nothing could be learned. Nothing did what it was supposed to do, as if Natural Laws of life no longer existed.

Civilization began to crumble about a month later when it was discovered new life was impossible to create. All pregnancies that were ongoing by the time March 2nd came around were lost and no new pregnancies came about after that date. Plant life did not grow either, after that day no crops or seeds were able to be planted. Any and all life stopped progressing. After 5 years, civilization collapsed completely. The tipping point came after the world discovered that not only was there was still no means of replenishing food stock yet, that new

life was incapable of being produced, but also it appeared that aging stopped as well. Nothing and no one were being affected by time. Children showed no signs of any kind of growth, common things life hair and nail growing over time had stopped, insects who's lives should not have lasted even a single year have lived for 5 with seemingly no issue at all, and plants that have been away from sunlight or water have inexplicably survived all this time. Any of us who still held onto the hope of this being some kind of unknown natural occurrence finally gave into the fact that this was all a supernatural occurrence. Authority and Law didn't matter to us

anymore, I mean what good is a human government when there is obviously a greater power above them that they are not able to lift a single finger against. Some god or devil has decided to punish us and created a hell on earth, right? They decided that this was our end and once we ran out of food it would be over for earth. I mean we still felt hunger, thirst, and had a need for oxygen so the only conclusion is for us to waste away with the last of our supplies, right? This was our hope and at the same time it was our curse. The only thing hope leads to is even greater despair. This is what that last hope taught us. It cursed us with a despair so great and

suffocating but unable to do anything about.

It was naive of us to believe this nightmare would come to a close with the last of our

supplies. The only thing that ended after the food was gone was the last shed of good in this cursed world. By the end of our food supplies every person on the planet was only being fed the bare minimum and was starving. After the first month of no more food, instead of us wasting away like we hoped, we were all alive with no sign of anything ending. The hunger pains we experienced has grown each day, but we still cannot die. We called this a hell on earth

before, but it was only now did the meaning of that phrase truly set in. We would never feel the sweet release of death. We had already tried cannibalism, but just like how it went when we tried eating the animals by directing biting into their flesh. Before we could swallow a single mouthful of their flesh, the flesh would disappear from our mouth and reappear onto the bite wound. Erasing any sign that a bite had occurred.

It was torture being surrounded by animals and plants. Fruits and meat were always just within our grasp but we could never hold onto it. We were forced to stare at the relief that would never come to us. The hunger pains grew with every passing day until the population of the world became unable to move any longer due to the immeasurable hunger pains we all felt.

It took those with the strongest wills a decade before they could acclimate to the pain and for the rest of us it took up to 50 years for humanity to acclimate to the hunger pains and to be able to stand and move again. I faired a bit better and only took 22 years to be able to get used to the pain. During that time all I could do was lay in the fetal position being attacked by ever growing pain across my body. Winter months were the most painful during that time. I was one of the unlucky ones who collapsed while outside. Every winter my body would freeze over from

the below freezing temperatures that Canada experiences every year. Looking back at it now I think that was a contributing factor that led me to grow accustomed to the pain as quick as I did.

After humanity was able to once again move our focus shifted from learning how to

restore food to learning how to die. We didn't want to live anymore; life was only a hellish and cursed state of being that we would do anything to end. Some tried tying weights to themselves and jumping into any kind of deep body of water. The plan was that even though the body would constantly be repaired that the mind would be unconscious from the drowning. They hoped that the cycle of drowning and being repaired would happen during the time of right before death, keeping them in a permanent state of unconsciousness, they wouldn't be able to

die but at least be able to not feel the hunger pains anymore. This is what they hoped, but what is it that I said about hope previously? It leads to greater despair. The cycle of drowning and repair did happen like they wished, but the repairing happened quicker than they calculated. As if whatever caused this cursed on humanity knew what they were planning, the repairing speed was uncommonly faster than what they were used to and kept them in a suspended state of

right before unconsciousness happens. When the brain and every cell is screaming in pain from the lack of oxygen and forces the body to breath in. This lead to those people feeling both the immeasurable pain of hunger we all experienced plus the terrifying pain of drowning at the same time. The lucky ones only used rope to tie themselves down and were able to free themselves relatively quickly. That's if you can call a few months of that torture quick though. They were able to get out so fast not because they were able to untie themselves but because the mindless thrashing they did while under the influence of the pain and fear of forever drowning caused the poorly tied knots to come undone. Though they can't be considered lucky

like the ones that used rope, in a sense the ones that used a lock and chains to hold them down were able to get acclimated to the new tortious pain after several decades to be able to be clear headed enough to use the keys they fortunately had on them to unlock the lock and swim back up to the surface. The truly unlucky ones are the ones we still to this day find every once in a while, that used a lock and chains but didn't have they key on them. They only way they have ever gotten out is when some good Samaritan swims down and frees them.

Seeing the failed attempts of drowning a portion of the population tried a more radical

approach. Hoping that if they had their entire bodies destroyed they would be able stay in that permanent unconscious state, they tried jumping into entire vats of acid or into active volcanos. However, just like with the drowning attempts, whatever caused this curse had no plans of letting anyone escape suffering. The repairing happened at an even faster rate than the drowning victims, forcing these people to constantly feel the pain of their entire bodies dissolving or melting away. Never being able to slip into unconsciousness. Unlike the drowning

victims though, they couldn't get lucky and accidently free themselves. They were forced to have to wait until they either became acclimated to this new pain and then swim/crawl out or until they got pulled out by someone else. I once saw a man who created a vat of acid so acidic that he will never be able to escape. He is trapped at the bottom of the container, chains made of the same materials used to make the container can be lowered in for the man to grab so he can be freed. But the erosion is so fast that his body can't be solid long enough to be able to be

pulled out. Nothing can be done to save him; all we can do is watch his face permanently stuck in pain and terror.

Some workers at NASA had the bright idea of using one of their remaining shuttles to launch themselves at the sun. They believe that the immense heat of the sun will counter the speed of the repairing and allow them some form of death. They even had people strap themselves to the hull of the shuttle, they knew they wouldn't have enough oxygen to last long enough to make it that far. They didn't care though, they felt that spark of hope again and thought the torture of all of those years of no oxygen would be worth it at the end. I kinda feel bad for those that strapped themselves to the shuttle. The lucky ones stayed strapped and suffer from the hunger, lack of oxygen, and the cold of space. The truly unfortunate souls are the ones that their straps broke and were thrown wildly into space. At least those connected to the shuttle has a chance of their suffering ending once they reach the sun. Those other poor

souls will feel that same torture but are now forced to forever float the endless vacuum of

space. I've heard that if you use a powerful enough telescope you can still see them floating through space, endless flailing their limbs around in vain to do anything to lessen the pain that they know will never end.

That leads us up to the present day, I am one of the NASA employees that chose to stay behind. I don't regret staying, the thought of ending up like my coworkers floating forever through space would haunt my nightmares if I could still dream. It didn't take too long after the food ran out that I never slept again. The pain is too much for me to be able to sleep. I don't think I have met someone who has had any sleep in, 500 years? 5000 years maybe? I have long

stopped keeping track of how much time has passed. Who would have guessed that no sleep also wouldn't kill you in this fucked up world. I can't even have the solace of insanity, when everyone was cured March 2nd that also included mental illness. And since that day no sickness or impaired mental state has occurred to anyone. Just one more wonderful "miracle" that blessed us. I have written all this out and attached this summery of what has happened to us as well as all the scientific studies and notes that I could get my hands onto and will be sending it via radio waves in as many directions from earth as I can. If you are reading this then that means we just might have a chance. I don't know who you are but please, I am begging you,

come and kill us. End our suffering, you are our only hope.

This is my first short story. I was inspired by the podcast called Creepy. I’m no writer so it’s probably not good. Just thought I’d give it a shot

WallyWest003creators' thoughts