1 1. Smelly endings

Well, this stinks, literally. Here I am currently being crushed to death by a pile of garbage in the back of a dump truck.... yep, it stinks. How did I end up here you ask? Excellent question.

I wasn't anything particularly special in life, but I would say I lived a good life up till now. I finished high school just a bit above average, went and got a job, eventually found a Good Girlfriend. If there was one thing I had a passion for, it would be games and fantasy novels. I wouldn't go as far as to say I was a nerd but I don't think I was far off either. I was a really big fan of reincarnation novels, not that I'm disappointed with my life I'm pretty happy with it really up to now of course.

I just always felt it was a bit too predictable, sure there were ups and downs moments in life I'll remember forever and moments I'd rather forget, like right now, in the garbage truck…. Anyway, it just felt like I knew where I was gonna end up and more or less how I was gonna get there. So not quite boring, just a bit too predictable. I would have liked just a bit more excitement in my life, maybe I should have travelled more or something.

As for any hobbies I had I did enjoy playing games. I've played a few in my time, my favourite genre would be those open-world survival games, I always loved those, especially if you could catch and tame the native wildlife that was always a big bonus for me and if it had fantasy themed stuff like dinosaurs or dragons and griffons even better. If I had to pick one game the I played the longest or had the most influence on me it would have to be Pokémon. I've played all the versions since before Gameboy colour came out with red and blue version to the latest sword and shield (I played shield just to be different) I never got intense enough to remember all the natures state boosts or all the maths to get the "perfect Pokémon" but I could tell all of them off by heart when they evolve and a fair few Pokedex entries.

Yep, nothing special or outstanding. I'm was just starting to think about what I was gonna do in the next chapter of my life when without even realizing it, it was decided for me. Went to the doctors for a check-up on a bad cough. Started as innocent as any check-in with your GP, listen to me breathing check for swollen glands you know basic stuff to see if I'm sick or not, yea that's how it started.

I'm not sure when but at some point I realized this seems to be taking way longer than it should to find out if I had the flu or not, and the doctor I was just bantering with has got a disturbingly serious look on his face and is only talking when he has to. Like he's got the runs but is trying hard to hold it all in. That's not good for you man, go let that shit out! Anyway, he starts asking me to take a lot of tests and scans, the whole time I'm trying to ask what the hell is going on but the doc just keeps telling me he doesn't want to alarm me until everything comes back. I felt pretty damn alarmed already dammit, how much more alarmed can I be. Turns out a lot, I had lung cancer.

To say I was upset was an understatement, I mean I never even smoked!! Things got a bit dark for me after that, but I had a good doctor who cared which isn't as common as you'd think, a nice family and a loving girlfriend so they all managed to pull me out of it after a couple of weeks of depression, I even tried smoking with the excuse that it won't make a difference now. Turns out I'm allergic to something in them so that didn't work out. But I've never been one to let my emotions get the better of me if there is one thing I pride myself on its being in control of my emotions and staying calm and decisive in high-stress situations.

That's not to say I was cold and detached I just didn't like letting my emotions make my decisions for me, that might work for some people but not me. To be honest two weeks was a long time to just let myself drown in my emotions and let it all out, not always in the nicest of ways, looking back I'm not too impressed with myself but I feel like I had pretty darned good reason.

So after getting myself back together with the help of everyone I organised my chemotherapy and was ready to battle it out, I was gonna go down fighting. Well, at least that's what I was thinking on the balcony of my hospital room looking out at the view trying to psych myself up before I went in for my first treatment, but you see it had rained just earlier and the tiles on the balcony were a bit wet and well yea, I slipped.

Obviously, I started screaming my cancer filled lungs out the whole way down and flailing like a madman like I was gonna suddenly learn how to fly, none of this was very helpful but dammit I just told myself I was gonna go down fighting and so I damn well did. I through every move I knew and fought tooth and nail with gravity itself and shockingly, I won! After falling for what felt like forever but was probably a couple of seconds, I crashed into something soft. I couldn't believe it, I was alive! It smelt like vomit and shit and felt like I landed on something not so different but I didn't care at that moment, I was alive!! Fuck you gravity, I beat the shit out of you, man conquers all MUHAHA.

Just as I was going a bit wild with joy, I heard a loud noise that echoed around wherever I was. That brought me back to my senses and I started paying attention to where I landed. As I was looking around it slowly dawned on me where I was, dark rectangular room with steel walls with a gap in the roof just above me and garbage everywhere around me, when I looked a bit closer at what helped me in my defeat of gravity (landed on) I realised it was old bedsheets from the hospital covered in well, let's just say it smelt like what it was… yep I was inside a dump truck.

I somehow managed to fall exactly in through the opening at the top of the where all the rubbish gets dumped in. As I'm realizing how my victory over gravity came to be and trying to figure out how I can climb out I hear that loud noise again, and it starts to get dark suddenly, then it hits me like a paved floor with no garbage in between. I quickly look up and to my horror, another tip bin is about to be emptied, right on top of me and it doesn't look like smelly sheets this time. I have just enough time to course gravity for being a sore loser before it drops a load of garbage right on top of me.

So there you go, you're all caught up now. So here I am with piles of garbage all around me unable to move, and suffocating on sheets in dire need of a wash and as everything is starting to fade, I know what's coming. I can't help but think of my family and girlfriend and how I'll miss them, and I hope they won't be too sad for long, and just before my consciousness truly fades I can't help but think, fuck you gravity

What I didn't know was that while my chapter here was coming to a close my story was far from over and my next chapter was just beginning.