On the Threshold of Life and Death

And I'm dead. In the center of my school's quad, I lay on the ground, bleeding while everyone around me panicked from the sudden noise of a gun going off.

It didn't hurt, save for the split second when the bullet pierced the roof of my mouth. Strangely, even though I'm still fully conscious, I can't feel the pain of the shot. I can feel the cold gunmetal in my hands, I can feel the side of my body touching the rough concrete ground, I can even hear the sobs of the other students. But I can't feel the pain of the shot.

I heard it's because of a survival mechanism, where if we get hurt suddenly, chemicals rush into our brain and we won't feel pain for awhile so we can get away from whatever's attacking us. I guess that makes sense.

Interesting thing, suicide. Movies always show it as instantaneous. One second, you're alive. The next, bam. Eternal darkness. Or an afterlife, reincarnation, whatever. But the truth is, nobody really knows how long it takes for your consciousness to die. So I'm just as surprised as you that I can still see what's happening around me. I can still hear what people are saying. I can still feel the blood dripping from my mouth. I can taste it too. I hate it.

The bullet tore through my brain. My heart stopped beating a long, long time ago. But my consciousness still lingers. On the threshold of life and death, my consciousness still lingers.

UPDATE: Crowdsourcing

Some of you might have noticed that the "Ask Box" has disappeared from the page listings above. I removed it because my Tumblr's been glitching out and hiding anonymous questions from me when I'm on the computer. I can only see the questions on my phone, which is really inconvenient since I don't want to check my phone just to answer questions.

So, as an alternative, I've decided to make an Ask.fm account. Same basic procedure goes, ask me any question anonymously and I'll happily answer it. You could also send it to my Tumblr ask box, but if you're anonymous, realize that it'll probably take more than a day for me to answer it.

Speaking of anonymous user input, I'm having another crowdsourced story! Remember the "(Your Name Here)" story I wrote a few months ago? Well, this next story will be similar to that one, but instead of you guys submitting names, you'll submit story titles. Send in any title for a story and I'll write a short story based on it! My only limitation is that you don't submit anything sexual, but other than that, feel free to be as creative as you want with the titles! Submission deadline for the story titles will be August 30, at 11:59 PM! The titles story comes out on September 4!



TL;DR: Send in your story titles to my Ask.fm and I'll write a story on it. I won't write anything sexual and the deadline to send in titles will be August 30, at 11:59 PM. All of the stories I wrote based on the titles you guys submit will be released as one huge blog post on September 4!

Go submit titles!

Trapped in Sharknado

"Wait, wait, wait, slow down, Richard," Doyle interrupted Richard mid-sentence. Richard panted, exhausted from the two-block sprint he just ran from his house to Doyle's. "You made a what?"

"It's a DVD player that puts you in whatever DVD you play in it," Richard gasped in between breaths. Basil entered the living room with a coffee mug in his hand. He took a small sip, recoiled from the heat of the drink, and blew into the coffee to cool it down.

"How'd you do that?" Doyle asked as he leaned forward to grab a slice of pizza on his living room table.

"Do what?" Basil asked while blowing into his mug. Richard sighed, but the other two mistook his sigh as heavy breathing from exhaustion.

"He made a DVD player that puts you in the universe of whatever DVD you play on it," Doyle explained, chewing with his mouth open.

"Seriously? Like inside the universe? Can you interact with everything?" Basil asked

"Yes!" Richard exclaimed as he threw his arms up and fell back on the couch's backrest. "You can interact with everyone and everything! You can even change the storyline!" Doyle did a fist pump.

"YES. Let's go try it out! I'll go grab a few DVDs," Doyle said as he ran to his bedroom.

Clarence Porter: Urban Survivor

Clarence was awakened by the sound of crickets chirping beside his ear. Startled, his eyelids burst open and immediately clamped shut from the intensity of the sunrise. A long blade of grass, nudged by the wind, reached over the top of Clarence's head and fiddle-tickled his nose. He sniffled one. Then twice.

And a cricked jumped up from the ground and onto his lips as Clarence let off the single most powerful sneeze known to man. The cricket was not only killed, it was vaporized, since it's a well-known fact that crickets aren't designed to travel in speeds excess of Mach 10.

Clarence stood up and licked the cricket guts from his face. He needed all the protein he could get if he wanted to make it out of the plains and into the big city before sundown. He picked up his backpack and camera and started walking towards the figure of a city in the distance. He pointed the camera to his own face and hit record.

"I'm Clarence Porter. And I'm gonna teach you how to survive in the world's most dangerous artificial habitats. Our next stop: Chicago, Illinois."