The Day I.....

My heart was still fluttering and it was only aggravating the situation further. It meant I still hadn't died, didn't it?  But Why ?

 In the recent times, everybody has the day they’d die tattooed on their arm immediately after birth. It probably makes for a more sustainable living as people know their days are numbered so nobody does anything stupid at all. When someone is born, the medics check the Total Health Factor (THF) of the baby and calculate the day to which that person could live with no health-related obligations. People have THF ranging from 10 to even 35 years. People having THF lower than 10 are sent away, nobody except the government knows where. My THF is 16. And the date tattooed on my arm is 20th November 2311. Today.

My providers had once told me about a time when death was uncertain. People lost the value of living because at one point everyone was just surviving for the sake of it. And the other major problem of that time was people giving life away. Just like that. Even after hours of tossing and turning into bed after the end of that little night time story, I couldn't fall asleep. How would life be for those who never knew when they'd die ? How could just people give their life away ? But you see, that was a long long time back.

Dealing with death was nothing new to me. I had dealt with it's doings all my life. My friend Triana had a THF -14. I had lost her to heaven 2 years back. Heaven. What was heaven even all about? Many stories came and went with progressive human generations but the myth about Heaven never died. I am not really a spiritual person but I do believe in heaven. If heaven had a place, I think it would be on the sun. Centuries of scientific discoveries and yet no one was any closer to decoding the mysteries of it. And never was I closer to uncovering the truth, than today. 

My tattoo had been cuing me of the day of my death for some months now. It heated up slowly as the person entered their last year of living. It even glowed slightly blue so that everyone around would know to detach from the person. That way, losing someone was significantly helpful and everyone got their closure. There were no words left to be spoken, no feelings unexpressed. When Triana had stepped into her last year of living, I was sad. She'd be leaving 2 years before I was and I knew I'd  never see her again. Before her last day, in the haste of the moment, I'd kissed her. She'd kissed me back and unsurprisingly, told me not to miss her. That's what people always said. I agreed not to but I knew it then and I know it now, it was impossible.

I woke up this morning but as I had known it coming for years, I wasn't afraid. I went to my study centre like usual, ate like usual and returned to my dwelling like usual. My providers had been granted a leave from their job as it was my last day of living. I kissed them on the cheek, wished them goodbye. I was the first one to be leaving from our small unit, so I guess the affair was a little sad.  They said they were proud of me and before the streams in my eye overcame me, I walked away. I rushed to the THF institute and the Medics came to me to explain the procedure. Then after a little prep, they injected me with something and got me into a tiny room. After they left me there, I fell unconscious. 

And here I was now even though I didn't really know where 'here' was. A little while ago, I had regained consciousness but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't open my eyes. As my eyes were closed all my other senses were heightened. At this point I could make out being in a bright room by the way light was piercing through my closed lids. I could sense cool, crisp air. I could smell grass, green and fresh. Slowly, I could hear disembodied voices.There were definitely people around and I was sure they were talking of me. I could tell something was off but in no way was I scared. The excitement was palpable,  even to me. 

"He is here", a gruff voice said.

And a  hundred questions crossed Aaron's mind.