In a dark room, I sat waiting. Fearfully dreading the unknown future that lie closely ahead. The darkness was conflicted with a dull green light flooding out of 4 computer monitors. The sickening glow of advanced hardware faintly illuminated the face of a pale man. He sat terrified, chained to a metal chair. A terrible muffled cry pierced through the black piece of cloth covering his mouth, and echoed throughout the compressed quantity of space that surrounded him. He was trapped, forced to wait for his own death, but It wasn’t death that caused his dismay.
Elevated above the pale man, was placed an alabaster clock. Supported by four nails, Twelve Roman numerals surrounded the circumference of it. Faded by time, the uppermost digit, scarcely visible, stood as both the memory of the past, and the uncertainty of the future.
Eleven forty four, the clock read, as both the minute, and the hour gradually beat ever closer to the mysterious forsaken figure on the highest point of the clock.
Four monitors, shimmering with a bright fascination surrounded an immense, majestic cylindrical capsule filled with 412 liters of a murky solution. The dark blue fluid sat completely motionless waiting to seep into the mind of a dying man. A metal ramp, attached to the capsule led to the top where a man could enter.
Twelve men were watching the murky solution in intense anticipation. Pens were ready to record whatever may happen. Amongst the twelve scientists, my brother, ranked as leader.
John, My brother, was the pure essence of knowledge. He would not let anything slip by him without fully understanding it. If there was anything he didn’t understand completely, he would do unspeakable things to obtain the information. A small revolver was recklessly placed in his lab coat pocket.
As the clock beat, every passing second meant hope, excitement, and wonder to each the twelve observers. But for me, and the pale man, time brought nothing but dread, and despair. I found myself trying to grab hold of every moment to use as a barrier to protect me from the nearby future.
“Monitors?” My brother asked.
“Ready” One of the scientist replied.
“Subject?”
The pale man let out another muffled cry
“Ready”
“Tank?”
“Ready”
“Let the experiment begin.”
Four scientists walked to the pale man. Looking to the clock, the pale man’s body tensed. The scientist unbound the test subject, while three other scientists began to uncover the capsule.
The pale man was ripped from his chair, and his arms forced behind his back He was pushed onto the ramp, and lead to the top.
Three of the gloved scientist stretched a clear plastic sheet behind the head of the pale man.
John grabbed the silver revolver from his pocket. He loaded the weapon.
The sound of a gunshot echoed through the cramped darkness. Red fluid from the head of the pale man darted, covering the clear plastic sheet.
After quickly disposing of the clear plastic, the scientists quickly forced the pale corpse into the murky solution, and closed the capsule.
The fluid eagerly entered the newly contrived hole in the head of the test subject. The sound of the expensive monitors brought the excitement, and pain of truth to the otherwise ignorant room. The clock ticked ever closer to the dreaded, and anticipated twelve o clock.
Seizing the sequence of binary code received from the fluid, the monitors went completely black. The clock beat twelve times.
A small fleck of beautiful white appeared in the dead center of each of the four monitors. Scientists began scribbling what appeared to be complete non-sense onto their observation pads.
The light began to grow. The sound of the computer systems increased in volume. The clock forced its way closer to midnight which was now lightly obscured by the pale man’s blood.
The white light that seemed so small, and utterly insignificant now filled the entire screen. The systems were louder than ever. The 12 scientists began scribbling frantically.
As the fluid leaned to decipher the information, the image cleared up. A bright figure stood near the center of the screen.
“The afterlife!” Said John.
A deafening sound was made by a failing computer system.
The glass shattered. The dark fluid now covered the ground. The pale man was no longer kept in men’s bondage.
My brother fell to his knees.
“Failure.” He repeated.
“No man hath seen god. There is only one path, a man can take, to see Him.” I said.
His eyes widened in understanding. A grin crept upon his face. He now knew how to find his answer.
He opened his mouth, and filled the space between his teeth with a small silver bullet.
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