Death is inevitable, no matter how much we all try to avoid thinking about it. Deep down I always figured that it would be a painful experience, like you were being pulled out of your body by a vacuum cleaner. It could be a slight pinch, for all I knew. Maybe I'd be so far out of it I wouldn't even know what was happening. My thoughts would slowly fade and my mind would go blank, almost as if I were falling asleep. Only, I wouldn't be asleep, and I would never wake up again. I assumed when it was my time I would've lived the most of my life, that I would've had met "the one" and settled down, maybe had a family, as cliché as it feels to say it. At least now I know I was wrong, about both the time I had left and my entire theory on death.

I don't know how long ago it was, the day I died. I was still so young, had so much I wanted to do. I don't even remember what caused it, only the white walls of the hospital room I woke up in. I remember standing up and walking around, taking in my surroundings. I remember turning around and seeing my body lying motionless in the bed I had just risen from, and seeing that only one person besides myself had bothered to show up. I remember watching his tears roll down his cheeks, tumbling over the edges and landing on the hand he tightly gripped. I remember the words he muttered to himself as his body was wracked with sobs. 

I remember the look on his face when my heartbeat began to slow, the screams he released when it came to a stop. I remember the nurses pulling him out of the room so that the doctors could revive me, although we both knew it was too late. It was too late for me, too late for us. I remember watching him sink to the floor, hiding his face in his hands. I remember seeing him hide the smile behind his palms, his true feelings hidden by his sobs. I remember the last thing he ever said to me, muffled by his palms. "I had to do it. You were too perfect, you deserved so much better. I had to save you, even if you didn't know it."

It didn't hurt like I thought it would. No pinch, no pulling, nothing. I felt absolutely nothing. Dying didn't hurt, but knowing that someone I had trusted betrayed me was the worst thing I had ever felt. They say that those who are dead feel no pain, but clearly those people haven't been through what I have. Those people have never truly felt pain.