When Time Stood Still

Our lives are spent watching the clock. We go to sleep by it. Wake up to it. Rely on it. Race it. It's easy to forget that we're only given so much. We ignore it because we're convinced we'll always have more. I am proof that we aren't promised anything. The clock owes us nothing. I know this because not only was Time my name, I wasn't given enough of it. Sure I had challenges but I vowed to make the most of it, of my young life. My limitations wouldn't hold me back. Time was on my side. Then I was told otherwise. Now the clock was working against me. I would face this disease alone. Then he walked in and changed everything. He gave me a reason to fight. He helped me prepare. Like others before me, when time slowed I wasn't ready. I begged for more. But the clock, it stopped for no one. On the day my world went black, I refused to take him with me. Only he didn't listen. I was a doctor. A bringer of bad news. I read the chart. She was fucked. My hands, they were tied. I was a doctor who could not heal what was beyond that door. I had no hope to offer her. But I wanted this over with. The sooner the better. I walked in, looked up and saw color. Not one. All of them. They surrounded her. She was a patient. You did not cross that line. I would not cross that line. I should have kept my eyes closed. Life was easier when you didn't see. But they were open now. They saw her. They saw everything. Suddenly invisible lines ceased to matter. For me, Time mattered. How far would you go to make sure the one you loved had enough of it? Would you challenge the clock? Help them prepare? Could you watch them suffer? Could you accept a life without them in it? Or, would you follow them into the darkness? I did. This is our story.