Commodities

It's only fair to vibe a warning before the start of this one.

[WP] Human lives are now a commodity. People can give each other their life, but not unless they will it. Millions of terminally ill people flock to beg the suicidal for their lives. The black markets sell the lives of those they tortured to agree to give theirs up.

*****

The world is sick...

War, famine, all the bloodsheds and senseless deaths over millennia of human history have always had human life as their price...and now human life is nothing but commodity, nothing but some product to be sold and bought around like supermarket produce.

The world is getting crazy. I must be the only sane one left...

The other day I saw a woman crying and begging on the street. She was kneeling on a homeless man's dirty foot, begging for him to give up his life to save her dying child. What a ridiculous sight it was. It made me laugh, it made me sick, it made me angry...

Who would be stupid enough to willingly give up their life for some stranger?

***

"Mr. Allen? Mr. Allen? Do you understand what I just told you?", the doctor's voice sounded like it echoed from far away.

"Huh?", I replied, snapping back to reality.

"Do you understand what I just said to you?", he repeated.

"Y-yeah, yes...", I replied nonchalantly. "Stomach cancer...inoperable..."

The reality finally sank into me. I did not have long to live...

"We have several options we can do however. As...", the doctor's voice went away once more as I dazed away into my own thoughts.

Ironic, I thought. I thought I was the only sane person in the world. I thought I was the only person left who cherish human life as it is-- a precious thing which should not be replaceable, which should not be toyed with...

And yet as numbly I drove home that thought began to invade me-- I need to get someone to surrender their life to me.

I didn't realize it then as my lips stretched wide and formed a sick smile. I stopped my car on the side of the road and I began to chuckle. A chuckle turned to a laugh, and the laugh turned to a manic cackle.

The absurdity, oh the absurdity! In one single day, my whole idealism was destroyed and grinded into ashes.

With a heavy heart my mind was full of unclear thoughts. What should I do? What should I do? Like a zombie I sauntered the hall of my floor and like a robot I reached for my key in my pocket.

"Good afternoon", I heard a voice greeted me.

It was my next door neighbor, Casey. She was a young girl in her early 20's and she was just leaving her apartment to go off somewhere.

I nodded and whispered a greeting as a reply when I noticed her arms...her skinny pale arms full of scars and markings.

Stopped in my tracks, I followed her movement as she went for the elevator. A thought popped in my head...a very, very, disturbing thought...

***

"Wake up", I said sternly, pulling the bag I used to cover her head off.

Casey jerked in shock as she gained consciousness. Realizing she was unable to move as her wrists and ankles were bound, she immediately she began to panic.

"Wh-what are you doing? Where am I?", she yelled. Once she saw my face confusion set in her own.

"Y-you! It's you! Neil...isn't it?", she said in tears. "Why are you doing this?"

I told you I had a disturbing thought...and I guess I was desperate. In the most spontaneous thing I've ever done in my life, I waited for her to come back that same night-- sitting by my door for hours waiting to hear her footsteps.

And like I was possessed by something, I knocked her unconscious, dragged her into my car, and drove us to an abandoned factory lot near our apartment.

"Shhh", I hushed her. "I'm not going to hurt you, Casey. Not if you give me what I want"

Casey whimpered but she calmed down to hear me. "What do you want?", she asked.

I kneeled before her, my figure illuminated by the light of my car, casting a shadow over her.

"I want you to give up your life to me", I said, my voice was chilling even for me.

Casey breathed heavily as my words slowly seeped into her.

"No", she finally answered, one which I expected.

I sighed and I stood up.

"I'm dying, Casey. Just found it out today. Inoperable stomach cancer. I don't have long to live...", I said in a straight voice.

It came out that way as for me begging would be the last thing I wanted to do.

"Please don't make me torture you and just say yes", I said.

Casey bit her lips, trying to keep her fright in check.

"Why me?", she finally said.

Once again I kneeled before her and nodded to her arms.

"Because I want to live and you don't", I said.

Understanding my notion, Casey shook her head.

"I don't want to die", she said.

"Then why did you hurt yourself?", I asked.

Casey was silent for a few minutes, biting her lips hard.

"Because...I want to live...", she whispered.

"What?", I asked, unable to hear her.

"BECAUSE I WANT TO LIVE!", she howled. "BECAUSE I WANT TO FEEL! I WANT TO FEEL ALIVE! BUT I CAN'T!", Casey screamed in tears.

Her words were like blades and I felt my heart was stabbed deep. I stumbled back, at a loss for words. Her declaration seemed to pull me back from whatever possessed me and I came to my own senses.

"Wh-what have I done? This is not me", I muttered to myself, horrified at what I just did to this poor girl.

Casey cried and cried, and each sob I felt a shiver down my spine, I felt my anger returned-- I was angry, so angry at myself.

"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry", I repeated again and again as I untied Casey.

***

"Neil...I never thanked you...", Casey said, sitting on the side of my hospital bed.

"Thank me for what?", I said weakly. The chemo really left me as a husk of my old self.

"As weird as it sounds, when you held me hostage, you made me realize how badly I wanted to live", Casey said, holding my weak hand tight.

"I hated myself, I was angry at myself. I never appreciate life the way one should...", Casey continued. "But in a strange and demented way, seeing you going so far in trying to save your life...made me realize how precious mine was"

I chuckled and coughed a little. "The world is weird, isn't it?"

Casey chuckled with me as we enjoyed each other's company.

For the past few months I have been battling this sickness of mine...and I'm afraid it's a losing battle. But on a bright side, I was not alone. In a strange turn of event, I saved Casey's life, in a way. And in return, she's been saving mine...but I think it's time to return the favor once and for all...

"Casey...", I called out weakly. "I want you to have my life, the rest of it anyway. I need to you to go on as you are now, a bright and happy young woman. I want you to live for the both of us", I said.

"Neil...what are you saying?", Casey's worried face met mine.

"I'm tired, Cas. I'm very very tired. I think it's time for me to let go", I said.

Casey held my hand tight. I could feel it trembling.

"For the last time, I'm sorry...and thank you, for everything...", I said before I made myself comfortable on my bed.

"I surrender my life to you, Casey Haynes", I said weakly.

The last thing I saw was her crying face as light left my person and a peaceful darkness blanketed me, lifting all of my pain and suffering away.

*****

THE END