37. Laurel
LAUREL
No matter how hard I struggled, I could no longer keep sleep from pulling me under.
Every thought, memory, and feeling became muddled and foggy.
I tried to form one cohesive thought, just one, but even that was too much.
Everything blurred together until there was nothing but darkness pressing softly at the edges of my senses.
I couldn’t hear anything anymore. Sound had disappeared as though thick pillows had been placed gently over my ears, and I could no longer open my eyes. I couldn’t feel my hands or feet. I could barely feel myself breathing.
Even the pain that had consumed me for so long began to fade.
It slipped away into a vast black nothingness, and for the first time in what felt like ages, I didn’t want to fight.
I didn’t have the strength to claw my way back into a world where there was so much pain.
I didn’t have the strength to be brave anymore.
Perhaps, if death was this quiet and peaceful, I could stop being afraid of it.
Perhaps once death came for me, I could rest. I could let go.
I released the last feeble thoughts that I had.
I was ready to die.