![]() Dead on ArrivalA Story by K.H. Law![]() A world where everyone has a clock embedded in their wrists counting down to their time and date of death.![]() Michael Biggs enters the John F. Kennedy airport at 10:11 in the morning on November 17th, 2014. He is boarding a flight to California where he will conduct a series of important business meetings. He will return home to his wife, Carol, and two children on November 19th. He is forty-four and a generally healthy man, but has a family history of heart disease. The digital clock embedded in his wrist indicates that he will die on February 22nd, 2034 at 8:12 at night. He will most likely die from a heart attack or complications from heart disease, like his own father who died at the age of sixty-six. Michael feels this is a long enough life to lead. He will see both of his children graduate university, and will most likely be able to meet at least one future grandchild. Michael is content knowing he can get a lot done in the next twenty years. Melanie
Fernandez has been at the airport for two hours already. Her flight to
California isn’t supposed to take off until 11:30, but she was anxious to be
early. She spontaneously decided to fly to California to visit her
long-distance boyfriend of three years. She is twenty-three and is supposed to
live for another sixty-one years. She will die on June 2nd, 2075 at
1:44 in the morning of natural causes. She is grateful that she will die an old
woman, warm in her bed because that’s how Rose from Titanic wound up dying. It’s her favourite film and she idolizes
every rash decision made by Jack and Rose in it. This is why she decided to all
of a sudden fly to California, despite not being financially capable of
supporting this trip. She has a long life to live, and has no issue in making
quick decisions and living in the moment because she believes she has time to
work out any consequences later in life. Helen
Jameson is eighty-four years old. She is moving from upstate New York to the
90210 area code to live with her son Daniel and his wife Molly. She is a spry
old woman; she was always athletic and lived a healthy life. She loves to
travel and enjoys being in airports. She likes to see the different kinds of
people coming and going. She especially likes to see young children in the
airport because she believes they will find a love for travel like she did at a
young age. Helen will only live another two years before she dies of natural causes,
like Melanie Fernandez, on November 9th. Helen is happy to spend
those two years with her son and grandchildren and is grateful that her clock
never changed. Jonathan
Ching is twelve years old and has been at the airport since 9:22 in the
morning. He was on a connecting flight from Toronto, Ontario before landing in
New York. He is an unaccompanied minor on his way to a special science retreat
for gifted children in Pasadena. Only ten children from Canada were chosen, each
from a different province. Jonathan has never been more excited for anything in
his short life. He especially liked the attention he got from the pretty TSA
agent, Allison. Jonathan’s clock said he would die on October 18th,
2056. He would be only fifty-four when he will suffer a stroke that will
eventually shut down his entire body. He will still have a fulfilling life
before then. Although, he does hope that science will advance enough by then to
be able to better preserve him and elongate his life. But, he is also aware
that that is not how it works. Andrew
Howard is dying of brain cancer. He was always aware of his short life span; he
always understood he would die on March 11th, 2015 at the age of
thirty-seven. He thought there would be an accident, something quick. He did
not suspect to endure four years of chemotherapy and radiation and large
amounts of suffering before he would finally clock out. Andrew sometimes
wondered why he even bothered with treatments because he knew he would die no
later than March 3rd. But, then he would realize, he did it in the
hopes that he would not die sooner.
He is flying home just a few months before his death to spend time with his
family. He is originally from Anaheim and wants to spend another holiday season
with his parents and his brothers’ families. He did not buy a return ticket to
New York. Cameron
Chapman was not supposed to fly flight United 142 that morning. He was offered
the job the night before and accepted. He had been drinking, quite heavily, but
agreed anyways. Cameron Chapman does not have much longer to live, according to
his watch, and was depressed. He is only forty-five and doesn’t think it is
fair that he is going to die so soon. He always had a drinking problem. It’s
why his ex-wife Louise left him. He had a one percent chance to escape his
death date, for fate to change, but no changes were made. He drinks and flies,
and that’s his life. He arrives in the
cockpit, still drunk, at 11:17. He does a poor job of making all of his checks,
he does not inform his co-pilot of his night of drinking. He takes no
precautions. Michael
Biggs enters first, as he is in first class. Soon, Jonathan Ching and Helen Jameson
enter. Helen is chatting to the boy about his travels. Melanie Fernandez enters
and seats herself next to Andrew Howard. Only forty-six people are on board
this plane, including the flight attendants. The
engines begin at 11:29. There are forty-six beeps. Each beep from someone’s
wrists. Everyone’s clocks syncs up to Cameron Chapman’s: November 17th,
2014 and 11:57 a.m. © 2014 K.H. LawAuthor's Note
|
Stats
157 Views
Added on December 2, 2014 Last Updated on December 7, 2014 Tags: science fiction, alternate universe, death, fate |