“Give my fifteen minutes.” I begged the darkness creeping in from the corners of my eyes. The sun was taking its sweet time, crossing the sky, not worrying about me and what I needed. It did not care about what time I had left, only it’s slow descent into darkness. Listen to me, I begged the child in my lap silently, for I could no longer speak. Listen to me. I begged the world silently, for these are my last words and I do not have the strength to fulfill your wishes. I looked again to the child at my feet. I needed to say this. She needed to hear this. I held her up to the dying light, watching the sun cast away all the shadows I had placed upon her. She opened her eyes and stared at the dying sun, as if it held all the answers. I gathered all the strenght I had, not as much as I had hoped.

“This is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Do not be afraid.” That was it, my arms crumpled and the baby fell to the ground with a shriek. I could not go to her. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t see, I did not breathe. Not yet, I pleaded with the rising moon though it payed no mind to me. Let me stay just a moment longer I begged the harsh world, though it did not care to listen quite then. I was finished and I knew it to be so. I had said what I had come to this field to say but this was not the end. I couldn’t leave her here like this, shivering, without a penny to her name, though she didn’t have a name yet. Would she remember this? Would she know the words I spoke? Did it matter? Would she care? These were the last words that ran through my head as I departed the world of living and breathing. The world of breakfast bagels and income taxes. These were also the first words that ran through my head when I entered the next world. The world of fog and mysteries.