_gracie_

paramedics gathering in a halo around me

shouting

flash of red and blue

the Mercedes sedan is stained with my blood

my back against the asphalt

the sky is a new shade of blue above me

a figure looms over the clouds

it peeks at me behind the sun

death floats down towards me

gathers my bloodied body into its arms

_minho_

the bullet slices through my skull

outside my body, I watch as I hit the ground

the money I’d stolen from the banks’s safe flutters around in wisps of soft green

i watch as my attacker bolts away

a pool of crimson spilling around me

i glance up

death walks towards me

reaching for my arm

_jamil_

my deathbed is soft

my grandchildren stroke my arms

weeping with tearful voices

but I don’t mourn

my body is held aloft by a cloud

I embrace death with open arms

it invites me inward

my wife peeks over its shoulder

calling out to me

and I smile