Destiny Part 1: Life Before Death

By: Cate Lui

It was the end of my life. It was just my 17th birthday, how could God be so cruel? God had me overwhelmed with happiness just to enjoy a few hours before my death. I’m nothing now, just a soul, nobody can see me, talk to me. I can never return to all the happiness I had before...

14 HOURS AGO

I stepped out from my cozy warm blanket, Yay! It’s my birthday! I walked out of my bedroom, a big banner on the top of the living room, ‘Happy birthday Trinity!’ My parents came running in next to doors in big colourful party hats, screaming “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

I smiled, why did I want to cry? “Thank you so much Mom, Dad!” I exclaimed, giving them a big hug. “Wow, guys how long did you take to set this up?” I asked. “Not very long, knowing you were going to sleep until 10 when your mother heard footsteps coming from your room, we went into our positions to surprise you.” teased dad. I rolled my eyes and started munching on the delicious cookies my mom baked.

Afterwards, we played Mahjong, Big 2 and some other family games. Mostly it was my parents winning, but it still felt fun and we bonded more. I looked at the clock, 11: 47. Oh, shoot, my phone! I ran to the drawer, where I pulled it out and unplugged my phone from my charger. 58 notifications from 6 chats!

Face ID recognized me and I opened WhatsApp. I clicked into the chat group with the most notifications, ‘BFFs for life. Oh no, everyone has wished me a happy birthday, and invited us to eat lunch at 12, eek, I’m gonna miss it. I ran to my bedroom and changed and got my daily necessities and ran out the front door.

I ran and ran, on second thought I shouldn’t have worn heels, EEK! Finally, I arrived at the cafe, I looked at the clock tower, 12: 18. I opened the door, I looked around, I saw Cadence waving for me. I wiped the sweat off my face and tried to walk as elegantly as possible to their table.

“What took you so long,” Demanded Lilian, “Sorry, I forgot to look at my phone,” I replied, feeling guilty. “It’s fine, let’s see what we want to eat,” said Florence, Out of the 3 of them, Florence was always the nicest, not saying Cadence or Lilian isn’t. As we finished ordering, we finally got the food. “HOW DOES IT TAKE NEALY 45 MINUTES FOR THE FOOD TO COME!” Ranted Lilian. I was the fastest out of us 4 to finish eating, so I took this chance to finish looking at my messages unread. OH MY GOD, IT’S A MESSAGE FROM JOSHUA!!!

“GUYS JOSHUA JUST MESSAGED ME!” I cried, Maybe I was a bit too loud, everyone in the cafe was staring. “It says happy birthday and he wants to meet me and the Carnival at 3 this afternoon!” I whispered excitedly. “NO WAY! This is your chance, go confess,” said Cadence. “I- ‘ll think about it.” I stammered, ``I'm too scared to confess, what if he just treats me as a friend or he’s just trolling.” “No, he won’t, he likes you!” says Florence, reading my mind. “Come on girl, let’s go dress you up for a dateeeeeee!” exclaimed Lilian, paying the bill and pulling me to the mall.

After a while, my hair was in pretty lace and fishtail braids, and I was in a pink overall dress, “OKAY GO FOR YOUR DATE GIRL!” screamed Lilian pushing me into the taxi. The excitement was surrounding me, I kept checking my phone for new messages from Joshua.

When I finally arrived, I felt my heart beating fast, I took a deep breath and stepped out of the taxi. I saw Joshua standing at the entrance of the carnival. I checked the clock tower on the top of the tower, it was 2: 50, whew, at least I wasn’t late. I tried to walk confidently to Joshua, “You’re so early.” he said. “You are too,” I replied, there was a moment of silence.

“Okay let’s go in!” cried Joshua, grabbing my arm and rushing in, we arrived on a rollercoaster, it had lots of loops, I gulped, I think Joshua could tell I was scared because he asked “You scared?” he asked, “It’s fine if you want to go on carousels or just stay and eat stuff.”. He was so considerate, that’s the reason I had a crush on him in the first place.

“It’s fine,” I said, breathing harder than usual. As we got on the cart, I started sweating bad, as the rollercoaster went up, I closed my eyes, suddenly, I felt someone grabbing my hand, I opened my eyes, It was Joshua, I didn’t feel scared anymore, as the rollercoaster rushed down, it was fun, the loops were so blood boiling, so extreme! As the ride finished, we went for other rides.

I looked at the clock tower, 7: 38. “I think it’s time we go now,” I say to Joshua. “What about one final ride,” he said, pointing at the Ferris wheel, “Yes sure,” I replied. The view was beautiful up here, I could see the city lights, as it brightened and glowed. “Trinity, I want to say something,” said Joshua. I could feel my heart beating, What did he want to say?

“Happy birthday Trinity,” he said. My hopes fell, I looked down, feeling disappointed. “I’ve liked you for a long time.” I looked up. Is this a dream? “I know you feel the same about me, every time you walk across me, I feel my heart beating, every time you talk to me, I can’t talk. Every time you smile, my mood lightens up. Trinity, give me a chance, to take you to the beauty of the world.” he said. I wished time had stopped at this moment.

I couldn’t find my words, “I-I, YES!” I cried.

After the ride, we had dinner, it was nearly midnight, “I enjoyed spending the day with you today, it was the best birthday ever.” I said to Joshua as we said goodbye. “My pleasure, call me when you nearly arrive home,” he replied, waving.

I walked back home, Today was such a great day, I wish this day repeats and repeats.

My home was just across the street, I called Joshua, “I’m nearly there.” I said. “Same here,” he replied. “Wait let me cross the street,” I started walking, suddenly the tower clock struck, DING, DONG, DING, DONG. I looked up.

Suddenly a blinding light shined next to me, I felt the pain everywhere as the car crashed into me as I fall on the ground, I vomited blood, there was blood all around me, “Trinity, what happened? Are you okay?” I heard Joshua say from my cracked phone. I reached for it, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t speak, I wanted to say something even if it was goodbye, but nothing came out. It felt harder to breathe. A tear dripped down my cheek, as it touched the floor, the tower clock ended its strike.

It was dead black, silent.

Just like that, it was the end of my life.