Thanatophobia: the fear of death
โI know this is going to be a weird question but whoโs afraid to die,โ Cole said breaking the silence in the room. A series of yesโs and noโs filled the room.
โHeaven, how are you not afraid to die,โ Courtney shouted once she heard her answer. Her name was Haven but they called her Heaven as a joke. Her name had been related to something good when she, herself, had not been.ย
โIโm just not, I canโt really explain it,โ Haven shouted back.
โI can explain,โ Sybil chimed in.
โSo then explain,โ Courtney said.
โWell death is inevitable so Iโm not afraid of it.โ That was as simple as Sybil could put it.
โI donโt understand, repeat that.โ Courtney couldnโt hear her answer considering it had been loud in the room.
Frustrated Sybil restated what she had said, โIโm gonna die anyway so Iโm not scared.โ
Courtney had moved to Sybil by then, โI donโt understand how you wouldnโt be scared. I guess I fear the unknown.โ
โHow can you possibly be scared of what you donโt know.โ
โBecause I donโt know it.โ
โBut why though?โ
โLike I said I donโt know it so I fear it.โ
โWhy do you automatically fear something when you donโt know it?โ
โI donโt know, I just have always known everything and not knowing something scares me.โ
โI still donโt get it but whatever.โ They both sighed and moved back to the topic of death.
โArenโt you scared of what happens to you after youโre gone?โ
โYou can say dead, Court, and no I donโt really care what happens to me.โ
โWhy donโt you care?โ
โIโm going to be dead, right? So I wonโt even be there to experience whatever happens.โ
โWhat about your soul?โ
โWhat my soul gotta do with any of this?โ
โThat literally is what connects your mind and body.โ
โNot sure thatโs how it works but okay.โ
โWhatever.โ Courtney playfully shoved Sybilโs shoulder as if they were friends. They were friends before but they kind of fell off.
โArenโt you scared of where youโre going when you,โ Courtney hesitated, โdie?โ
โWho says Iโm going anywhere?โ
โThe Bible.โ
โI donโt believe in that stuff.โ
โHow could you not?โ
โI just donโt.โ
โBut how? You arenโt scared.โ
โWhat would I be scared of?โ
โDeath.โ
โThen no.โ
โSo you donโt think youโre going to Heaven or Hell?โ
โNope. When I die Iโm just gonna be dead nothing more nothing less.โ
โThen where would your soul go?โ
โWho says I have a soul?โ
โStop. For real you donโt believe that youโll go anywhere.โ
โYeah and if I do end up going anywhere it wonโt bother me where I would go.โ
โHow can you just not believe in it?โ
โI just donโt. Religion was never something that interested me.โ
โHow could you be an atheist?โ
โI would say Iโm agnostic but like I said it doesnโt bother me or scare me?โ
โWhat does agnostic mean? Also, how are you not scared?โ
โYou can look up what being agnostic means and no Iโm not scared. Why are you scared?โ
โBecause I donโt know where Iโll go or what would happen to me?โ
โWhat if nothing happened to you?โ
โThat would be even worseโ
โWhy?โ
โBecause thatโs just more stuff I donโt know which as I said before horrifies me.โ
โHorrifies is a strong word.โ
โIt describes how I feel perfectly.โ
Courtney continued, โSo you donโt go to sleep every night petrified that you might not wake up?โ
โNope. Look at it this way, you are going to die eventually, it will happen so why be scared of it?โ
โBecause I donโt know what will happen. Do you not understand?โ
โNo, I donโt. Why not embrace the fact that you will die and live life?โ
โBecause I might die.โ
โThatโs why you have to have fun living.โ
โHow do you have fun when you might die?โ
โBy having fun.โ
โNo.โ
โWhat do you wanna do right now?โ
โRide a motorcycle. I donโt see how this has to do with anything?โ
โIf you wanna ride a motorcycle, ride a motorcycle because one day youโll be dead and you wonโt be able to do it anymore.โ
โBut what if I die in the process?โ
โThen you die doing something you wanted to do.โ
โIโm still scared.โ
โUgh, what donโt you understand?โ
โI understand perfectly fine, Iโm going to be dead one day and I donโt know what happens after that.โ
โWhich is why you should do what you want now so you donโt regret not doing it later.โ
โNo, I might die.โ
โGod, youโre not getting it.โ
โI thought you didnโt believe in that.โ
โItโs complicated. As I was saying since you will die you should do what you want. Whatever you feel like doing, just do it before you canโt.โ
โBut half the things I wanna do will result in me dying.โ
โAt least you died doing something you wanted to do.โ
โNow youโre the one not getting it. I donโt want to die or get hurt. I just want to live carefree.โ
โWhy canโt you live carefree doing what you like?โ
โBecause I will die.โ
โYouโre going to die sooner or later. Why not just do what you like?โ
โSybil, I cannot with you right now you just arenโt getting it.โ
โWhat am I not getting?โ
โThat I am scared to die.โ
โBut why?โ
โI already answered this a million times. Talking to you is like talking to a wall.โ
โThat was extremely rude and Iโm going to have to ask you to take it back.โ
โI am oh so very sorry Sybil it wonโt happen again.โ
โI forgot how funny you were.โ
โYeah, we havenโt spoken in a long time.โ
โI bet we could change that.โ
โWell. weโre talking right now arenโt we.โ
โI guess we are now back to dying.โ
โDo you want to live?โ
โOf course I wanna live, I just- I honestly donโt know how to explain it other than the fact I might as well live my life the way I want before it's gone.โ
Courtney sighed, โYouโre not gonna understand why Iโm scared and Iโm not gonna understand why youโre not scared so let's just talk about something else.โ
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18 comments
being agnostic basically means God may or may not be real to a person and they dont care to find out (for anyone that didnt know what it was you can look into it further but that is the basic definition) i wrote this story very quickly and im surprised that i like it so much why is the topic is death? because it is. (i have no other reasoning to why this story is about death/dying) let me know what you think and any critiques you may have๐ค :)
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this is me trying to convince my friends to go skydiving. you missed some punctuation, but commas don't come easy. being comprised of mostly dialogue, it was surprisingly easy to follow. good job.
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thank you :) this is me trying to convince myself to do things cus anxiety
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yeah, life's a scary thing, but everyday i live a little more, is another day i can laugh in the face of my anxiety. i'm basically living out of spite at this point. ngl, though, grocery stores are still terrifying.
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I guess you're right but that will never stop me from being terrified of going to the grocery store
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home delivery is my saving grace
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I wish I could write dialogue like you. You pretty much did one of the other prompts too, haha.
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I wasn't even planning on doing that but it just kinda happened thank you :)
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Oh, is that right? xD Sure, no problem :D
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yea i was planning on having some dialogue but not this much
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Haha, got carried away in the right direction then.
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thank you
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wow, this story is actually very powerful. it has a very approachable feel to it, but it is underlined with really important messages, that you have added beautifully. excellent job blue! ps: lower case is best
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wow this is rreally good, it's sad, but real, because no one can escape death (well technically death can but--nvm) you're also really good at writing dialogue, the story flowed very smoothly do you do all 5 prompts every week? :O ~ Amethyst
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thank you i try to do all 5 prompts every week and i usually do cus i have a lot of ideas
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wow i take a while to get ideas, and my latest story was from a idea generator XD its like my brain cant form ideas sometimes when I actually need them
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i sometimes have to use an idea generator but most of the time the prompts just generate ideas for me and i have other ideas so i try to make those fit the prompt
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oh ok
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