"The horizon born from an ending carries the past life forward, transforming it into a light that leads to a new journey through an untouched universe—until it reaches an unexpected destination.
Earth, January 24, 2024.
Semarang, Indonesia.
It's suffocating. Damn it.
I can't breathe.
Cold water presses against my body from all directions, sucking the last bit of air from my lungs. I try to move my arms, but my body feels heavy, sinking deeper into the darkness.
Them… I just wanted to save them.
I hope they made it to the surface. I hope they're breathing air that feels far beyond my reach.
Am I going to die here?
I don't want to die.
At least not until I walk across the graduation stage for my Master's degree—just two months from now.
I was finally going to make my parents proud again.
After two long years of being a failure, I thought this time, I could make them look at me with pride again, not disappointment. I worked so hard and gave up so much to reach that point again. But look at me now—Not standing tall with a graduation cap on my head, but trapped in the icy depths of the water, alone, dying before I even had the chance to change anything.
Since that day, I haven't truly lived.
I've been nothing but a coward, hiding from the world.
I let fear chain me down. I let regret creep in and swallow me whole.
Instead of fighting, I ran. I shut myself off from everything that reminded me of that trauma.
I pretended to be busy and fine, but deep down, I was just a loser who never even tried to fix anything.
And now, I'm here—dying in the water, on the verge of death, without having done anything meaningful.
But then, in the midst of the darkness swallowing me whole, that image appears—those blue eyes gazing at me, deep and gentle.
That strange girl. Her sky-blue eyes met mine—Not with disgust, hatred, or the usual mistrust I received from people.
Those people… always looked at me as if I were filth, a failure, or even a criminal just because of a mistake I never made. As if my very existence was a sin that needed to be judged.
But she… she was different.
In her eyes, I wasn't just a mistake. I wasn't someone to be cast aside.
She looked at me as if I still had meaning.
As if I was still someone worth saving.
I have to face this.
I have to survive.
If I die now, I'll only be the same coward all over again.
I try to move again, kicking with all my strength, struggling to swim upward even as my body feels like iron.
My lungs are on fire, my brain is screaming for oxygen, and darkness is starting to seep into my vision.
No… I can't give up.
I reached upward as if my fingers could grasp the sliver of light above, but the water kept dragging me down, laughing at my futile efforts.
Damn it… I can't.
I won't make it.
My thoughts are hazy, but ridiculous things pop into my mind in the middle of my fading consciousness.
The new action figure I hadn't even put on the shelf.
A novel still sealed in its packaging, waiting to be read on the weekend.
And the new game I worked hard to buy—I hadn't even finished the prologue.
Damn it.
At the very least, I wanted to finish that game.
But it's pointless, isn't it?
The more I struggle, the deeper the darkness pulls me.
I'm out of strength. My lungs feel like they're exploding, and the world around me begins to fade.
Finally… everything goes silent.
The pain slowly disappears, replaced by a strange emptiness.
I no longer feel cold.
I no longer feel fear.
I'm just… floating, like a leaf drifting in the current.
Is this the end?
My body sinks further, away from the light, falling into a bottomless void.
I try to raise my hand, but nothing moves.
My lungs no longer scream for air.
My heart no longer beats.
I'm dead.
Just like that.
No resistance, no goodbye, no second chance.
In the faint corner of my fading mind, I can still remember them—
Those blue eyes.
My parents.
The action figure I never displayed.
The novel I never read.
The game I never finished.
But now, none of it matters.
It's all over.
The darkness has completely consumed me.