Simon Booth

Grade: 10

St Ignatius High School

Instructor: Kimberly Gross

The Mystery of Living Forever

Short Story

The Mystery of Living Forever

Recently, Scientists have found a way to stop death, which— you know, I do not fully agree with. There has been an endlessly growing waiting list to get this procedure done, but I don't really get the point. I mean, growing up without the financial means to do more than eat and sleep really has changed my perspective on this whole thing. It was just my two parents and me living out of a one room apartment in Salt Lake City. However, once my dad passed away out of the blue, we, uh— well my mother and I, both began working for a small company owned by a family friend's family friend, confusing right? I worked very hard everyday for two years until the owner passed away just as unknowingly as my father, and out of some weird series of events, with other people quitting, I took over the entire business. It really was not much; however, and the income was not great, but it was a solid job that had a chance to take off! That was all 14 years ago, though, now I am 29 and I sold that company for 158 million dollars. It has been such a quick change from living in an apartment in downtown Salt Lake City, to now living in a large home in Texas.

So now it is 2034 and a couple weeks ago there was world-wide breaking news going around that scientists have found a way to counteract the effects of death. I did not think much of it at first. It really seemed like something that would appeal to many people because— well, it was free. When the applications were released, over 500 million people applied in the first hour, and the waiting list quickly grew to 1.4 billion over the span of the afternoon. People were placing themselves on the waiting list then sold their spots away to others. It grew to become a get rich quick scheme for people who could apply the fastest. Others were going to the extent of selling their houses just to be the 7 millionth person in line. It just did not make sense to me so I decided to not apply for it.

After that I did not really think much of it. The news continued to share the growing list numbers and I would go to work the following days and people kept bringing it up to me.

"Hey Lucas, did you apply for the operation?"

"Good morning Sir, how far up on the list are you?"

These were some common questions as I walked the halls. My employees were very shocked when I told them I had not applied.

When my father died, he did so very sporadically. He had recently been hired for a job on a construction team, and he was commissioned to build a house in Texas, the exact house I live in currently. However, halfway through the building process my dad had left the site, and a week later we were told he died. It was a hard time for my mom and I, and especially with the recent news of this "escape death" procedure, if he had only lived 14 more years he would not have to worry about death. My mother was devastated. She had been married to him for 16 years and had not spent a night without him. When he died, his autopsy report was not shared with us. We tried to fight it in court, but we could not get anywhere. So, my father disappeared from his worksite and his way of death was being covered up, none of it made any sense to me. Recently, I was talking to the family friend, Joseph Liebert, who recommended I take this job all those years ago. We were talking about the former CEO of the company, and we eventually came upon the topic of his death. The two of us knew that his death was just as inconspicuous as my father's, but it took a decent hour of talking to realize how similar the deaths actually were.

On August 1, 2020, my father disappeared from the construction site, on August 8, 2020, my mother and I received a phone call from Allentown hospital that my father had passed away. The call lacked description; we were only told of his prior critical condition and his sudden death. Mr. Moules, the previous CEO of my company, had left for a business trip on November 1, 2020, and his family received a phone call from Allentown Hospital on November 8, 2020. The call gave a similar tone; "Your husband was in critical condition and passed away this morning," it was a very bland description of the actual events.

After this conversation I had with my friend Joe, we realized that these deaths seemed a little too similar. We did not think much of it at the time, however. Throughout the past few years, I have been doing some research, and Allentown Hospital was the largest hospital within a great radius of its location Emmaus, a very small city, is located quite close to Allentown, and has been known for doing immense scientific research throughout the nineteen-nineties. Joe and my first suspicion was that my father and his friend were offered access to early versions of this "live forever" procedure, which was being tested in a lab in Emmaus.

Throughout more digging on the internet, we found countless obituaries of people going missing on the first of the month, and dying a week later in Allentown Hospital. Joe and I took a month off working trying to contact these families and learn their side of the story.

A man from New Mexico stated,"My brother left one day… We called him but he never responded. We received a call from Allentown Hospital about a week later saying he was dead. I was so confused man!" After countless interviews with people around the country, we decided to band together to create a lawsuit against this sly operation. The government shut down our movement; however. They are covering up their unjust actions under corrupt laws. With this new medical procedure being part of global research, who knows how many lives have been lost trying to create something that will forever protect life? Families all around the world are experiencing loss while the rest of the world attempts to live forever. Who knows how long it will take to receive clarity for our loved ones' deaths, and with a scheming government plan branching from one medical discovery, I know this is just the beginning.