They Both Die at the End

by Adam Silvera

The number one person I’ll miss the most is Future Mateo, who maybe loosened up and lived.

Because I refused to live invincibly on all the days I didn’t get an alert, I wasted all those yesterdays and am completely out of tomorrows.

When someone puts their journey out there for you to watch, you pay attention—even if you know they’ll die at the end.

But no matter what choices we make—solo or together—our finish line remains the same. It doesn’t matter how many times we look both ways. It doesn’t matter if we don’t go skydiving to play it safe, even though it means we’ll never get to fly like my favorite superheroes do. It doesn’t matter if we keep our heads low when passing a gang in a bad neighborhood. No matter how we choose to live, we both die at the end.

A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. —John A. Shedd

I’m at the finish line, but I never ran the race.