This is definitely a huge step from the rest of my writing. But it’s good to try new things sometimes. 

GEOFFREY 

The first time he died

it took him six months to wake up.

When he did

It was dark

and the soft fabric of the suit they buried him in was too constricting

it was too dark

he was too afraid.

It took him an hour to figure out what happened to him

after he removed the tie

from around his neck and

tore open the buttons on

his suit jacket and dress shirt.

He spent the next three days trying to claw himself out

Ripping off several nails in the process and the stench of blood filled the small space.

He was overwhelmed and starving

He passed out and woke up fourteen hours later. 

Continuing to claw at the coffin with brute force

A small trickle of dirt

began to fall onto his bare chest.

This was all worth it, he was going to see them again after who knows how long.

He dug for three days

clawing and scraping at the wooden coffin swallowing mouthfuls of dirt

And when he revealed the precious

precious sunlight

he couldn’t help but scream.

Tears ran down his cheeks

Stained with dirt and blood from his hands and he released a hiccuping laugh before pulling himself out of his own grave.

Somehow, he stumbled home on shaking legs that hadn’t been used in so goddamn long.

He fell at the others disbelieving feet and sobbed. He was finally home

He was finally home!

GAVIN

The first time he died

was in front of a warehouse

in the middle of a heist.

His mic was cut off with a surprised yell and Vincent saw him drop dead with a heavy thud. He woke up a month later

Screaming

Telling the others to get out of there

there were too many officers

just get the hell out of there and don’t you dare look back!

Before his eyes adjusted to the darkness

a door opened and three sets of hands were on his shoulders.

Calling out his name in watery voices

Telling him to calm down

That they loved him

That they missed him and

"don’t ever do that again, you asshole"

He was crying and laughing in short

breathless puffs and when he was finally calm again

he stood and rubbed at his eyes

And he was happy to be home

Happy to be alive

he could feel his heart beating and he could move

They were a family again

They were whole again.

JACK

The first time he died

He was backed up into a corner

begging for his life

And outnumbered and

"please put the gun away"

even though he never wanted to have to beg for something ever again.

When he woke up

He was under water and he nearly suffocated again.

And if it hadn’t been for the stupidity of his killers to dump him in shallow water and without weighing him down he would’ve.

His first sight was blurry sunlight

and the water that rushed into his lungs served as his first breath.

He spent five minutes on his hands and knees, coughing

hair falling into his face before an innocent man found him

and offered clean clothes and a ride to the hospital.

He declined, and limped away

Shedding his soaking shirt.

It took him five days

ten hours

six minutes

and forty-two seconds for him to find which safe house they were hiding in

And with more nervousness than the night he was killed

He knocked on the door

Inside, everything went dead silent and

Geoffrey nominated himself to answer

He was greeted with the barrels of a shotgun pressed to his chest but they soon fell and instead their leader pressed himself against his chest

Shaking

And in tears of shock and happiness.

JAMES

The first time he died

was by his own hand

the barrel of his gun pressed against the roof of his mouth

his tongue moving against the cold metal

His hands were shaking

and he knew this was cowardly but there was nothing left

There was nothing left

He pulled the trigger

and his brain matter

And blood splattered against the wall that protected people from falling off of the roof.

Ray was the first to hear the shot

First one to make it up to the roof

The last one to let go of his limp body.

He woke up three months later

in his room

in his bed

with a killer headache.

And as he inhaled his first breath

he couldn’t smell the thick

sweet stench of blood.

Instead of it was the smell of Geoffrey’s whiskey.

Too relieved to do anything else

He falls asleep again and when he wakes up

his crew is smiling down at him

with teary eyes

and a big plate of breakfast.

He’s embarrassed and

doesn’t look them in the eyes

barely talks to them for weeks

but after a while of gentle prodding and reassurance that

“no, this doesn’t make you weak", and

"no, this doesn’t mean we love you any less", and "we want to help you get better"

Things do indeed get better.

VINCENT

The first time he died

It was in a homemade explosion

He knew immediately that he had done something wrong

but he also knew that it was too late.

In a split second

there was a light

And a ringing in his ears

And a blinding pain in his right arm

as it detached from his body at the shoulder.

The same pain ripped through his abdomen

and left leg

But he was dead before it could actually register with him.

It took the others

Three days and

Nine hours

To find the abandoned barn he was working in and when they saw his mutilated body

Gavin vomited down the side of the building. James was tasked

with picking up his pieces from all of the rubble and crudely stitching him back together.

When he woke up a week later

he was shirtless in bed

and the lingering stench of C4

and the ringing in his ears

clouded his thoughts.

He stumbled towards

the bathroom

on legs that barely worked

and stared at himself

for what could have been hours.

Gavin was the first to find him

gently reaching his hand out

and placing it on the center of his chest where an explosion of white scars started.

He crumbled into Gavin’s thin frame as he traced the scar of a gash on his abdomen

and the sloppy stitching James used to put him back together.

RAY

The first time he died,

he died in a blaze of glory.

They’re running from the cops after a heist.

He’s climbing into the back

of the helicopter when a bullet enters his back and he feels it,

he feels it and then he’s gone.

He’s gone and Jack is sobbing,

shaking his shoulders,

and yelling at Gavin to "hurry the hell up and get home, dammit"

By the time they reach home,

Jack is covered in his blood and they know there’s nothing they can do so they leave him in his room.

A month passes before they know,

the smell when they walk inside after coming out of hiding is the first sign.

They gently edge the door open and the smell becomes worse immediately.

He’s not - He wasn’t like them.

The funeral was held two days later,

all in their best suits and tear stained cheeks and they leave a dozen roses on his grave every week.

The first time he died, he didn’t come back.

MATT

The first time he died

was six months later,

he was undercover and he knew it was dangerous to go alone,

Geoffrey had told him so.

Being staged as a dealer and going into another crew’s territory was dangerous.

The deal was busted by the cops

and as he went to run,

he was shot in the left calf and the left shoulder. They left him there to die,

too preoccupied with others to remember that he was alive,

and bleeding, oh god he was going to die.

Geoffrey was right, he was so right, and he lay there, face down for hours before he heard someone walking.

Calling out weakly - I don’t want to die, not like this - the steps find their way closer to him and in two seconds,

there’s the barrel of a gun on the back of his skull and a bullet in his brain.

His body is dragged and dumped 20 miles outside of thr city

in what appears to be a shallow,

makeshift grave

and ten bodies are buried out there, including his. He wakes up three weeks later

to the smell of death and decaying flesh

and he vomits on himself as he crawls out of the grave.

His hands tearing through bodies like soft clay. On his hands and knees, he begins to crawl. Before he knows it

he’s standing

then walking

and then running

Until he makes it home.