Fading Sunset

She leaned back so that she rested against the trunk of the broad tree, facing towards the start of the most brilliant sunset. She wheezed and then coughed, shutting her eyes tightly against the onslaught of pain that echoed through her chest as new found blood dripped from the corners of her mouth.

She was in pain and dying, she knew this, but couldn't help the slightest of smiles that graced her face as her eyes traced the delicate pinks, purples, and oranges that painted the sky before her. They reach down and touched the tips of the trees and dyed the few fluttering wisps of clouds that were passing somewhere far away. She absently wondered if they were wondering where she had gone. At least one of her friends had been conscious to know that she was fatally wounded. It wouldn't have mattered either way if they had sent her to the hospital, she wouldn't have made it anyway.

This...this was the good way to go, someplace where she was alone and could fade out to the precious colors of the fading day. They were safe, they were all safe. She wouldn't need to worry about them. She could no longer feel her feet, or her hands,  her arms hanging limply at her side as she watched the colors begin to become more brilliant with the encroaching midnight blue that signaled the fall of night. Her voice was crackling and wet but it didn't matter as it lifted into soft singing.

"Oh, give me the beat, boys, and free my soul. I want to get lost in your rock and roll and drift away...won't you take me awaaay-ay-ay...d-drift.....away...." Her voice faded, losing what little strength it had as she could no longer feel her body. Her last view was of the dying brilliant orange of the sunset, then her eyes slipped closed as the last breath left her body, the corners of her lips faintly upturned.

What a beautiful way to die.