It all went to hell pretty fast.

I mean, it’s not like it was a surprise, right? We all knew, deep down inside, that this was bound to happen. But hey, maybe it wouldn’t just this once, eh? Always hoping for the best. Ah, human nature. Screwing ourselves over one person at a time.

Once that lab had figured out how to produce immortality, the governments stepped in to control it. After all, we can’t have everyone being immortal. Little things make that impossible, like… if no one is dying, the Earth can become overpopulated. Or how about the fact that crime would be everywhere, given that guns would no longer be effective. Even jail has no deterrent when time is your plaything.

So in came the governments. Well, more like the big ones. Or big one. America. Seizing the drug, they pledged to use it for good and peace and to stop wars and to be nice and save the whales and other great sounding things like that. And to be fair, it did work. They immortalized a few soldiers — just a few. After all, you don’t need many of them. Then when that dust-up occurred over in the Korean Peninsula, they were deployed for the first time. Immortals. Bringing righteous vengeance down upon the enemy.

The war ended pretty quick. Which was expected, given that one side can’t kill the other.

And things went pretty well after that. Well, right up until another lab figured out how to make the drug. Once Pandora’s Box had opened, and people knew it was possible, it was bound to happen. And of course, it wasn’t long until the formula was leaked to the world. And who wants to die, right? So pretty much everyone ended up taking the drug. And suddenly all those little bad things started to happen as the world slowly went to hell.

No one dying. No need to eat. No need to sleep. Heck, no need to breathe. It was a veritable utopia, except for the fact that it was getting crowded fast. But even that wasn’t much of a problem once we started expanding to other planets. An entire race of immortal people. Unable to die.

Infinity; nothingness. Pascal was right about that. You only have two choices. And given that people had looked nothingness in the face, and didn’t like what they saw, they all chose infinity.

But really, they all got it wrong. Once you become immortal, there’s no going back. You don’t have a Second Option. You’re stuck. Forever. That’s why I’m not taking this drug.

When this universe dies a slow death, I’m going to smile in my grave. All those poor SOBs can go on into infinity, stuck with each other forever. But me, I’d rather be able to call it quits when I want to. When the sweet oblivion finally comes for me, I’m not going to have any regrets.