Your Death In Our Hands: a short story by GF Willmetts.
For all you people with terminal illnesses, we can offer you a spectacular filmed ending that will make money for your loved ones. There has always been a market for death, but if you want to make money from it, then do something that will garner screen hits and money for your kin, and they will never forget you. Then you come to us. We will offer something far better than lying in a bed and taking some poisoned medicine. For horror fans, a tense, terrifying death. A broken-hearted leap for the romantically inclined. Sea optional depending on tides. For the extreme-sports inclined, a bungee jump without the bungee. We can find the right death for you. Read our brochure for what we can offer, or you might feel you can come up with something better. We aren’t the only company with this offer, but we are the best.
For those of you who want to reenact their favourite film deaths, subject to copyright infringement, or even in new films, this can be arranged, although obviously the latter will be adults only. The studios do say they would have a percentage of anything made, as the film is their property. You won’t be just an extra in a war scene but will be saying some dialogue to get the higher acting rate. It’s even easier if you have a union card.
Real heroics is a lot harder to do, let alone have drone cameras watching all the time. Nuclear reactor fail-safes tend to be pretty accurate. Rushing into a burning building to rescue someone or more means a better than even chance of self-survival as well. We are forbidden by international law to approve assassination of world leaders and their governments no matter how detested they are. The same applies to other assassinations. The only person you are killing is yourself. The same holds true for criminals facing the death penalty, despite rumours suggesting a reluctance on the part of Americans.
For those with no relatives, your fees can go to a charity or charities of your choice. We cover all options. This option will provide more meaning to your last moments than spending them in a hospice.
Even better, we can initiate your funeral plan or give you one of our own. We also ensure your will is carried out and written before you take your fabulous death. How can you lose? Don’t forget that you will need to be certified terminal and die within the year. Read the small print for all the clauses.
© GF Willmetts 2025
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When I came up with the idea for this kind of spiel story as a reaction to assisted dying and where it could lead. With science fiction, we can explore the extreme of where this would lead. I thought the idea was a bit sick but not enough not to write it. If I didn’t, someone else would.
Would people take such an option in real life? I doubt if all people would. Some would be too ill to consider this. For the others, to provide a money royalty to their family, they might have an incentive to think it a beneficial idea. I mean, the pain of death would be quickly over no matter the choice taken. With the way the media works these days, you’re likely to get anything from a Top 10 to a Top 100, various shows, and such to treat it as an event on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis. Then it would be up from town/city to country to international. People have a fascination for death, and it wouldn’t take long for that to happen, which is quite scary in its own right. You would have those with curiosity to serious watchers and out of control. Quite how they keep it only to people with terminal illnesses remains to be seen. No doubt there would be a dark web of the suicidal for those who would swing an insurance deal, assuming there wasn’t a clause in the small print.
Personally, this is one story I hope never happens in real life. However, I can envision the scenario unfolding a few decades from now. Do we really want this? In science fiction, we can look where such an outcome might lead. GFW 27.07.2025
