Miller 1

Jade Miller

Mr. Misasi

ENG4U/AP

3 October 2022

The Knowers, Sequel - ‘The Oblivious’

Darkness, as far as the eye could see, an empty void of blackness was all that was

revealed to me. ‘I’m dead’ I thought, ‘I’m dead and this is my hell’. A lump has formed in

my throat, a sharp pain. My throat? I wondered if the dead were supposed to have

throats. I reached my hands towards my neck and felt around, soon my hands travelled

all the way down my body. ‘All limbs intact’ I thought to myself.

I wondered what time I had gone. Last thing I was able to remember was it being

11:54pm, both Tem and I were alive… Tem. ‘Oh Tem’, I thought, a wave of sadness and

grief consumed me. I felt tears run down my cheeks. ‘Do the dead cry?’, I wondered.

I became aware that I was feeling much more than what I thought possible in the

afterlife. I could feel my emotions, my physical pain, even a cold breeze. I pondered if

the dead could really feel all of this? That’s when I heard it.

“Good morning”, a familiar voice said. My eyes slowly and strenuously opened. The

empty darkness immediately turned to abundant light. My head swayed to the side and I

saw Tem lying beside me.

“Seems as though they were wrong, huh?” he said. I could sense both humor and relief

in his voice.
 Miller 2

“What?” I questioned, my voice sounding strained.

“It’s 9:17am, April 18, 2043.”

‘They were wrong…,’ I thought, feeling both relieved and scared. A floodgate of

questions began to fill my head. I’ve lived, what will I do now? Will I need to find another

job? Have I wasted part of my life afraid of my supposed death day? If I didn’t die now,

when will it be?

Assumingly, Tem could see my rising anxiety, he said; “Hey, now you have an eternity

with me and the kids, just think of all we can do together.”

I half-forced a smile, but I wondered if this new gift of time would be blissful or troubling.

I was no longer the knower, I had become oblivious. Would my neverending sight on my

death date hault, or will it simply be replaced by the oh, so consuming fright of oblivion,

of not knowing.

…
 Miller 3

Work Cited

Phillips, Helen, and Benjamin Samuel. “The Knowers.” Electric Literature, 11 September

2013, https://electricliterature.com/the-knowers-helen-phillips/. Accessed 15 June

2022.
 Miller 4

RUBRIC

OPTION# 2

SUCCESS CRITERIA LEVEL

THINKING
● Task includes specific examples from the story (references, R 1 2 3 4
characters, setting, quotations, etc.) that assist in
developing the piece
● Creative skills - develop the components of the task to R 1 2 3 4
create a creative and believable piece /10

COMMUNICATION
● Organized structure (follows format - beginning, middle, R 1 2 3 4
and end)
● Proper language conventions (grammar, punctuation, R 1 2 3 4
dialogue, sentence structure, etc.)
● Purpose - task is completed effectively according to R 1 2 3 4
requirements /10

APPLICATION
● Makes connections between knowledge of the story and R 1 2 3 4
own ideas to complete a creative and well-developed piece /10