He stared down the gun barrel just as his life flashed before his very own eyes. A deluge of old memories he once cherished came swarming back to him like locusts to a field of crops.

         Sitting in a sandbox, packing sand into a bucket as his father watched...

         ...riding a bike for the first time at his dad’s side...

         ...standing on a bough of an apple tree while his father shouted out of worry from way beneath...

         ...hiking in a forest, dogging at his father’s heels...

         ...being given his first expensive watch by his father...

         ...watching his father reach for the bill at a diner for breakfast...

         ...at his mother’s funeral, with his father’s arm around his shoulder...

         ...his father congratulating him on his wedding day...

         ...reaching for the bill while his father grinned at him during dinner at a restaurant...

         ...sitting on the beach with his father, both watching his baby daughter frolicking in the sand like he did so many years ago...

         ...crying at his father’s funeral.

         That had only been an hour ago.

         “Are you gonna make me say it again?” screamed the robber in the leather jacket. The pistol in his hand trembled. “Hand over that watch.”

         The man’s eyes dropped to his wrist. His old gilded rolex that didn’t work. It wasn’t worth much. Fifty dollars? Maybe even less. The man knew the robber was inexperienced by the way he held the gun.

         “You have three seconds man,” he shouted angrily, looking back and forth, checking if someone had seen him. “Then I’m gonna take it from you whether you like it or not.”

         The image of his father smiling appeared in his head, taking him away from reality for just a moment.

         “Three,” boomed a voice in the background. The image blinked and he saw his father embracing his long dead mother. His father’s mouth began to move and words tumbled out.

         “Everyone’s time is limited, son. Make the best use of it, before its too late.” His parents were swallowed by a vacuum of darkness.

         “Two.” The robber resounded, a grim count down.

         He repeatedly saw his father handing him the same golden watch he wore. “Protect this, son. Take good care of it. I bought it when you were born. It’s yours now, boy. Don’t you lose it.”

         “Give me the watch!” Tears welled in the man’s eyes as he gripped the watch tightly between his fingers, terrified of letting go.

         “Life moves on, son,” his father said to him at his mother’s funeral. “That’s just the way it is. You let go. And the pain goes away eventually. I promise.” Despite the tears that rolled down his cheek, his father smiled for his sake.

         “One!” As the robber pulled the trigger halfway, the man tore the watch off his wrist. The robber snatched the watch and ran off.

         The watch was gone.

And just like that, the man had let go.