I have taken up residence in what I know will soon be one of the most dangerous places on Earth.

Chernobyl: the site of a nuclear disaster that released radiation two hundred times as deadly as the nuclear bombs released in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

I had already tried to drain this immortality in other ways. From the Black Death to the World Wars to the Titanic, I have died from drownings, shootings, sicknesses, stabbings, and so much more.

It's no use though.

I always come back, immortality in place and a new mask secured to my face.

Tonight, I plan to do what I should have done back when the first atomic bomb was dropped in Japan.

Die by radiation poisoning.

I am planning on trying to help the only people I still care about in this life. It will be my last act of bravery before I die again.

I check my watch again, impatient little thing that I am, and see that it's 1:00 PM.

Twelve hours until showtime.

However, rather than remaining at my station near the nuclear plant, I slip away to warn the people I've grown attached to in this life.

Little Aneta, dear sweet thing, spots me first and comes tearing down the road.

"Auntie Tanya, Auntie Tanya, are you coming with us?" She asks as she throws herself into my arms.

Just barely, I manage to hide my sigh from her. "No, little Grace, I have to stay here. Are your parents about to leave?"

"Yes, Auntie, but why aren't you coming with us?" Her six-year-old voice tears me apart as do the tears shining in her eyes. "We won't mind another person, and you can come settle in our new home with us."

I kneel next to her and place a finger on her lips. "Hush, Aneta. No one must know that you're leaving yet. The bad men don't want your family to leave, and it's hard enough to hide three people."

Aneta's rosebud lips tremble beneath my finger, and a tear spills onto her cheek. "I don't want you to stay. Mama and Papa say that you'll die if you stay here."

Unwilling to watch any child cry, much less my innocent Grace, I scoop her up and carry her into the house where her parents are deciding on the essentials they must take.

"Are you about ready to leave, Elena and Dimitri?" I ask them, still holding their daughter. "You must leave soon, lest the Soviets catch wind of your plans."

"Hush, Tanya," my friend whispers, inclining her head towards Aneta. "Not in front of the little one. We'll depart within the next half an hour, and we'll follow your instructions."

I nod, plant a kiss upon little Grace's forehead, and bide my friends goodbye. They will not be here to watch me die, but I hope they find a better life in England.

It's strange how easy it becomes to act like everything is normal after you've died hundreds of times.

By 1:20 AM, I am once more by the nuclear plant, anxiously waiting for it to blow.

However, I take a moment to look at the village of Pripyat and pray for the poor souls. If only I could have warned more, I would feel less like those people's suffering was my fault.

1:21 comes, and I remember with fondness Aneta and Elena and Dimitri. It had been a long time since I had such friends, those who gave unconditionally even when they had so little.

Now, it's 1:22, and the seconds start to count down as I creep closer.

I have only forty-five seconds, and I drop the stealth, sprinting towards the plant.

"Halt!" A male voice calls behind me, but I don't even look back.

"Save yourself!" I scream before pushing my legs to the max. "It's going to-"

A boom echoes from the building, and all I see is a wall of flame rising up in front of me.

"Please, let this be the last time," I plead before throwing myself forward the last few yards.

Then the heat of the fire consumes me, and I don't even have the time to scream before my world goes completely and utterly black.