The Meaning Of Life

8:45am March 17, 2051

"Wake up Eck, you're going to be late!" Chris yells through the house. "Don't forget to have breakfast today!"

I sigh and throw on a black sweater and jeans. Running up the stairs of the bungalow we share, I untangle my headphones and plug them in to my phone. I grab a muffin and just before I can dash out the door, Chris grabs the hood of my sweater. I fake a choke, turn around and pretend to punch him in the jaw. He smiles and hands me my backpack.

"Say hi to Ms Kevinson for me, alright?" He asks and runs his fingers through his black hair.

"Yeah, sure," I agree distractedly and try to dart past him. "Let me go, I'm gonna be late."

"Promise?"

"Yes, I promise, whatever," I groan.

Chris ruffles my hair, which sends my bangs that I finally grew into a fringe flying every which way. I scowl and fix it, and Chris starts pulling papers out of his pockets.

"Just in case," he explains before I can ask anything. "Here's my cell number, a wallet size photo of me, our address and my after-work schedule."

He dumps everything into my hands and I sigh. Chris was my guardian, practically my brother, and I love him. Sometimes he just becomes a bit too much, especially when girls are involved.

"Now can I go?" I demand and try to push him out of the way. "I really am going to be late now, and it'll be your fault."

"Yeah yeah, there's just one last thing," he scrambles around frantically in his pockets.

Loose change, pencils, gum and an assortment of tickets and receipts litter our foyer. I'm about to turn and run out the back door when a round plastic thing falls out of his pocket and drifts to the floor. I gape.

"Chris! Is that a con-"

"Bye Eck have fun at school!"

I want to stare defiantly at him through the window, but I know if I don't start walking I'll be late for history class.

"Hi Eck!" A blonde, curvy cheerleader calls flirtatiously from a branch on a nearby tree.

Eyes on her face, her face, her eyes, her face, I chant to myself as I approach her. Growing up with Chris as a role model wasn't the best way to grasp the concept of respect towards the opposite gender. At age six I was playing video games that involved age fourteen nudity. At age eight I had my first sex-ed class- with pictures- from Chris, and when I was ten he tricked me into watching porn with him. At least I try to be better, I think bitterly and focus on the cheerleader's teeth. Stupid Chris.

The bell rings and the cheerleaders and I split directions. The hobbies we all choose generally reflect what jobs we'll be doing once we graduate. Most cheerleaders go into design or entertainment, something creative. There were two 'famous' recording artists that go to my school, one of which is my desk partner in history, and my girlfriend.

I slide into my seat and throw an arm around her. She looks up from her books and I plant a quick kiss on her lips.

"Hey you," Lexi grins. "Why are you late?"

"Chris," I say simply and take out my notebook. Almost everyone in out history class is dating their desk partner, I guess the teachers know more about our social lives than we all think.

"Good morning class!" Ms Kevinson calls out as she walks in the room. "Which class are you?"

"Fourteen-one," Lexi answers without raising her hand.

Every class we're in is distinguished by two numbers. The first one is how old we all are, and the second is which batch of kids they decided to throw together. Each class is three hours long and starts at nine o'clock. After school we have until eleven o'clock to work, hang out or do whatever we want.

"Excellent, one of this years graduating classes!" She exclaims as she writes stuff down on the chalkboard.

We use to have a bunch of electronic boards in all the classes, but when all the adults left, only a few hundred kids knew how to make electronic devices, so they stuck to cell phones and computers; the stuff we had in the early 2000s.

"Turn to the page written on the board," she orders. "For the next few weeks we will be learning about some more recent history, how The Other Side was discovered."

I involuntarily bite my lip. The whole Other Side, Infernum and death topic had always been a bit touchy for me. I'm not afraid of it or anything, I just find it a bit... strange.

I turn to the page written on the board and start reading.

The Other Side, sometimes referred to as The Better Life, was discovered in the year 2036. Before then, most people lived to be over a hundred years old. A scientist named Jonathan Blue was the first to theorize about what happens what we used to call life; what we now call infernum.

Blue began experimenting with humans, and everyone thought he was mad. He used the depressed and suicidal people of the population for science, for testing, like animals. The people who disagreed with his actions ranged from human rights agents to world leaders. He was almost stopped, but the day people were sent to stop him, it worked. Hundreds of people witnessed it. A middle aged woman shot herself while caressing the kin of her childhood cat, and her body disappeared moments after she paled and her heart stopped.

There is one and only one way to get to The Other Side. Blue took a guess based off of the experience with the woman, whose descendants choose to hide her identity from the public. In order for the switch to work, one must die at a place deeply connected to one's childhood. If someone dies at a place not connected enough, the switch will not work and that person will go into a different, unknown world.

In 2036, most of Earth's population had left to go to The Other Side. Only pregnant women and their partners were left, to deliver their children into infernum. Many parents were against leaving their children, but the oldest to twenty-one took good care of them until they left too.

I frown when I realize I've come to the end of the section we were supposed to read. Why eighteen? How does it work? Can we communicate with them somehow?

I look around the class. Some people are finishing reading, others are looking distractedly into space with glazed over eyes. I realize I've been crying and blush. I wipe away the few tears that have stained my face and feel a bit better when I realize some other guys in the class have been crying too. Jay Jason looks over at me and we share a knowing glance.

I don't know how much time passes that I just sit and stare at the picture of the bearded adult man, but eventually Ms Kevinson clears her throat and I look up.

"So you all just read the required section, and I'm sure most of you have questions," she speaks confidently, but I can tell she's trying hard to make it seem that way. "Before we read the next section and I give you your assignment for the week, does anybody want to share where they think they'll be making the switch?"

No hands go up, no one speaks. I don't blame them, I'm not too keen to talk about it either.

I raise my hand.

"Yes, Eclipse?" Ms Kevinson looks relieved when I raise my hand, but I can take a guess that relief won't last long.

"Where will you switch?" I ask and I see the other students look vaguely interested. "I mean, you're doing your switch sooner than we are, so can you tell us where you'll switch?"

I'm right. The relief in her eyes vanishes. A blush tints her face, but she smiles sadly and sits on the front of her desk.