THE AFTERHOUR

XI. The Library:

They had been sitting in silence for something like an hour now. Jamien had been looking at his different alternate lives with the books in the Library, mainly just to distract himself from what was going on. He had a look from the closest shelf and picked a random one. Unlike the memory of his death, these were just ordinary books, papers and ink. It was written like a novel and referred to him in the first person. The Entity wasn't kidding when it said these records included everything. He opened a random page, the old, thin paper was making a rustling noise as he touched it. It felt like dry leaves. The page described him in a coffee shop, he was talking to an older lady who seemed to be his secretary...It would appear he was a business manager. The book recorded the conversation they had about a merger. He sounded wrong, his manners were all wrong.

"This is not me." - Jamien broke the silence. He threw the book aside, but it came to life before it even touched the ground and started floating back to its shelf.

"You have led different lives in the Construct" - The Entity replied - "You have been a CEO, a beggar, a doctor, a thief, a barber,....each was different from the rest, each life was in its own way, unique."

"So that is what you do? You just design my lives and put words in my mouth?" - Jamien demanded.

"Nothing of the sort, I do not interfere with any of them. You would be surprised how drastically your life would change just from something as simple as picking another place to have breakfast or taking the next train. Simple choices shape the direction of your life just as much as big decisions do."

"Is that what you were trying to teach me? With the Corridor?"

"The Corridor provides me with an insight into how you make your decisions. But again, I did not create it, its true meaning is unknown and is up for your interpretation."

"I think I have another interpretation for it." - Jamien said.

"And what is that?"

"Having choices is an illusion, it's the biggest lie of all. Ultimately, we all end up here, so what difference does it make whether you are a billionaire or a beggar? A saint or a villain? In the end, we die and the world lives on unbothered."

There were no arguments from the Entity, who was staring off into the vast distance. Finally, after what felt like forever, it turned to him:

"Do you know the meaning of life, Jamien?"

He was somewhat taken aback by the question, he hadn't been expecting to engage in philosophy with the being. But curiosity triumphed, if there was a place and time to discuss life and death, he supposed it would be now.

"I don't think we humans do, really. All we do is speculate and theorize and disagree with each other, but who could answer a question like that."

The Entity gave him a distracted nod, then it spoke:

"There was a book that I came across in here, thousands of years ago, that was different from all the others. It was not a memory, it was not like anything that I had ever seen. I know not of its origin, the book simply appeared one day. "

"It spoke of Life and Death, about how your universe came into being." - It continued- "At first, only a primordial darkness resided, an infinite stretch of void. And then, something happened: Something that was the result of billions upon billions of things, not happening, at all times. It was an effect without cause, though statistically impossible, happened anyway. It was something small at first, a lone star, but it was enough to upset the nature of things."

"Then a chain reaction started, new stars were born, elements created, the universe spun into being. A process that took another infinite amount of time, and it took just about the same amount of time for an exact series of tiny events to happen exactly at the right place, right time, in the right conditions. Alas, through what seemed to be pure coincidence, life began on a simple pile of rock."