The Red Mouse

A minimalist, thought-provoking short story. We exist in a plane where all time-past, present, and future-coexists in a closed system. Life is a simulation with a finite start and finish, progressing step by step towards a predetermined outcome. Have you ever experienced déjà vu or turned around, certain that something was not there before? A glimpse, a flicker of something else.
Proof, you ask? My daughter, Kimberly-Ann, requested a story about living in a simulation. Naturally, I thought of "The Matrix" and "The Thirteenth Floor." As I began to write, the first paragraph came to life. The title emerged from my thoughts: "Mouse. Why?" I had recently written a short story, "Foundation, the Silent Night," involving a maze, so a mouse came to mind. But what kind of mouse? A red mouse! Thus, the title was born, step by step.
Was I led, or was it preordained? The simulation, programmed events.