Sleep Through The Static

I leaned over the balcony, and a stray thought crossed my mind. I chuckled; my life certainly wasn’t flashing before my eyes. No scenes of my past played out. No happy or sad memories at all. Nothing. Then again, I didn’t have much.

All I could see was the pavement far below, waiting to rush at me. I could feel the wind flowing in and around my hair, throwing it up and away.

I wasn’t being wasteful. I’d done nothing, achieved nothing, and gone nowhere. I hadn’t contributed to my community in the least, and I was never going to do so. I wasn’t going to be missed.

In fact, people would probably be surprised to hear that I was even still around for it to happen. Assuming they even remember me, of course.

I spotted a dog hurrying away from its owner, zigzagging across the square below me. It would be things like this that I think I would miss the most, if there really weren’t an afterlife. The small things. The things that could make you smile on a bad day.

But if there weren’t an afterlife, then would I remember anything, or see anything at all?
What would become of me? Would I just be some particle floating around in space? Would it really matter, anyway? I mean, if there isn’t an afterlife, and there is no conscious ‘living’ in it and remembering our lives on earth, then what is the point of our life anyway?

By the end of it we could all end up in some black hole of sorts. It would be like we had never been born. As if we had never happened, and we would have no idea at all.

The woman had caught up to her dog, which was wagging its tail in delight. I smiled briefly.

I took the plunge. The air was a little colder. I didn’t open my eyes. I knew what I would see, if not for the wind. In these last moments, I felt free.

The abyss of shadows came calling.