Have you ever wondered why your perfect plans are shattered? Why a seemingly perfect romance ended? Why good luck strikes at strange times? Why life seems like a bunch of meaningless chaos?

There is a very simple answer to all of these questions. We were created by an ancient race of aliens and are nothing but characters in their stories, created to alleviate their boredom.

As soon as they are old enough to write, they are given a computer software program and a manual with only the most basic rules of their writing universe. In order to create a new character, they must collaborate with other aliens to make sure two human parents give birth to a child. This child will be under their control from the moment it is born until the moment it dies.

You are always subject to the whims of your creator. Everything you say, everything you do is controlled by them. Usually, the aliens have jotted down things they want to happen during your lifetime. But some aliens detest this and make random decisions as to where your life will go. This is where chaos comes from.

Our world is relatively new, but the aliens have become bored with it. The best writers among them have declared that the Earth is a cliché, boring universe. They decided they want to write in a new, more exciting world, so they took a special vote. It was this vote that decided how our world will end.

“Why don’t we let a black hole swallow their planet?”

“Nah, we’ve done that already.”

“What if the Earth spontaneously combusts?”

“That’s way too cliché!”

“Okay, why don’t we knock their planet out of orbit and send it crashing into the sun?”

“That’s a stupid idea.”

“Fine. How about we give all their world leaders bad cases of paranoia and see what happens?”

“Sure. Why not?”

And so, our world will not end with a bang, but with slow decay. Our increasingly paranoid world leaders will declare war on each other and humanity will slowly die out. But, since the aliens lost all interest in us, we have gained something we never had before: free will. It is now up to us to decide our fates—and the fate of our planet.

***

Just as some background on the story, I want to say that it was inspired by David Eagleman’s Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives and was originally written to be read aloud.  So if you’re wondering why the language is so simplistic, there’s your answer.

Well, what did you think?  If you have criticism, feel free to say it.  I’m a book reviewer, after all; I wouldn’t be dishing out what I can’t take.  And if you have praise, that’s fine too I suppose.

Anyway, merry Christmas to those of you that celebrate it!  Now why are you still on the internet?  Go spend time with your families!