I wake up in a field, slowly approached by a dark figure. As he approaches, I am overcome by an immense feeling of hate that swells in every nerve of my body. I speak to him with confidence and anger in my voice. “What are you doing here? What do you want?”

“I am not here, but many places. We have met many times and you have denounced me each time I attempt to speak with you. Now, I will speak and you will listen.”

“Why? How is it that we have met before and I have never seen your face?” I asked earnestly.

“To look into my face is to see the truth. When you finally stop talking and begin to listen you learn the truth. This is when you meet me face to face.”

“Then who are you? Why do I feel the need to flee from your presence?”

“As a human, you cannot grasp the concept of my being. I am present in every year since the beginning of existence. You cannot escape me for I will find you wherever you may hide from me. I may summon you like I have done today.”

“Why do you wish to see me?”

“I have no use for you any longer. In order for mankind to advance you must cease to exist.”

“Are you God? Why do I hate you if you are.”

“I am many things. I am God, the Devil, your sister, your brother, your mother, your father, even your childhood bully.”

“How is it possible that you can be God and Satan?”

“I am everything that ever existed, I am this field in which you have quietly rested for hours. You hate me because I have taken you from what you have always loved. I am in my most evil form, even Satan fears me. I am death. This field is where you were conceived, but it is also where you are on the brink of death.”

As I look around I begin to notice that the field in which I have lied for hours is not a field but slowly evaporates into the barren sea in which I see my lifeless body floating face-up in the surf. I then noticed my face was slowly turning as pale as printer paper, my eyes recede into my head and my mouth disappears. Every blemish or trace of my presence seeps out of the carcass being thrown around by the waves. “Who does the body lying in the waves belong to?”

“That was you.”

“But it looks nothing like me.”

“Looks are only useful to distinguish one living person from another. You have passed onto a dimension where looks are no longer useful. The humans only see you as how you lived your life and your experiences with them. In ten years your daughter will have forgotten the sound of your voice and what you look like. When she thinks of you she will only remember you as an inspiration, a hero, and a saint.”

“I was none of these things. Why should she think that I am?”

“Try to listen. Once again, I am death, I am God, I am Satan, I am everything.”

“If you are everything then you also must be me, and I must be you.”

“You are learning.”

“This means I could have been a saint or a hero. If I am you then why is it that I must end my own life?”

“You were in a plane crash, you are the only survivor. If you allow yourself to die now your wife will never love again and will greave over the loss of you for the rest of her life, because of this your daughter will do everything in her power to prevent this from happening to anyone again and she will study aircraft safety and engineering where she will develop an anti-crash system that will prevent 546,211 planes from crashing in the course of history, saving potentially 253,988,115 people. On a car ride in the winter of 2036 your family will be in a car crash due to a drunk driver. Your wife, daughter, son-in-law, and four grandchildren will die. The drunk driver is your only son who will remain in a vegetative state for 10 years until his death. On the…”

“I don’t have a son.”

“Does the name Sarah mean anything to you?

“I dated a Sarah in High School but that’s about it.”

“She bore a child. You are the father. She hid it from you because she wanted to raise him alone. His lack of having a father hurt him deeply. He had a name but no way of finding you.”

“… I had no idea. What is his name?”

“That is not important right now. If you choose to survive the crash you will come home to see your entire family and live a long life with your family free from harm. But you will need a wheel chair for the rest of your life.”

“What about my son?”

“He will hear about the crash on the news and the name of the only survivor. He will find you. So what is your choice do you wish to live or die?”