The Edge of the Experiment
A Short, Short Story by Lo Brewer
LEAPING OFF A CLIFF/ © PXHERE
It’s me, reporting from the edge…the very edge.
Heels planted, toes curling over the side, eyes straight forward and fixed on the next step.
Step back? Step forward? Either choice could mean the end…or possibly the beginning.
It started with the train ride. One day I was riding the train; I think it was a Tuesday. It was a normal day and up until that point I’d lived a normal life. The old woman sitting next to me, who’d been knitting a scarf suddenly stopped as the train pulled into the station. She leaned in close and in the lowest of whispers said, ‘Just remember, it’s all bullshit. None of it is real.’ Then she quickly packed her things and hurried off the train. The musings of a crazy old lady? Perhaps.
I didn’t realize then, that my life was about to take a turn. All things fell apart. The life I’d come accustomed to living, that I’d been content with living, changed in an instant. Everything that made me happy was suddenly gone. I won’t go into the tragedies I’ve been experiencing since the train ride. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is what I decide to do about it.
I’ve thought back on what she said to me so many times since. Is it all in fact bullshit? This life? My life? My existence? What if we’re all part of some huge experiment? A study, on human behavior and the strength of our character. Maybe there was something to what she said after all. Or maybe she was in fact just a crazy old lady and by virtue of entertaining her, so am I.
So here I stand, right here at the edge of ‘life’ and ‘death’. Stepping back could mean forcing myself to deal with the inexplicably horrible hand I’ve been dealt. And maybe, I can find my way back to contentment…to normal…to standard. Stepping forward could mean that I’ll end up a pile of human on the pavement below. But maybe it’ll spell the end of the experiment for me. It could mean I’ve beat it. I’ve figured it out. And my reward would be the start of a new life, my ‘real’ life.
I’ve made my decision I’m gonna do it. I’m stepping forward because even if death comes, being just content with normal isn’t a life I want to live. Here goes nothing…
She stepped forward and as she plummeted to the earth a smile came over her face. The end and the beginning was the same as far as she was concerned…the line blurred then disappeared. And right before she hit the ground she opened her eyes and thought she saw, in the distance, a door open.
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