We are not Free (10 minute story)

Once upon a time, on a very clear night, two people stood on the steps of their house and looked up at the sky.
What they saw did not surprise them, for what they saw was exactly what they wanted to see.

One saw the universe, going on forever and ever in every direction, each star like a bread crumb tracing the way back to a home that may just as well have not existed.

The other saw a flat space, a decietful backdrop for the moon, pulling time forward in its endless orbit around the earth.



There on the step they stood, holding hands and looking at the sky, and then one of them spoke.

"Space is tricky, isn't it?"

The other nodded still looking up at the sky.

"Indeed."

It was true. What was the universe but a bundle of tricks? The thought was rather humerous, and one of them imagined walking through the sky, mistaking a star for a fallen snowflake on the ground and tripping over it. The other pictured himself chasing the stars around like fireflies, laughing and trying to keep track of where they flickered into darkness.

Next they sighed and inevitably each pondered their own solitude.
Neither could decide whether it was expanding or contracting.