Infinity scares me, the sombre hushed voice in the planetarium intoning the incomprehensible scale of the universe, the brutal surrealism of a world that floods my night-time brain with horror and wonder and fear. Neither eternal life nor eternal death feels like a satisfying solution to the dilemma of mortality. I’ve heard that cultures where the dead play a crucial role in advising the living don’t share our fear of death. The dying know that they will continue to guide the community, that they won’t ever be out of a job. Perhaps it is a question of belonging, the fear of death as a form of exile from the human. I don’t want to lose my place in the story. I want to know what happens next and how it all ends.

From 100 Words: The Beauty of Brevity. Word prompt: “infinity.”