Questioning Reality, Special 3-in-1 Pack 

By: Julia Byrne

Death

Some religions believe that after you die, you get reincarnated as another being. Others think you go to Heaven or Hell to spend the rest of eternity. Some believe that your soul will be weighed with all the sins and good stuff you did in your life. Me? I've never really thought about it. It scared me, to say the least. Or maybe I couldn't grasp the thought that life could be taken away at any moment. Whatever the reason that was because of, I would've expected to see at least something. Whether that was a god telling me I died, or a demon welcoming me to the underworld, I thought that–on the rare occasion my train of thought dared to take me there–that there would be someone to lead me into the afterlife. Someone to say, "It's going to be alright." Someone, to give me an explanation. 

But, as I stand alone in the middle of the street, with no memory as to how or why I'm there, I might as well be dead. A clean slate. Reborn. The streets are empty, devoid of life. There aren't even birds chirping. The feeling is odd, yet peaceful. The only information I have is that something happened. 

Whether that something was good, or bad, well, that's for you to decide, my reader. As we are all the main characters of our own stories, and only you can decide how it ends. If it's with an epic battle to the death, where you end up making the sacrificial move to save all of humanity, or the entire universe! Multiverse even! Or, you're in bed, surrounded by your family and friends. Maybe you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe fate decided to throw the roughest Monday you've ever had at you.

The question isn't how, why, or when you die. It's if you ascend to the highest of beings, and control it. Make it bow before you in fear. Have it bend to your will and do your every bidding.

This, my faithful friend, is called writing.

I've always wondered…

I've always wondered how authors, movie writers, and play directors get their ideas. Is it a stroke of luck? Did the fates decide to grant them a special ability? Or, are they the souls of all the characters they've written? Do they exist to tell us the stories to infinity and beyond? To somewhere over the rainbow? Or in a galaxy, far, far away. Are they a vessel for communication? Is the multiverse trying to tell us something? Are all the stories out there in the world, true? 

Is there really a war in the stars going on? Are our toys coming to life behind our backs? Are there painfully obvious superheroes hiding among us? Are there hedgehogs that can produce sonic booms? Is there a whole world of wizards, hidden behind a brick wall, and you just have to run through it? Does every high school burst out in a musical every day? Does all power have to come with responsibility? If that's true, then who's the imposter among us? Are our lives being written down by a higher being as a story? Is every story just a biography? Are you that person that anyone can identify by a catchphrase, or an article of clothing?

It drives you mad thinking about it. But, all the best people are. 

Fandoms

If the big bang created everything, then what created the big bang? If the big bang created everything, then are soulmates just particles that were created near each other? Are fictional worlds created the same way?

Do they suddenly just pop into existence? Or, maybe we are fictional characters in our own fictional universes. There are some pretty weird creatures and phenomena out there that could only be thought up by someone with the utmost creativity. 

If we're just fictional characters, then how big is your fanbase? Is it filled up to the brim with fangirls and fanpeople, and then the rarer fanboys? Is your fandom filled with people who ship all the characters together, or are you in the one that there's no escape from? Or, is your fandom filled with people who are still mourning the loss of one of the characters? 

Or…you don't know anything I'm talking about, and you're not used to words like; ship, fandom, fangirl, fanboy. You probably just want to live your life in peace, without the unnecessary complications of wondering why we were made. How were we made, and are we even real? Maybe we're just all made to live, until we die. Is that all we can achieve in our lives?