Adam's Duality of Light and Darkness.

I woke up with a start, inhaling sharply and looking around wildly. The dream...it was so vivid.

Was it really a dream? I couldn’t tell. It felt real. But in dreams everything feels real. And yet...there was something else to it. An immensity, a weight and presence that you only get when you are awake. And that feeling...I knew it well.

I was an old soul, I’d been around the block a few times now. Many of my dreams were meaningful, prophetic even.

But this one...this one seemed different somehow, more than the others had ever been.

As I lay back down next to my wife, snuggling into her warmth, I wondered what it meant.

Was it about me? Was it about us?

I was always making leaps in my life, big decisions that changed the course of things for better or worse.

Somehow though, I'd never thought about who I was in all those other worlds I jumped to and from every night.

Was I someone different? Someone better?

Or worse?

I wasn't sure how many lives I'd lived before this one. But there was no question what this one was doing to me: changing me irrevocably and shaping me into someone new and different with each passing day, each decision made or not made, each interaction with another human soul or not.

I wondered again where those worlds were right now. Were they worlds of light and happiness, or were they swamped in darkness and despair? Were the people thriving or suffering? Was there any reason for some of them to be on the verge of suicide? Why did some lives end early and others late? To what purpose would such randomness serve?

Everyone said God had a plan for all of us, but as far as I could see there wasn't any rhyme or reason to all this chaos and randomness - just an influx of random events all leading towards a singularity of non-existence that eventually erased every trace of our existence from the universe we inhabited today with its void tomorrow. Oh well - if nothing else we'd have something to look forward to!

I smiled at the thought and drifted back off to sleep again after a moment's reflection on this strange dream that seemed so much like reality itself but which had obviously been nothing more than fantasy gone wild while my mind was idle in sleep.

It was dark when I woke up again - just a bit before dawn - and my body felt almost feverish from excitement as I sat up in bed looking around for clues about what might happen today; maybe it would be today! Maybe today would be THE DAY!

My heart hammered excitedly as I stood up from my bed and walked over to the mirror to check my reflection before heading out into the rest of the house - but then my heart sank as quickly as it had risen when I saw the same reflection staring back at me; still pale skinned with short brown hair that stood at odd angles everywhere on my head because I'd forgotten to comb it this morning before rushing out the door like usual in order to make it on time for work again today; still young with bright blue eyes and dimples in both cheeks; still tall but beginning to stoop slightly as if carrying too much weight on my shoulders lately; still smiling despite having such little sleep last night; still myself - but not quite yet ME! It would take a little longer than usual today it seemed before she noticed anything different about me; he didn't notice his own transformation happening until much later than most people do!

Everything always seemed OK until suddenly everything wasn't anymore! Then he became angry at everyone for being blind to what was happening right under their noses! He got angry at himself for not being able to do anything about it either! He went through periods where he didn't want anybody around him because he didn't want anybody getting hurt by his anger directed at them too! They tried their best to help him but he pushed them away! Eventually nobody came around anymore except when they needed his help themselves - because they knew he would always try his best to give them what they needed - while withholding everything else from himself until finally even he couldn't hide anymore whether he wanted to or not! It started with a cough that wouldn't go away; then a fall down the stairs; then doctors visits and tests...and more tests...until finally one day out of nowhere everybody stopped coming around altogether instead choosing other people who weren't dying so slowly day by day in front of their eyes knowing full well that nobody could save him for very long since nobody can change death itself even if they tried harder than anybody could imagine trying.

But sometimes people die too soon, too quickly for anyone's liking, leaving everybody wondering why no one can fix death either because nothing seems fair anymore when good people go early and bad people live longer than anyone should be allowed. But no one cries harder over these deaths than their loved ones left behind who don