"Eren was an ordinary person.
For him, little money and reliable friends were enough to have a good day. He had a decent family and a good future.
He was hoping to live a good life.
Eren was never told that there was a different option. Wasn't even asked if he wanted the chance that had been given to him. No decision moments or a little time to think..
He would just live an ordinary life."
..
Eren looked like someone who went to a magical world and had adventures there. All the time, people thought that he was just lucky.
No one noticed what Eren lost in this journey."
W.
°•○●
[Does life have a meaning?]
Eren heard this sound as he opened his eyes as the new rising sun entered his room. What frightening to Eren wasn't the content but the fact that a voice came from inside his head. He immediately stood up on the bed and pushed the quilt while looking around. He had goosebumps.
"What the hell is going on?"
He was in his bed, in his room where he always slept since childhood. Being in an environment where he felt safe made him think like maybe the sound he had just heard was inside his dream. He was planning to take his smartphone and scroll through In*tagram until he calmed down.
[Is the life of a mere mortal valuable? What's even the "value"?]
This time, Eren threw his phone on the bed and jumped to his feet. He looked around, trying to understand the voice in his head. For several minutes he wondered if he had been asleep. He pinched himself and looked at his reflection in the mirror. At one point he thought to check if he was in a very realistic dream with a small beyblade inside his gardrobe(as in the movie). But he wouldn't do something so stupid. He still did in the end.
..
Minutes later.
This 17 years old teen was already on the verge of forgetting the sound when he entered the bathroom.
Like a normal person, he was ready to believe that such paranormal things were a misunderstanding. He loved to watch horror movies. Was it possible to scare yourself? Or just be delusional after watching a net*lix drama after midnight?
Eren was asking too many questions and was calming himself by drowning himself in these questions.
Just when Eren was making breakfast, his father got home. He ate a standart breakfast with his father. While he was putting the sandwich on the toaster and pressing it, Eren completely calmed down when his dad told him what happened during the night shift at work.
"What time will you be home after school?"
"I think I'll be home by four, Dad."
"Alright. I need the motorcycle around that time. I have to go to the market and handle some other businesses. Don't be late." His father went into the bathroom and then into the bedroom and slept alone on the big bed.
Eren was aware that his mother and father hadn't slept in the same bed for years. Although both his father and mother worked in the same workplace, they were working different hours. His mother was at work during the day and his father at night. Eren couldn't remember the last time he saw them talk to each other.
When his father was snoring, at around 8:25 am, he put on his backpack at the door and took the bike's key. Since the high school was close to their house, he could go immediately by motorbike. Everyday, he was going outside 5 minutes before the lesson time.
He greeted Meltem, the daughter of his neighbors, who was waiting for him in the garden. "Good morning."
"Morning. Don't go fast today. I just washed my hair. I can't afford to be sick right now."
Eren knew how much Meltem cared about her studies and that she was in the exam year. She was in the last year of high school and there were only 2-3 months left for the exam. Eren was only in third year and he was more comfortable with this subject because he had one more year. But the stress of the exam had already begun.
They got on the bike and started a windy and cold ride to school. There was a thin water channel at the beginning of the schoolroad. It was very peaceful with the two children as they passed the half-full canal.
[The thing called peace is an illusion, isn't it? Can you call it as "life" if it is without desires and difficulties?]
Eren heard that voice in his head and startled. This time he was sure it was a female voice. Worst of all, the voice had spoken longer than before.
What if she talks all the time and drives me crazy. I don't want to go crazy.
The voice began to speak again, as if answering Eren.
[Going crazy happens when the minds that have started to solve a riddle which carrying too heavy answers. Those whose bodies and souls aren't ready, shouldn't be asking questions, right?]
Eren could hardly control the bike and parked it under a tree outside the schoolyard. It was a good spot and shady all day. Also, Eren didn't have a driver-license yet. So he didn't want the teachers to see him while he was picking it. A pissed off teacher who caught him could take a disciplinary action or report it to the police.
"Thank you, Eren. See you after school."
"Yeah, see you later!"
Meltem rushed to catch the first lesson, leaving Eren behind. She was usually a quiet girl who didn't talk much. There was a quiet friendship between the two of them, with little talking and a lot of relaxing silent moments. And Eren was happy with this relation.
He sighed as walked through the school gate.
He kept the bike's key inside his palm. And greeted the teacher on duty at the school gate with a big smile.
"We're getting ruined in English class, but I'm still being nice to you, as*hole"
Eren was really disgusted with some of his teachers and most of his friends. But he was kind to everyone and never did broke his image, not even once.
He found the classroom of first lesson and entered the biology classroom, sat in a random seat after walking to side of corner where his close friends were. He smiled at the girl he loved on the other end of the class and nodded. He would say good morning to all the other girls every day, but he would only smile and say good morning to that girl. He hoped this gesture would get her attention.
Sometimes Eren was so naive.
During lunch, he bought a pastry (a small baguette-bread- with cheese inside) and a cup of instant coffee from the canteen. He walked to a quiet place in the front yard. All his friends wanted to eat something hot today and they were lined up in the bigger canteen in the basement floor.
He walked over to a few familiar people in the garden.
[Not today.]
Although he had many friends he could talk to, he still walked alone and looked for a nice place to relax. After walking closer to the school gate, he sat on a wooden bench. Held his coffee in his hand and tried to beat the cold air with the warmth of the paper cup.
At that moment, the first thing the voice said in the morning came to his mind.
"Does life have a meaning or not?"
At that moment, he realized how complex actually that question was.
He couldn't finish the sentence "Of course life has a mea..-"
"..I don't know."
He took a sip of his coffee and thought about him being an only child and the cold state of his family as drifting into depressive thoughts. Maybe he was the only thing holding his parents and their marriage together. Eren had no chance of being depressed or acting rebellious.
He would live the life expected of him, and he would grow old and die.
For a moment, the life he was going to live flashed before his eyes, and he saw the end. He literally saw his own end, smelled it, even felt it in his flesh. When he was older, he would have wrinkled skin and a sad face full of regret. A desperate old face that has accepted death.
The second thing the voice said in the morning came to his mind.
"Is the life of a simple "mortal" really valuable?" This time he whispered before sipping his coffee.
He took a deep breath, looking at the youthful and hopeful faces of the surrounding students.
Asking questions with harsh or just bad answers didn't make his life any easier. He wasn't wise enough to ask such questions or look for answers. He couldn't be. Because he didn't have that luxury. He was aware of his family's troubles and financial problems. Also his country was in a chaotic state with a bad economy and income inequality.
Eren reconsidered what kind of life he would live and gave the answer reluctantly.
"(My) - Life as a mere mortal has no meaning and no value!"
The moment he said that sentence, the third thing the morning voice had said echoed in his head.
[The thing called peace is an illusion, isn't it? Can you call it as "life" if it is without desires and difficulties?]
Eren thought back to what the sentence was asking and suddenly realized.
"A peaceful and meaningless life is not lived. I want to live a meaningful life where my difficulties and desires are important!"
[Then I give you the opportunity to go to a world full of madness. Move towards a meaningful and really valuable life]
When Eren heard the voice in his head speaking even louder again, he was sure it was a middle-aged woman now. She was a woman in her mid-30s, younger than her mother but in her thirties.
The strangest thing was this woman's extremely serious voice. It confused Eren!
..
It was just an ordinary afternoon!
Moreover, Eren wasn't actually that depressed or in a philosophical mood. He was just a kid thinking about his future over a simple lunchbreak with an instant coffee.
It was unfortunate for Eren, the voice speaking in his head took his words too seriously.
Eren was an ordinary person. Money and friends were enough to have a good day to him. He had a troubled but decent family and a normal future.
He was hoping to live an ordinary but a beautiful life.
He was never told that there was a different option. Wasn't even asked if he wanted the chance that had given to him. No decision moments or a little time to think..
He was just gonna live an ordinary life, god damn it!
But feeling a great pain in his head and a great burning in his whole body, he dropped the coffee from his fingers. He clenched his fists, holding the napkin he used for bread.
His heartbeat quickened.
In one moment, he was an ordinary and insignificant part of the entire universe, and the next second, his entire body had become something rejected by the universe. Eren could feel this state of his body and the forced alternative that wasn't presented but forced onto him!
[I have to leave this place! But how?]
[Just think about where you need to go and let this universe that no longer accepts you push you out]
Eren didn't think he'd ever hear such a ridiculous sentence before. But the strange pains in his entire body were now turning into a torturous pain. It was unbearable for an ordinary person who had never suffered.
He instinctively did what the voice said.
[I guess it would be nice to visit a wonderful place where my life would be meaningful...]
Eren didn't know many subjects in physics, including the theory of absolute exclusion, the extinction number, and the theory of impossible values. All of these scientific things explained by hundreds of different sub-theories, just said the same thing. "It is impossible for something made of the energy and matter of this universe to leave the universe."
Or in a simpler words, "something can not be nothing!
This idea seemed certain to physicists and scientists. But Eren disappeared in a way that all human-scientists deemed impossible.
There were no puffs of smoke or visual effects.
Nor were there sci-fi lights that symbolized magic, a god's touch, or teleportation.
Eren just disappeared in an instant.
It was never said what would happen after he said those words. Or could he return to this home-planet and his old life again?
...
A voice in the air spoken after Eren vanished.
[Those who make a request or respond without knowing the results; they lose their right to rebel and deny!
I hope you can have a meaningful life, little child...]
Woman-voice spoke sadly for the last time. He was never gonna hear her again in this lifetime.
°•○●