Fractal patterns of light danced on the ceiling above me as the reflected sunlight bounced off the broken glass shards as the vase shattered upon the floor. The tiny fragments of splintered glass and fractal patterns reminded me of the assumption that parallel worlds existed.
Some people believed that were multiple versions of themselves that existed on separate plains of consciousness at any given moment. They also claimed that these separate worlds were always overlapping with each other which in turn created ripple like effects in the real world. I knew things were far more complex than that.
Upon dying if your sin quota was small you would be placed in a constant cycle of rebirth and be stuck in a state of purgatory until you atoned for your sins or committed the greatest sin of them all; murder. If you exceeded your sin quota, then you would finally die and your spirit would leave this realm.
Those of us who had never sinned in our meagre lives would ascend to a higher plain of existence and our souls would be set free. However as I worked in business there was no time for purity or honesty. Every component of my work was corrupted in some way, even the reams of paper we used were in fact stolen.
When my father died I was given complete control of the company he once managed. So here I was, a balding man of 45 years standing over a broken vase on the highest floor of the one of the most successful companies in this derelict city contemplating the very nature of my own existence.
I stepped over the broken vase crumpling the white rose beneath my foot and walked over to the door that led to the staircase. I called out to the woman on the floor beneath me and turned around and went back to my desk. As I sat down I noticed that the cigarette packet on my desk was almost empty. It would be time for a cigarette break soon, so I decided to wait until the mess I had just made was cleaned up.
As Jamie entered my office, I noticed that something was a little off about her demeanour. She cleaned up the broken vase quickly and disposed of the glass in the trash can which was situated next to my desk. I asked her if everything was alright and she nodded meekly before tears streamed down her face. She then proceeded to tell me that she couldn’t see me anymore as her husband had found out about our affair. As she ran out of my office crying, I informed her to take the rest of the day off. I looked at the packet in front of me, I urgently needed a cigarette.
As I reached for the sole remaining cigarette in the packet in front of me, the phone on my desk suddenly burst into life. I sighed and reached over to pick up the handset. A frantic voice greeted me on the other end. It was one of our main providers stating that they couldn’t fill any future quota for us in the future. This was due to the death of the company manager’s daughter who had recently taken part in a trial of one of our new cigarette products. I apologized profusely and then placed the handset back onto the cradle. This day was slowly turning into a nightmare.
I got up from my desk and walked over to the large glass window. Looking out on the city beneath me, I felt a sense of pity for those walking the decrepit streets beneath my gaze. People consumed with tabloid stories of celebrities, people consumed by the addiction to gamble away their life savings on cigarettes or alcohol. They had no choice in their decisions. Daily programming via commercials and billboards littered around the city infected their frontal lobes turning them into walking zombies. Nobody in this day and age could make any decisions of their own; they were all reliant on technology or the advice of others who didn’t have their best interests at heart. I sighed and turned away from the window and strode back over to my desk. I needed to make a call to Jamie and inform her of the passing of her sister, the sister who had just recently taken part in the trial of one of our new cigarette products.
After I made the call, I picked up the cigarette packet and stuffed it into my pocket. I decided that I could have a smoke later, what I needed now was to fill my lungs with fresh air and to fill my belly with the delectable cuisine at the French restaurant that had just opened across the street. It was an exclusive restaurant where only the rich and famous could afford to eat. I was really looking forward to digging into an escargot dish.