Numbers

1

 There were other creatures on the planet, sure, millions of different kinds of other creatures, species, what have you. But there was only one that could see the numbers. The numbers swirled and whirled and whipped around in a frenzy. The only thing is, despite the fervent belief of the resident, self-proclaimed dominant species on the planet, there didn't seem to be any objective, empirical evidence to support the existence of the numbers at all. But if one was to try and express this to the resident, dominant species on the planet, one would not get anywhere. It would be completely impossible to try and squeeze any evidence at all that these numbers were real, and yet every single action these creatures took, they would swear, was due to the numbers, that only they could see. Terrifying numbers, the way they talked about them.

"The numbers are falling!" they would sometimes scream and proceed to run around in a sheer panic, frothing and flailing about, doing all sorts of ridiculous things. Their leaders would clamber on top of podiums and give grave and serious speeches about the terrifying state of the numbers. "This is very serious," they would proclaim. "We have never seen the numbers fall so fast," they would claim. Panic would spread like wildfire. "Did you hear the numbers are falling?" the creatures would start to ask each other in hushed tones. "What should we do? The numbers are falling!" husbands and wives would yell at each other. "We'll have nowhere to live soon if these numbers don't stop falling!"

"Look outside! Numbers are raining down from the sky!" they would start to believe.

"I can't come into work," the panic-stricken, soon-to-be homeless man yelled into the phone receiver. "Why? Because a giant number 7 just landed on top of my car windshield! Numbers are falling onto our roof, I assure you there's no roof left at this point!"

His wife would leave him, taking their four children and hurrying off with the type of man who was better equipped to survive such number-related volatility. The kind of man who gave calm speeches and taught online classes on how if only you were as smart as him, you too could not only survive when the numbers are falling, but thrive! Yes, you too could become richer and therefore better than everyone else if only you too knew how to survive and thrive when the numbers were falling. You could take in poor wives and children from homeless, carless saps that lost their jobs and houses and cars because they weren't as prepared as you for when the numbers started falling. But try as he might, if anyone was to press him, they couldn't actually get him to prove, reasonably, that the numbers existed at all.

Thing was. Nobody ever did.