I'm So Tired

If it's one thing I've learned from this, it's that you should always read the fine print, literal or metaphorical. Not reading the fine print is what got me into this mess. Not reading the fine print could easily doom humanity. Let me explain before I go any further.

I'm a pretty dull guy. Average job at the office, average car, average income, and all in all, an average life. So when a suit-wearing man holding a black box walked up to me on my daily walk back to my apartment, I thought two things:

1. I was about to be robbed

2. I was in for an adventure

Given the man's state of dress, (and the fact that he was wearing shades at 6 PM on an autumn night) I easily assumed the latter. I may have not been robbed, but humanity sure was. The man opened the black box, revealing a bright red button inside. I stared at him, absolutely bewildered. The whole situation was so surreal.

"Press this button and everything bad in the world will be erased." The man said in a husky, monotonous voice. To me, the decision was obvious; Of course I'd press it. All the hatred, the violence, the death and disease - all of that gone in an instant! It would be cruel not to, right? Wrong.

I practically slammed my hand on the button, the hints of a smile tugging at the corners of the man's lips. It was an impulse decision. I didn't ask the man to specify what he meant by bad, I didn't even think about the decision. I just pressed the button, jumping to a conclusion as to what he meant.

"The changes won't take effect until you next wake up. Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. McCoy. Have an excellent evening." A chill ran up my spine as the man said my name in his almost robotic tone. How had he guessed it? Was I still wearing my name tag? I checked the lapel of my jacket, but there was no tag there. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

I walked briskly the rest of the way home, concentrating on the urban sounds of the city to take my mind off of the bizarre man with the red button. Finally, I arrived home, fed my dog, and opened my laptop to check my email. As usual, there was nothing of significance there. The news was depressing as it always was, so I just ignored it, focusing my attention instead on Skype. I struck up a conversation with a friend of mine, and we talked for a bit, exchanging anecdotes from our jobs. But the man with the red button lingered in the back of my mind throughout the entire conversation.

"Hey, Scot. If you had the chance to erase everyone bad from the world, would you do it?" He went silent for a little while, thinking.

"I mean, yeah. As long as there weren't any repercussions or anything. That's sorta out there. Deep stuff like that isn't really like you, is everything alright?" I nodded, not wanting to explain the man with the red button to him at risk of sounding like a madman. An uncomfortable silence flooded our conversation.

"Well, uh. Dinner's almost ready here, we can talk some more tomorrow if you want. See ya." I waved back at him, echoing his "See ya" before ending the Skype call. I closed my laptop, rubbing my eyes as my stomach grumbled at me. I glanced at the clock. It was almost 8. I sat in the office chair for a moment, thinking back to what Scot had said.

"As long as there were no repercussions." What sort of repercussions could erasing all the bad have? I thought. And then it dawned on me. Without any bad, there would be nothing driving us to do good, and no real reason to do anything other than survive. If people's flaws were erased, they wouldn't be a better version of themselves, they would stop being who they are. We have to take a little bit of good and bad. It's all about the balance between the two.

This sudden realization caused a second realization; the major error I had made. Things hadn't changed yet, though. I hadn't fallen asleep and woken up. And so, we come to my dilemma; I can fall asleep, ultimately killing the soul of the word, or I can find a way to keep myself awake indefinitely.

It's been a few days, and I am very tired.