Eternal Question

Laboratory lights flicker across the silent street.

- Mohammad Zakariya

Machines hummed inside, precise and relentless, copying the human mind in ways his teachers had only whispered about before. They said death could be defeated, that the mind could last forever, that bodies could be repaired until the end of time.

He touched the cup in front of him and felt its warmth. He thought about life, the way it moved fast and left marks, the way every goodbye pressed him harder into the moment. Scientists promised immortality, but he knew the truth in his chest. Life mattered because it ended. Death gave meaning to love, pushed decisions into sharp shapes, made hours precious. Without it, nothing counted.