1 What do Human Beings Need to Live?

Oliver held his warm coffee mug while looking away from the client and taking in the dim atmosphere of the retro coffee shop.

The shop had wax candles inside glass lanterns on each table to light up the wide space. The tables came from hard ash wood while the chairs were outdated leather couches that were commonly found in junkyards. The old jukebox played smooth funky jazz to liven up the dreary plushy walls.

'How clever of the owner to disguise his lack of funds to not pay for the electricity bills,' Oliver thought as his mind started to wander while he sat in his chair uncomfortably.

The client in front of him, wearing the same outdated suit that suited the setting of the coffee shop, grinned as he got off track while talking about his personal life.

Oliver wanted to leave this place as soon as possible as he smiled along with the client while he pretended to listen. He finished his business with this 'important' client who would insure the oil transaction in exchange for some commission in return.

'Do all rich people have unique hobbies?' Oliver was getting tired of listening to the client's passion for outdated things.

"How about you Oliver?" The client abruptly asked him.

Oliver didn't fully pay attention to the conversation as he only made sure he was aware of the key points in their discussion.

"Can you repeat the part before that sir?" Oliver apologized.

"Do you believe in God?" The client wore a necklace with a metal cross that was hanging in the middle.

Oliver didn't believe in God ever since he was young. It was the same as knowing that Santa Claus was fiction. Oliver considered himself to be a pure existentialist or an atheist.

Furthermore, God wasn't needed in this world anymore. The fast development of advanced technology and high discoveries made by the subject of science left people who immersed themselves to rely on a foreign non-existent being to help in desperate times.

Oliver knew these people concurred up such a being to help with their weak mentality. A being that would help them make 'friends' on a common subject while creating a whole community to make them feel like they belonged somewhere in the vast world.

Oliver didn't need something of that nature to make him feel more of a significant person than the crowds of people who lived alongside him. He relied on himself to get a job, pay his bills, accumulate his savings and etc.

"No, I do not." Oliver replied honestly to the client.

The client appeared to be taken back as most of his stories revolved around his conservative nature which mostly derived from going to church from an early age. The friendly atmosphere that surrounded them quickly turned awkward as the client felt a little embarrassed with sharing his personal stories to a person who didn't have the same beliefs.

"God does exist," A girl stood up from the table behind him.

A young girl who looked around the ages of nine to eleven years of age came over to their table.

"We all have our own beliefs," Oliver was in the process of packing up all his documents into his briefcase.

"Why do you refuse to believe that God exists?" The girl slammed down her hands onto the sturdy table.

Her long wavy pink hair tumbled down while she exerted a great amount of force like she was threatening someone.

'What a unique hair colour,' Oliver watched her hair drift down to her thighs.

The candles started to flicker abnormally as the client quietly left his seat to escape from the odd situation. The jukebox stopped playing like it was drained of energy as the coffee shop transitioned into a silent space.

"In this day and age, God is simply not needed for some people." Oliver got up to leave the shop.

"Everyone needs God," the girl subtly sat in the client's seat.

Oliver decided he wasn't getting enough sleep lately as he almost believed that her golden pupiled eyes were starting to faintly glow in the dimly lit shop.

He ignored the irrational girl as he walked towards the entrance to coolly make his exit.

"Everyone has their own beliefs," Oliver kindly repeated before opening the door attached to a rusty bell near the top.

"Then die." The girl strangely stared at him with an odd sense of determination.

Oliver turned the doorknob, to find that he couldn't pull or push the door open. The door stubbornly stayed in its place as Oliver continually yanked the doorknob.

'I better get out of here as fast as I can,' Oliver searched for other exits with his eyes.

"I'll prove it to you, but you'll have to die first." The girl left her seat to walk closer to him.

Oliver tried to appear calm as possible as he recounted through the ways from training he got from work on how to handle mentally unsteady people.

Oliver attempted to not agitate the mentally unstable girl that walked closer to him with her small steps.

Fortunately, Oliver could not spot any weapons such as a knife or a gun in her hands.

"You don't have to prove it to me," Oliver was forced into a dead-end as he stepped back every step she walked toward him.

"Genesis Chapter 1 in the Old Theranian Bible from the Ancients. God created the world and everything within that world." The girl started to read an excerpt from the bible.

The air pressure instantly dropped. Oliver gasped as his brain was yelling that it needed more air. He couldn't move his limbs while his throat felt like burning. He felt like he was being strangled to death.

The blood pumped by the heart that carries oxygen that circulated around the body stopped. Oliver collapsed onto the ground while time felt like it was slowing down.

"God created humans so that without oxygen, they die." The girl arrogantly smiled.

"See you later," The girl opened the door full of blinding light.

It was on November 2010; a middle-aged man was discovered to be passed out in an old coffee shop. Unfortunately, the authorities declared that he was identified 'dead' when they arrived in the empty shop with no one to be seen except for the dead man.