Chapter 1: The man who tried to die

How much is a life worth?

For a kidney, from 20,000 to 260,000 dollars depending on the country, a pair of eyeballs 1500.

Scalp at 600, skull and teeth 1200, shoulder 500, coronary artery 1500, heart 119 000, liver 150000, hands and forearms 385, blood 337, spleen 500, stomach 500, small intestine 2500, gallbladder 1200 and skin $10 per square inch.

Even if you could get the best price for all your organs you would only earn 421611 US dollars.

Knowing that the largest multinationals earn between $500,000 and $700,000 every minute, it makes you think about the value of your life.

Even if one abandons a materialistic point of view, you don't have much value, I don't have much value.

Four human beings like you and me are born every second, there are many humans like you and many other trillions of living beings.

During our childhood, we all thought we were exceptional, not like the others, that we are special, that we can do anything, that the world belongs to us, that we are the protagonist of our own history.

"Before finally realizing that we are only a secondary character, no, a tertiary character in our own history."

James murmured as he looked down at the cars stuck in a traffic jam and the crowd in the busy streets.

He looked indifferently at the time on the gold watch he had worked hard for for three years before he took it off and threw it away.

He took off his leather shoes and branded tuxedo and threw them away, removing a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his pants pocket.

Passers-by who had noticed a watch, shoes and clothes falling off raised their eyes and saw James naked, standing on the edge of the roof of the building, as he quietly smoked a cigarette.

"What the hell is he doing?"

"Somebody call 911!"

"Why is he naked? Is he an exibitionist again?"

"Oh my God! ...."

"I've got to fucking film this!"

James saw the commotion downstairs and took a last puff of cigarettes before looking at the cloudless sky with a lazy but slightly sad look on his face.

"I hope you kids have a good life, sorry I can't be there with you in the future."

He put out his cigarette and then took a deep breath and screamed.

"I am a bird, I am flying! I can fly!"

The people downstairs hearing this were stunned.

Is this guy crazy? Does he think he's a bird?

"Shit, he's gonna jump, call 911 or the fire department!"

"Live, dear subscriber! Unbelievable while I was shopping... a man ....."

"Don't fucking jump!"

"Far away from you, this madman could fall on you!!"

James jumped without hesitation and fell at full speed to the ground.

Time seemed to slow down for him his heart was beating at full speed his twenty-eight years of life passed before him.

His childhood with his adoptive parents, his adolescence, his first love, his first separation, the day he graduated, his first job interview, his meeting with his wife-to-be, his wedding day, the birth of his two beautiful children, the death of his adoptive father, the funeral of his wife.

Tears fell from his eyes, fear came over him, he regretted even jumping.

But remembering the smiles of his two children on their first days at school, his regrets faded away.

"Goodbye, world."

It was then that suddenly a golden light illuminated the whole city, blinding it completely.

He then heard an indescribably powerful voice resounding in his head before he lost consciousness.

. . . . .

"Am I dead?"

James thought as he opened his eyes, he slowly rose from the ground and saw in amazement, the world around him.

"What the fuck is going on?!"

The world had stopped, the crowd, the objects, everything seemed to be on pause.

He rose slowly from the ground with a certain feeling of fear, checked his body and noticed no apparent injuries.

After several minutes of astonishment, he slowly approached a young girl and tried to touch her.

But his hand went through the young woman's body as if she were a mirage.

"Have I become a ghost or some kind of spirit?"

James frowned as he took a deep breath of air, trying to calm himself.

Looking at the frozen world around him, he couldn't help but scream out loud.

"What the hell is going on?!"