Cardboard Hearts

Prologue

What's the worst lie you've ever told?

The biggest secret you've ever kept?

The worst mistake you've ever made?

If you compare them to the mistakes of some other people, they might not seem like a big deal. For instance, you've (hopefully) never accidentally invaded Liechtenstein three times, or committed mass genocide.

But all those tiny mistakes still add up to something. In the end, they might not make you a terrible person, but they still affect people in more ways than you could count. Mistakes, after all, direct the path of life.

Someone has to be there to see all these mistakes. Someone has to know why your great-uncle got drunk and fell off that ship. Someone has to know why that orphan froze to death on the streets. Someone has to know why you're even here in the first place. That's where I come in.

My name is Life, and I know absolutely everything.

You're probably thinking that I'm a pretentious jerk for saying that, and you're right. I'm really not the nicest person, and you'll be glad you never have to meet me. But I still know everything.

I know the secrets of every person who's ever lived on this planet. I know how old your great-great-grandfather was when he broke his arm. I know the name of your first pet. I even know how many times you've ever sneezed, although I don't know why anyone would ever want to know that. But before you start asking me where the buried treasure is or if God is real, just know that there's some things you would be better off not knowing. Besides, I deal more in beginnings- sunrises, flowers, spring, birth, the day you realize the world isn't so amazing after all. That sort of thing. I leave the endings to someone else.

I'm sure you've all heard of my counterpart Death. He's the more famous one in the family, and personally, I'm really jealous. He gets to wear a black robe and carry around a super-cool scythe, while I'm stuck as an intangible concept. It gets pretty boring. But that's not your problem.

If we had enough time, I could sit here and tell you the stories of everyone who lived and died and survived here. I could show you the pain of the people you thought you knew so well, and the joy of those you never got to meet. Sadly, however, we don't have time for that.

So, sit here a bit longer, and I'll show you seven of them.

A/N:
Note: I am obviously not Life. Life is a character in the story. For one, I barely know anything, much less everything. I'm also not a really old and weird non-existent... Thing.

Now that that's out of the way, I just want to let you know that I have no idea if this story will be any good. It might be super boring, or it might actually be okay. If it is really boring, someone please tell me so I can try to fix it.

Hope you enjoy it.