Andreas was sitting on the train, by the window of a four-seater compartment, when a woman stuck her head up behind his seat and said:
“I’m a fortune teller. And what I can tell you… You are going to die. In exactly five minutes, when the train reaches its final destination. That’s the time you have left.”
Andreas stood up and walked to the electronic display board. What the woman said wasn’t true; he wouldn’t reach the final destination for another ten hours. But then the text on the display board changed to inform him that the train would make an unscheduled stop in five minutes.
And so did the driver’s announcement: “Unscheduled stop in five minutes.”
That couldn’t be true!
Andreas spoke to the train driver himself via one of the intercoms:
“Why is the train making an unscheduled stop?”
“My boy, it’s because of you,” came the voice over the loudspeaker. “And I’ve heard that you know about it. So, make something of it!”
“Do what?”
“From your last five… uh, four minutes.”
“Fucking hell! Listen, I don’t believe you!”
“You’ll see. Here we go!”
What do you mean, ‘here we go’? Andreas thought for a moment, but then felt a tingling sensation in his chest. Was this the sign that his soul was about to leave his body? Was it similar to the pre-glow of a rocket being launched into space?
What should he do?
He picked up his phone and recorded a voice message.
“Hello, dear ones. What I want to tell you… I’ve enjoyed every second with you. But I laughed far too little with you. And now, in the face of my death, I realize that I haven’t cried enough either. I did cry because of your transience, secretly and alone, without you ever noticing. But now I wish I had cried in your presence. I wish you could have seen me cry. I haven’t cried enough… Impermanence… I’m facing it now.“
“Oh, and thank you to my ex, Maria, for her honest and unconditional love. At least until the day she left me. If Maria hadn’t broken up with me, I wouldn’t be who I am now. I… owe her a lot.”
The display board showed two minutes to the end of the line.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen to me now, but I love you all.”
Then Andreas sent the voice message to all his contacts on his phone.
The last minute.