Three Headed Monsters and Dung Beetles

Ryan felt the warmth of the fire radiating of his palms as he edged them to taste the licking of the flames. He stared past the fire, watching white streaks appear through the darkness as the waves broke in repetition off the point. They had driven for hours on a dirt road, checking surf spots as they appeared along the route. Finally they found what they were looking for. A point ran out into the water, the high cliff jutting over the oceans surface. It stretched in a j shape as the cliff gave way to crumbled rocks, then soft sand. The wave ran along the point, breaking smoothly over a rock reef. Each one mirroring the last; consistently challenging each other to become a better wave.

They had surfed until the sun faded into the ocean, leaving a brilliant orange haze that sunk slowly to the West. Each wave as though created by man, an amusement park for surfers. When Ryan could barely see the rollers coming in, he caught his last wave and set up camp.
The camp was simple, there green dome two man tent quickly stationed as a makeshift home. He found some rocks about the size of softballs and made a ring for the fire. He kept the hatch on his SUV opened and hung a Coleman lantern to help him spot scorpions making their way towards the warmth of the fire.

They heated a can of beans in the fire and smothered tortillas with cheese and salsa they picked up in a little market back in town. They only had goat cheese, which is the standard down in these parts, making for a bitter burrito. After they finished eating and throwing their paper plates in the fire, they rolled up a couple joints from their newly scored pot, sat back in their folding chairs, and smoked away.
Ryan had finished his joint and was enjoying the high; switching his gaze from searching for a breaking wave and watching the fire taunt him with brilliant flashes of orange, yellow and blue. He came out of his transfixed stare when an ember exploded in the fire, making a sharp cracking noise and sending sparks harrowingly close to his face.

“Holy shit,” he remarked and Jeff started laughing hysterically at the scene of his friend almost falling backward. After Ryan’s initial panic quickly dissipated he began to laugh as well. The boys shared a good laugh, tears rolling down their faces, after a while not even really remembering why they were even laughing.

After a while they settled back, Ryan switching glares from the water to the fire, yet this time keeping his face further away. Finally his gaze went upward and he started wondering how far away the stars were, each one having an illuminating light that traveled endlessly until it had reached his stare.

“Do you think there are aliens out there, man?” Ryan asked.
“For sure, think about it. Space is infinite, right? So, that means you can keep traveling, in any direction, forever. Can you possibly tell me that in this idea of forever, you wouldn’t run into a planet, similar to ours with some sort of species on it? Whether it be a three headed, yellow eyed, split tongue monster that knew how to solve math equations even our computers can’t solve or a bug more stupid then a dung beetle, roaming mindlessly; there has to be something, somewhere.”

“Well, what if that’s not the case,” Ryan debated. “What if it ends, a simple wall that we can see? Don’t you believe this was created by some higher being; like God?”

“No way man, that’s just a myth to keep people in line. If they never created this idea of God, there would be no fear of death. If there was no fear of death, there would be no need to worry of repercussions. In the present it’s tougher. If you break the law, then you go to jail; but back when the law couldn’t control the masses, they needed to create something grander then law. What’s grander then the idea that if you break these moral codes, you burn in a fire bound hell for eternity. With the ability to monitor the masses they have today, keep check on abiding laws and deterring behavior with fear of getting raped in the ass by some big honky inmate in jail; there is not so much a need to worry about a God. Instead you need to worry if big brother is watching you."

“What about when you die, then?” Ryan continued his argument, although not really knowing what he, himself, believed. “What happens to us then?”

Jeff stared silently into the fire, eyes transfixed as if picturing the very moment he took his last breath. “It’s simply over.” He replied. “You ever go to bed, lie down after a long day and quickly fall asleep; then before you know it, you’re awake again. You don’t dream, there was nothing in between the time you went to sleep and the time your mind returned to the present world. You simply were gone. You ever have those nights?”

“Yeah, I mean, I dream most of the time; but once in awhile I don’t have any dreams at all.”

“That length of time, when there is just nothing there; that’s death. It’s simply over. You don’t go on to some parade in the sky, following the light. You don’t burn in hell, doing push up’s forever in dog shit, while the devil whips your back. You don’t play cards with Martin Luther King Jr. and King Tut. You simply are gone; it’s all simply just gone.”

“That doesn’t make you bummed? Don’t you want more?” Ryan asked somberly.

“No man; live life and enjoy it. Then when it’s done, sleep good.” Ryan stood up quickly after and began walking off. “I got to take a piss, wow man, we’re really stoned to be having this stupid ass conversation.” He said this and began laughing as he walked past the rays of dancing firelight.

Ryan sat there and contemplated the conversation. He was never raised to go to church and only been a few times to impress some girl he had been dating. He always felt as though he was attending an English course, all seeming to fictional. The stories never spoke of fact, just the idea of what someone held as truth. He couldn’t see falling blindly to such premonitions of someone that didn’t even know what text messaging was. Haven’t we proved so many things since the advent of religion to still follow it without any new discoveries to be made? Communism is a belief that is quickly faltering worldwide due to the holes in the theories; yet Religion has waged on. Yet, he felt so empty and scared to think there was nothing else out there, except maybe a three headed monster or a dung beetle.