The young boy lay in bed, but he was not asleep. His alarm clock flashed at him, telling him it was only 3 a.m. The boy sighed, and started thinking to pass the time. He felt like he knew so much, so many important things that other people didn't care to bother with. He wanted to share his knowledge, but no one would listen to a voice so small. He thought about his life, and the lives of all the millions of people he shared the planet with. The harder he concentrated, the more he could understand. He took each piece of existence and studied it, carefully plotting where to place it in the puzzle of life. Suddenly, his mind burst with white light, and he began to see it all very clearly. Life began to shed its beautiful coats, and display them to the boy. It explained how each trim, button, and zipper played a part in the making of the coat. The most important thing, it told him, was the little stitches inside the coat that held everything together, though no one could ever see them. Without these, Life said, the coat would fall apart, and lose its sole purpose for existing. So Life showed him each of its layers, coaxing him to tell the others. But he would not tell them, for they wouldn't listen to such a small boy like himself. Suddenly, his thoughts shrouded themselves with darkness and mystery, and he found himself thinking of Death instead. It beckoned him to find it, to discover what mysteries it held. The boy saw that Death only wore one coat, so he asked to see what was inside. Death shook its head, telling the boy that he must find Death first, and then all the secrets within the coat would be his to know. The boy lay in his bed, confused as to what to do. Life showed him so many things, told him how it all worked, shared with him all of the beauty and complexity it had to offer. But Death continued to call him, whispering in his ear that it could show the boy all the things the one's who wouldn't listen to him don't know. His curiosity seizing him by the throat, the boy began to wonder, Everyone says they know what is behind Death's coat, but how can they know if they've never found him? I have seen Life, and I understand its complexities now, so what more can it hold for me? He begun to terrify himself with these thoughts, but his terror soon gave way to his surmounting curiosity. Life showed him all it had to offer, but Death kept secrets from him, sharing nothing. If he could find Death, he could learn these secrets, and then he would know everything! The boy got excited, promising himself that he would soon find Death. Then, he could look back at all the ones who refused to hear him, and laugh, knowing he is better than them. He rose from his bed and walked to his window, staring down at the street far below him. He closed his eyes tight and envisioned the single-coat Death that had appeared before him earlier. It floated in the air, suspended three stories above the asphalt, beckoning the boy to come forward. Death grinned, knowing that the boy had come to him in search of its secrets. As it slowly unbuttoned its coat, the boy witnessed a darkness within that stretched far beyond the universe. He became confused, looking up at Death, only to see that eery grin returned from the shadow of a face. Death's coat began to forcefully pull him in, tearing every fiber of the boy from his universe. He felt the air rush by his face as he was sucked in. He looked inside eagerly as he was pulled, hoping to see the secrets Death had promised him. He found that the coat held nothing, only the absence of reality. The boy cried out in despair as he was pulled forward into the void of Death's coat. The air sucking him in stopped abruptly, and the boy felt himself suspended inside the coat. As he slowly faded from reality, he thought he could hear the sound of sirens surrounding him, but they were soon lost to the deafening silence within the coat. Death grinned as it took away the soul of a boy who thought he knew everything, knowing that no one will ever truly discover what lies behind its one, single coat.