One

My friends and I run onto the driving range, laughing and screaming.

Floodlights illuminate the massive raindrops pelting our faces. We can hear the rolling thunder inching closer with every boom. In a remarkable lapse of judgment, I raise my pitching wedge to the sky and yell,

“I AM THOR!! GOD OF THUN—”

The lightning strikes my club, and for a brief moment in time, I understand everything.

I can hear every leaf falling from every tree in every forest and see all the sunsets that have ever crested the horizon since Earth was born. A symphony of heartbeats drums in my ears, including the racing hearts of my surprised friends and the slow, rhythmic beating of my parent’s hearts, fast asleep in their bed.

I know why we are here and where we’re going.

For a brief moment, I am one with the universe.

Then nothing.