The Museum of Failures

by Thrity Umrigar

Why did human beings need to invent heaven and hell? Remy wondered. It was all here on Earth: The stars and the gutter, paradise and inferno. All the contradictions of the world embodied in every single human being.

This was how destiny was formed, Remy decided, not by what was written in the stars by some distant god, but by human choice and effort and courage. All he had to do was be brave.