The Cloisters

by Katy Hays

What if our whole life—how we live and die—has already been decided for us? Would you want to know, if a roll of the dice or a deal of the cards could tell you the outcome? Can life be that thin, that disturbing? What if we are all just Caesar? Waiting on our lucky throw, refusing to see what waits for us in the ides of March.

Nothing, I knew, was as powerful as curiosity. I had always considered it more powerful than lust. After all, wasn’t that why Adam bit into the apple? Because he was curious? Because he needed to know?

“We are all obsessed with our fates,” said Aruna, dreamily. “For they are the one thing we cannot control. The one thing we are blind to.