By the 3rd hour, John and Emily decided to visit their mother and discuss the insurance with the hospital. When they arrive, they find their mother playing at a foosball table with some little kids at the hospital. They can never recall seeing her in her room; only when they begged her to rest that she would thank the little ones and return to her room. She was a favorite at the hospital; everybody knew her. The little ones called her Granny. It used to be Granny Stort since most of the littles couldn’t pronounce Stuart, but sometime in the last three years, they dropped the name altogether. The older folks and everyone just called her by her first name, Elizabeth. Either way, their mother is everyone's friend at the hospital.

Their mother turns around after finishing an intense game with a four-year-old. She lost 8-10, but it was close. She used to play basketball with them, or at least that's what the children and she called it, but with her condition worsening, she could barely handle the ball.

“Are you ok?” asks Emily to her mother.

“Of course, I didn’t lose to Timmy that badly,” she jokes.

“You know what I mean,” replies Emily, still glad that her mother still had her humor, even if her jokes weren’t spectacular.

“I’ll be alright,” her mother says, but Emily sees a hint behind her eyes that she does not believe it. But she didn’t seem sad about it, just accepting. Emily escorts her mother back to her room after she plays one more round of foosball with one of the children. John goes up to talk to the hospital staff about potential financial help.

John arrives at the manager’s office. “Excuse me, sir, I’m here to discuss financial help for Ms. Elizabeth Stuart,” John says.

“Usually, we schedule appointments, but for Ms. Stuart and her family, we’d do anything,” the manager jokes. “Also, call me Bill.”

John is annoyed but asks, “Yes, Bill, I’m here to request financial aid for my mother. Her insurance was canceled, and I can’t convince them to change their minds.”

Bill replies, “Yes, we know. As soon as your insurance company told us about it, we had a discussion with Ms. Stuart. We offered to pay for everything out of our pocket until she got better, and if she didn’t, we would happily keep providing.”

“So, is it covered?” John asks.

Bill’s expression drops, “No, it isn’t. Your mother refused the aid. She claimed she would much rather have the money go toward the needy children than to herself. We even tried to start a donation center for your mother, but she told us to make it for the kids instead. I’m so sorry, but there is nothing we can do unless you can convince her otherwise.”

“Can you fund both?” John asks.

“We can… Kinda. Your mother manages most of the financial help we provide; obviously, we never asked her to. She just volunteered and said she likes helping people; she won’t even let us pay her. Basically, she knows that if we were to pay for her needs, we wouldn’t be able to take care of the children as much as we would. I’m sorry,” Bill says. John goes to see his mother. He won’t try to convince her; he knows it’s not possible. He sees her in her room talking with Emily.

“Mother,” John says. Both he and Emily end up spending the rest of the day with their mother. They talk about pretty much everything: work, life, just everything. They hang out with some of the other patients. They greet new patients. They even watch their mother bake a cake for one of the hospital employee's birthday in the hospital cafeteria. But John tries to enjoy his time, but he can’t. He loves his mother and is angry she would let herself die for kids that she might not even know. He loves her, but why couldn’t she just be a little selfish for once, just a little? Eventually, they have to leave.

The next day, John meets Emily in one of the meeting rooms, late. They continue to think what they had thought the day before. A couple of hours pass until an unexpected guest arrives, Dr. Leon. He walks in on John and Emily’s thinking.

“Hello, Dr. Leon,” Emily says before being interrupted by Dr. Leon

“Yes, yes, enough with the formalities. What do you have for me?” Dr. Leon asks, his voice rushed.

“Sir,” John says, “with all due respect, it has only been a day.”

Dr. Leon looks at him, ignores the response, and continues as if his question was rhetorical and continues to speak, still speeding up, behind it a hint of excitement or obsession, “Ok, sure, you don’t have anything. Did you meet Mr. Lumpkin? Did you meet him…” Dr. Leon stops abruptly and he takes a deep breath. “Sorry, did you meet Mr. Lumpkin?”

“Yes,” Emily replies, “unfortunately, he wasn’t much use. He just gave us some piece of paper he hides in a vault in his wall; it had some of those strange symbols on it but nothing much.”

“May I see it?” Dr. Leon asks, his voice slightly picking up again.

Emily hesitates, and he seems off. “We are running tests on it. We will have it back by tomorrow.” It was the truth, at least some of it. They’d technically have it by the next hour, but Dr. Leon didn’t need to know that. They would put the paper in the company vault after the tests.

“Yes, well, I’m off,” Dr. Leon says as he leaves as abruptly as he came.

Unable to make sense of their impromptu conversation, they go back to thinking about what to do next. Another hour passes, “I’m getting lunch,” John says, and he walks off. Before John reaches the elevator, he stops and returns to the room. “I got it! I know what to do!” John exclaims. “Remember, Mr. Lumpkin’s house is made of steel, and nobody in their right mind would spend millions of dollars on a solid steel house.”

“But he wasn’t in his right mind,” Emily claims.

“Yes, that’s the point. He said someone would come if we stayed, so what if we do that? We just stay here with the map in one of the lab rooms; they are virtually indestructible!” John explains.

Emily agrees because there are no other options. John and Emily go over the plan. They have a simple plan. From their experience, simple works best. They would stay in one of the explosive testing lab rooms. Both rooms were right next to each other but only connected through 2 feet of straight bulletproof glass and monitors. They planned to lure whatever the thing they were luring was into, where explosives were usually detonated. 2-inch steel backs and another couple of feet of concrete usually surrounded those rooms. Anything in there couldn’t escape. So John and Emily waited in the monitoring room with the map. They waited for hours until they heard a knocking sound. It was 2 am, the janitorial service had left hours ago, and no one was permitted into the building until after 7 am. Then they hear footsteps slowly grow louder until it sounds like whoever it is is right around the corner. It was Dr. Leon and the company's CEO, Dr. Arnold Swang. They entered the lab room directly next to them. John and Emily strained to hear.

“Do you have the paper?” Dr. Leon asks Dr. Swang.

“Yes,” Dr. Swang replies, “it is in the company vault.”

“Perfect. Do you know how close they are to seeing him?” Dr. Leon asks.

“It doesn’t matter; it’s their only lead,” Dr. Swang replies.

“You know neither of us have much time left. My men went to visit Mr. Lumpkin today. He’s finally lost it,” Dr. Leon says.

“Trust me, I’ve ensured they’ll work as fast as possible,” Dr. Swang assures. “If need be, I can always tighten my grip.”

“Just make sure when they see him you collect the papers.”

“Deal.”

Dr. Sawng and Dr. Leon walk toward the company vault. John gets up to follow, but he and Emily blackout. They wake up in some kind of old forgotten room. Across from them, they see a thing, lacking a better word to describe it. The thing looked as if knowledge and wisdom had taken human form.

Its voice echoes and vibrates the room. “John, Emily,” it says, nodding to each of them, “You have possessed the map for over 24 hours. Do you understand the choice you must make?”

John and Emily look at each other frightened; they have no idea what this thing is talking about. “Um, no,” Emily responds.

“Very well, then” the entity responds, “follow me.” They again blackout. 

They wake up in a space between all spaces. They reside on a mountain overlooking the clouds, but a tower looms over them, stretching up to the heavens. Its tip shines like the sun warping the cosmos. It becomes clear to them that the Tower of Babel is not a place but an idea that has taken on material shape. The top of the tower is infinitely high but still reachable. John and Emily start to head to the top. They grow old yet do not age. They climb but make little process. They see stories written on the walls by humans who once dwelled in this tower. People that have probably never touched the actual earth. They reach the top; eons have passed, and the universe has died and exploded hundreds of times, but always with a pattern, everything has a pattern. They see a book in front of them, the Book of Babel—the book of those patterns. The book commands the universe itself. In front of them, the book rips; two pages fall out, one for John, one for Emily.

“Do you understand the choice you must make?” The entity again repeats.

“We do,” Emily says. It is so clear now, everything. She sees how it will all play out, or at least most of it. She sees her mother, and the quality of her care slowly dwindles as their bank accounts empty. She sees Dr. Leon and Dr. Swang slowly going mad from the pages that they possess. She sees the pages, and with all of them, she knows they will translate the map. She sees Mr. Lumpkin in a mental hospital, unable to make out words. Mr. Lumpkin stares directly at her as if he knows she is watching. He makes signals; he tells her not to do it. She again sees Dr. Leon and Dr. Swang; this time, they are talking to their mother’s hospital, and they buy the hospital and hike up costs. Dr. Leon glances at her. He smiles. Finally, she sees herself just a few minutes into the future. She sees two possibilities. She accepts the offer. She will dissolve into insanity, but their mother will be safe at the sacrifice of the world. She denies the offer, her mother dies, and she and her brother lose their jobs and later die on the streets, but the world remains fine.

John sees the same visions: Mr. Lumpkin, the hospital, Dr. Swang, Dr. Leon, his mother, his mother, his mother. He now only sees his mother, again playing foosball with Timmy, but now losing 2-9. She is getting worse. One of her IVs is missing. No, not missing, taken. He only sees his mother.

“We accept the deal,” John says before Emily has time to decide. Emily sees a slight tear in the entity's eye.

“Very well,” the entity says, “please pick up your page.”

John and Emily each pick up their page and wake up in the lab room.

They find Dr. Swang and Dr. Leon standing over them. Their hands are burned. Despite John and Emily’s minds being clear just moments ago, they are now clouded in fog.

“Give us the papers!” Dr. Leon orders. His voice is quick and insane.

“What?” John asks, groggy.

“I said, give us the papers!!” Dr. Leon orders this time with more intensity. Dr. Leon tries to snatch the paper from her but falls back after burning his hand. John and Emily realize that Dr. Leon and Dr. Swang can’t take their papers, including the one in the vault.

“Why should we?” Emily asks.

“Because I’ll hike up the price of your mother’s medical care if you don’t,” Dr. Swang says. This response convinces John to give up his paper to Dr. Swang and gives Dr. Swang permission to take Lumpkin's paper in the vault, but Emily is still unsure.

“Give it to him,” John begs.

Emily does not know what to do. She debates it with herself. She knows if she refuses, she and John will lose their jobs, and their mother will die. If she gives them the paper, they could save their mother. She knows she should not give it to them, “No.”

A crazy look enters Dr. Leon’s eyes. He speaks through clenched teeth, “No!? Did you say no? Do you want your mother to die? For you and your brother to be sent to the streets? I can ensure you’re never hired again if that's what you want!”

John continues to beg Emily to accept; she tells him to think, but he does not listen. Eventually, Emily has no choice but to accept. After surrendering her paper, Dr. Leon translated the map, and they all found themselves in a familiar room. They were at the top of the tower of Babel, in the room where the book resided.

They all stand around a pedestal holding the Book of Babel. The windows contain huge stained glass art depicting the construction of the tower. Next to the window is a man, an old man. He is scared and frightened but smiling.

“Mr. Lumpkin?” John and Emily ask the man.

“I said. I told. Yes. You no. I said. He dies. He dies. Yes. No. Yes. Maybe. Yes,” Mr. Lumpkin responds, rocking back and forth.

“It is a shame,” someone says behind them. It is the entity. “He has been part of this too long. Anyways…” He quicks speaking. Silent. Not a noise to be heard. John and Emily shuffle closer to each other, whereas Dr. Swang and Dr. Leon shuffle toward the book. Mr. Lumpkin stops rocking. Still cuddled in the corner, he smiles. Suddenly, everyone launched themselves at the book. Everyone except Mr. Lumpkin started to chuckle. John grabs the book first but immediately gets socked in the face by Dr. Swang, dropping it. Dr. Leon dives for it but collides with each other, sending the book flying to the other side of the room. Swang leaps over them and grabs the book but gets blinded by John. Emily tries to grab the book but gets tackled by Leon. The scramble goes on for a couple of minutes before the book finally ends up in the hands of Dr. Leon. Who stands by a stained glass window depicting construction workers dropping their tools from the top of the tower. Menacing, he slowly opens the book.

Time stops for Dr. Swang. He thinks back on his life. When he was fourteen, he dropped out of school to start his own company. The company was a success. They solved problems and did research never done before. That was until Dr. Swang started to accumulate debt. Dr. Swang had made so much money from his company that he began to gamble. He figured he was lucky and could potentially double the millions he had. Then he started losing money. He lost his millions of dollars, so he began to spend the company's money. He lost that, too. He had to start firing employees, even if they did nothing wrong, to save the money he didn’t have. That was until Dr. Leon stepped in. He promised Dr. Swang he would pay off the debt of 250 million dollars for a single successful job. It was by no means a hard job. All that was required was to get three people to obtain a piece of paper by just holding a map for 24 hours. Or that’s what Dr. Swang thought at first. It wasn’t till he met the entity that he realized how hard this would actually be.

When he met the entity, he saw what would come from each of his actions with uncanny clarity. It was assured that what he saw was what would happen. He also noticed that when it came time to make the choice, it wasn’t specified what that choice would be; he could not be physically harmed because of that choice. It would also not affect his chances in the afterlife when he spoke with Dr. Leon after his encounter with the entity. Dr. Swang realized that Dr. Leon had found a loophole. Sure, they would be unable to physically convince someone to make a choice they did not know yet, just that it was important, but they could emotionally hurt them or turn the circumstances in their favor. So, Dr. Leon and Dr. Swang targeted Emily and John for the other two papers needed. Dr. Swang knew their mother was in the hospital, and Dr. Swang owned their mother’s insurance company (John and Emily, of course, don’t know this) and refused to pay for their mother's care. He also artificially inflated the price of her care to make sure John and Emily can’t afford it unless they agree to the final choice.

Yet, all this being said, he regrets his decision. He lunges at Dr. Leon. At the same moment, Mr. Lumpkin bursts into laughter. Dr. Leon drops the book and tumbles with Dr. Swang into the stained glass window, which shatters, and they fall endlessly. The book lies by the entity's feet. He picks it up and asks one simple question to the three remaining.

“Do you want this?” the entity asks.

“Yes,” Mr. Lumpkin immediately says. “I finally see clearly for the first time in the past half year. With this book, I could right my wrongs. Piece my family back together.”

“No,” Emily says. She knows that although Dr. Swang is dead, her mother will still die. Even if they somehow obtain enough money, her mother still has an incurable disease. Although she knows all of this, she thinks of what her mother would want. Her mother would have sacrificed herself instead of having even the slightest chance of the Book of Babel falling into the wrong hands.

“Y…” John starts to say. But for the first time, he catches himself. He can only think about his mother, how she is dying, and how they can’t afford her care. He thinks about his mother. About her kind nature. About her love for the people around her, no matter who they are, and about her caring personality. He thinks about his mother and how she raised him. Helped him when he was troubled and supported him when he needed it. He loves her dearly. He thinks about other people’s mothers. How would they react to this decision? They would surely accept the book. Right? Or would they not? He does not know. He thinks about his mother again. What would she do? He does know. She would sacrifice herself without hesitation. She would do what she must. “No,” he finally says.

A month later, John wakes up to his alarm at 8:00 am. He gathers the clothes he had laid out on the couch the night before. Today is the last day he’d see his mother alive. When he arrives at the hospital, he meets Emily. She jokes about how this is the longest streak of him being on time, but the joke reaches neither of them. It was forced. They go to see their mother. She lies in her bed, barely able to move. The IVs had been disconnected, and equipment and medicine moved out. They could have kept her alive for another month, maybe, but they had lost their job after Dr. Swang's gambling addiction came to light, and the company dissolved into bankruptcy, and their mother told them to let her go. They sat with her for hours, barely speaking. John tells the story his mother had heard countless times, his story about the Tower of Babel. He tells how Dr. Swang betrayed them and how he sentenced his mother to death. Their mother is not angry. She again tells him with her last breath to forgive Swang, but more importantly himself. She tells both of them that they made the right choice before passing away. 

The funeral was already planned; it had been planned for months. John and Emily’s mother is buried next to the hospital. She had always liked nature, and she had always loved making an impact on the children, adults, staff, and elderly in the hospital. So now John and Emily stand on the crunchy leaves with countless hospital staff, pateints, children, and more. The wind blows, and the trees shake, the sun sinks lower and lower, but nobody leaves. Not a sound has been made. John closes his eyes. He is in pain. He is angry at Dr. Swang for his betrayal, angry at Dr. Leon for his manipulation, and angry at his sister for saying no, but it is all drowned out by his own anger toward himself for letting his mother die. He feels something in his pocket. He pulls out a small, wrinkled paper. One word is scrawled onto the paper. The last word of a dying mother: forgive. The word brings him peace; it washes away the pain. Now, only he and Emily stand at the grave of their mother. They say their last goodbyes and leave. The next morning, John wakes up to his alarm at 8:00 am. He has forgiven. He has changed. He is a new man.