[ WP ] As an old man , you lay your deathbed . You think back upon your life and are not pleased . While focussing , on specific memories , you realize that each `` gut moment '' is your future self trying to influece choices .

Richard has never wished to change it all so desperately. Now that it was over, he felt desperately wistful about the life he was supposed to live, but never did. A chain of wrong choices, that seemed reasonable at the moment lead him here. 
 
 And as he remembered each one of them, he remembered something else - at every point he felt a very strong desire to do a thing he now knew to be right. 
 
 That seemed bizarre, every single time? How could he fail so consistently? He felt a desperate craving to change this, to make the right choice at least god damn once. 
 
 And something weird happened - he noticed that his memories seemed to change, the gut feeling he remembered was growing and growing. As if his desire to change things now was amplifying his memories of that feeling. As he got desperate in his craving, something snapped. 
 
 He looked around himself, and instead of living on the street, he found himself in a small room on a cheap, but comfortable bed. And he realized that he did n't take that loan 5 years ago, though he still had the memories of the alternate reality where he did. 
 
 He amplified his craving again, this time consciously. In an hour of effort, he managed to amplify all of his gut feelings in the past to the point of making the right choice. 
 
 He found himself rich, and surrounded by the loving family. His wife was holding his hand, his kids and grand kids were standing around. 
 
 When he closed his eyes before drawing his last breath he realized that he did n't feel any different. He was alone, at this moment, with his eyes closed and darkness enclosing him and this very second, all of his beautiful life was as much of a dream as his horrible one. 
 
 He opened his eyes, and saw the dark dirty street, and rainy sky above his head. He wished it so much that for a second he believed it was real. Now, this very moment, he knew that nothing could change the experience of his last heart beat. 
 
 His eyes have never closed.
