If they did, a factual account of the suicides of two teenagers distraught that their parents kept them apart would create the effect of the story Romeo and Juliet. The two are not the same in mood, tone, or dramatic purpose. Understanding what an audience desires from a story, the storyteller perceives that a story's dramatic issue must be presented in a compelling manner, in need of resolution. By taking issues in need of resolution from introduction to resolution, a story's audience is offered fulfilling experience of courage, redemption, rebirth, renewal, overcoming oppression, etc. A story that raises no issue of consequence offers its audience no reason to internalize its movement to fulfillment.
Real life is linear.
We travel a certain direction through time, with no choice. To understand this, consider a story set on a mountain. Four competing groups are climbing the mountain. The writer sets up the overall goals of the four groups and the goals of individual members. Furthermore, why it matters to both the story's characters and to the story's audience who reaches the top first.