The Shadows Answer

[Enkil]

“I’m terribly lonely,” Fant confessed to Father Boyle “ever since my wife left me five years ago I’ve been unable o love again, or even to feel fancy. I’ve dated since, but I never felt anything for them, physically or mentally. I don’t feel anything anymore.”

“Anything at all?” Father Boyle asked.

“Nothing, not love or hate or fancy. My emotions are as baron as the Sierra desert, and nothing I can do seems to bring the feelings back. I’ve tried drugs, marijuana, opium, even they don’t work. I’ve tried God too, I tried to believe in Him as best I could, and I believed very strongly. I asked Him to restore my feelings, but he did not, and I lost my faith. What am I to do Father?”

“My Child, your feelings are normal, though they have lasted an unusually long time. I don’t know how you can restore your lost feelings, but it is not through God. I wouldn’t normally recommend such an action, but you might want to consider hedonism, to an extreme degree.”

“What do you mean by to an extreme degree?” he asked. Father Boyle cleared his throat.

“Well, why not go out and sleep with as many woman as you can? Or try new drugs like crystal meth or heroin?”

“Those things aren’t for me Father.”

“Well why not try for an intellectual stimulant? Enroll in a university and become a scholar, you may meet a woman you’ll fall in love with.”

“That may work, but Father, suburbia has dulled my mind and destroyed my will.”

“My Child, I’m afraid I do not have an answer for you. I’m sorry but I must be going, mass is soon and I must prepare. Good day my Child.” Father Boyle said, he stood and left the confessional, the door making a loud echo through the church as it closed. Fant clasped his hands around his tired face and sobbed. If Father Boyle couldn’t offer him a way to get his feelings back, who could? He sunk deeper into despair, weeping so violently he could hear the echoes throughout the church.

“If you don’t have the answer, who does!” he cried at the top of his lungs in between the sobs. It wasn’t God that returned his question, it was something else. From the shadows in the corners came what Fant had wanted to hear for the past five years.

“I have the answer,” the voice cackled “come with me.” Fant abruptly sat upright

“Who’s there?”

“You know.” The voice said. He knew who the voice was.

“And how do I come with you?”

“You know.” The voice cackled again. “Come into the shadows with me, Fant.”
Fant sighed, he knew what he had to do. He stood up and walked out of the confessional, he reached into his breast pocket, withdrew his pocketknife, threw it into the trash and walked out of the door.

[JJ Burke]

"My emotions are as baron as the Sierra desert, and nothing I can do seems to bring the feelings back."

i think you mean sahara.. also, what is the significance of the pocket knife? is this a character from something you wrote previously?

[odin2]

It seems more like the middle of something longer...

[Enkil]

Sorry for the late response.

It was mostly just a chunk-change attempt at expressing my feelings at the moment, with a little attempted pizaze. It was pretty convoluted.