"Pain"

​by C. Ikpoh

SOCHI: The pain I feel MUST have a purpose. The universe cannot keep such secrets without cause.
PRITI: Why?! Why must there be a reason?!
S: I don't know. I just...
P: You were a man of faith. Were you not?
S: Am... I am a man of faith.
P: Well, not once have you ever required such purpose to be so. Yet, now you demand explanation and meaning for the unique gift I bestow upon you. You
are being unrealistic.

S: I know of that which I believe in. I experience it even now. It is as tangible as the strife beating against my heart.
P: What you experience now is the life I have given you - the final life to end all others. THAT, my dear friend, is what you need to believe. THAT is what you need have faith in.
S: This is not life. This - this is death.
P: If this is indeed death, then where is the one you place your faith in? Have you seen this being?
S: ...
P: You crossed spiritual planes when I birthed you, when I gave you eternal life. On your brief journey through the hereafter, did you see this being? Did they show themself?
S: ...
P: They did not so much as whisper a word to you, did they?
S: ...
P: The pain you feel, it exists only in you. There is no greater purpose. No one, not myself nor anyone else for that matter, experiences your pain. It is not shared. Let it go.
S: I will not.
P: You will, trust in that. Except, it will be ripped from your clutches. The thief I allude to asks only but once. When it does not receive the offering it is due, well, let's just say your faith shall be shifted. You will become a believer, my stubborn companion. Mark my words.