A Soul's Profit

To earn Love is more worth than to earn anything else.

“What are we here for?” the boy with the pale skin asked.

“To hunt and then earn some money,” replied the man, who wore an old scruffy hat and carried a long, polished gun.

“And, who will we hunt?”

The man lifted his gun towards the direction of an old cave, a cave that seemed to hide something frightening and terrible, yet affectionate. And there was something about the darkness inside the cave that bemused the boy, not the dark �" but the shelter and isolation from the world, the feeling of protection and tranquility, something he had never felt after his mother’s death.

“Is it inside?” the boy softly asked.

“Yes. But we have to get it out. Go over there and throw a rock inside it.”

The man ordered the boy and then pushed him beside a jungle of rocks and stones.

“Pick one up!”

The boy hesitantly picked up a bowl of stones and then, after a deep breath, threw them inside the cave.

Nothing moved.

“Pick a rock! A big rock.” The man commanded with a heavy voice.

The boy wrapped his arms around a rock and positioned himself towards the cave. After another deep breath, he saw a foggy image of a bear with eyes that climbed over the darkness and shone bright. It didn’t frighten the boy, but instead-it paralyzed him. The eyes of the bear looked familiar, but even more than that, they looked like a reflection of someone he deeply knows.

“Quicker! What are you wasting time for?” The man’s voice was heavier this time; it rolled towards the boy and pushed the rock out of his hands.

Swiftly, the rock reached the cave and was engulfed by its darkness.

And there was a kind of string attached to the rock that pulled the boy along with it, he did not feel the engulfment of darkness, but felt the arms of a creature hugging him with warmth and gladness - and love.

“Anything there?” The man asked.

The boy did not answer, or perhaps, he didn’t care enough to. There was something about the feeling of comfort and hope and love that detached him away from the world, something about the power of love that brushed his soul away from the noise, the pain, and the universe. And he didn’t know where he was, or how he will come back, but it didn’t matter.

 

“BACK AWAY!” the man screamed. The boy’s head flew towards the man and within a second, the man pushed him to the ground and prepared to fire.

A thunderous roar began to balloon the ambiance and the boy saw the bear standing on its legs, widening its mouth and its hands hanging on the air’s invisible rope. But no, it didn’t frighten him, or horrify him. He still felt it, still felt peace and cordiality, felt love wrapping him up with the memory of his mother’s tender heart. He remembered her. And each memory would dig a deeper hole inside him, a hole that couldn’t hold the weight of these memories, the weight of love.

For the first time in years, he felt powerful, he wasn’t scared, he wasn’t lost, he wasn’t lonely. He felt alive, not due to the beating of his heart or his ability to breathe oxygen, but because of the remembrance of his mother - of love.

“3...2...1...” the man shot the numbers out of his mouth along with the bullet on the last count.

The bear collapsed, or according to the boy, his mother collapsed. He was teleported back in time, back where his child self saw his own mother lose her life in front of him, and where at the same time �" he lost his.

A bear cub slowly approached the dead bear on the ground, and then dug himself under its arms, inflating a ball of sadness around it, a ball of hatred and despair.

“There we go. I’ve finally got it! Let’s carry it to the truck shall we? And then sell it Sunday morning. I’ve earned a profit young man! I’ll buy for us new clothes and food…” The man cheered as he walked towards the bear to carry it.

But that’s not how the boy felt. It never was. Throughout all the days of hunting and selling and earning a profit, he never felt like he earned anything, not even happiness. He felt happy at times, like when he bought his first bicycle or ate a great meal at a restaurant, but it never lasted. He always thought of something better, something greater than what the man’s profits can buy. And today, he had found it.

“No. Leave it.” The boy said sharply.

The man turned around, “Leave it? Ah, you must be feeling tired. Don’t worry, you’ll earn your great meal tonight…”

“No I mean it. Just leave it. “

Slowly, the boy stood up, took off his shoes and took out his new watch from his pocket.

“Sell these instead.”

The man raised his eyebrows, and looked at him with a confusion that spread across his entire skin.

“Bu-But why?”

The boy walked towards the bear cub, and then sat beside him, with his head dug down.

“Because I want to earn love. I want to earn compassion and memory. And that’s more worth than earning a profit, sir. It’s more worth than anything.” The boy said with a tone of voice that shattered the man’s heart.

And by allowing the bear cub to remain beside his dead mother, it somehow contained the memory of his mother inside him, contained the feeling of love. Because it wasn’t the bear cub beside his mother, but it was the boy beside his past, beside his mother, and beside the feeling of love and warmth that he longed to feel for many years.

And that’s how he earned his profit.

“And because of that, I will go and buy an even bigger meal! Just wait here and it will arrive before sunset!” The man rejoiced, and then ran off to town.

 

But the news didn’t excite the boy as much as it did for the man. It never did. The boy wondered why, but he didn’t bother to think about it for too long. He looked towards the bear cub, and saw him rolled up beside his mother. And then he smiled, because the hole that carried his mother’s memory was digging deeper, and he finally earned love.

 

Reviews

[00000000000000000000000..]

Sis you did a wonderful job in this:) Which you always do:)

[soliloquy]

Nicely done! I think you are very skilled at 1) dialogue, and 2) grabbing your readers attention and hanging on!

Nice.

[Mirna]

Thank you so much :) it means a lot.

[Steve]

No problem. I enjoyed it.