A fictional short story I wrote about an appraiser in Italy and his brush with the noumenal. Putting it out there for anyone who might resonate or find it interesting.
The time was slightly after sunset. It was a beautiful summer evening in Manarola. Ferdinand sat to the left side of a wide bench on a stone path just under a street light that had flickered on. He stared out along the southern coastline lost in his own thoughts - digesting his morning commute, meetings, and what he had to prepare when he got home for tomorrow. Since his stay had began in Manarola this bench had become a place where he’d check in at sunset after a broader walk along the hillside pathways. He was a partner with Deloitte and his position had landed him in Cinque Terre to assess war damages to a major client’s assets.
In the shadows of the path behind him and glistening in the moonlight a young girl approached. She appeared to be of about fourteen or fifteen years of age and was wearing a white dress. She was of fair complexion, wavy light-brown hair, a small delicate nose, and button eyes that gazed out along the same coast line. She had an unusual, almost vestal, innocence that almost seemed to have defied socialization.
Ferdinand’s awareness shifted to the passer-by and as he realized what was coming he began to lock up. Each step she took approaching from behind him felt like its own eternity, as if she were slicing through time on a skew-wise path and pushed aside the laws of physics like curtains.
As he sat still trying to get his thoughts together she shrank down in a ball at the other end of the bench and beamed the kind of smile at Ferdinand that said she’d known him for years, in fact knew him well enough that she could read his every thought. He could feel her gaze and smile hooking his cheek and pulling his eyes directly into hers for a moment. She gave a small and gentle wave with her right hand.
All Ferdinand could get out was “Wh…Why are we here now?”.
Samantha glanced at the ground, slightly vulnerable for a moment, then quickly renewed her smile toward Ferdinand. She slid close beside him and said in in a voice almost soft enough to be a whisper “I came to tell you that you’re doing a good job”.
Ferdinand felt like there was a heavy stone sinking in his stomach, Samantha deepened the energy she was beaming at him with healing rays.
Ferdinand: “Why?”
Samantha: “I can’t tell you right now but - you will understand” said with terrifying certainty.
Tears began to stream down Ferdinand’s cheeks. For several moments he was motionless, transfixed in thought again.
Ferdinand: “Have you read the paper? About what the American GI’s found in Germany?”.
This was a subtle dig, he had to get some psychic equilibrium back. Samantha didn’t speak but her expression softened to gentle neutrality as she looked out over the horizon.
Samantha: “I’m aware”.
Ferdinand: “World War I was bad enough, men pinned down in muddy trenches under machine gun fire, dying of dysentery. We get to do it all over again twenty years later but we had no expectation……”
Samantha nodded sympathetically.
Ferdinand’s countenance hardened.
Ferdinand: “What are you?”
Samantha continued her sympathy but added a fleck of iron.
Samantha: “That is the question.”
Long pause…
Ferdinand: “You’re Yahweh with Lucifer’s guile and Christ’s warmth.”
Samantha began to smile.
Ferdinand: “I’m not sure whether I’m safer here with you or in an industrial oven! Darwinian evolution? You know this is par for the course right? That this is what we do? Are you sick?!”
Samantha put her left arm around Ferdinand’s shoulder, he felt energy radiation through his jacket as a consciousness-whitening peace and calm washed over him and he melted in limitless white light.
Samantha: “You’re safe. I’ve got you…….”
Ferdinand: “I begged and pleaded for nonexistence when I die. I even begged that if I were cursed with an afterlife that I’d use it to terminate you and terminate all of existence.”
Samantha: “I know”.
Samantha looked at the horizon again.
Samantha: “You’d be surprised how many of my human incarnations feel the exact same way and have prayed the exact same prayer.” she paused… “No, I won’t do that to you… You have no idea what you mean to me, and that’s part of the experience you’re here to have. I’m not angry with you and I never will be.”
Ferdinand: “I lost my wife to cancer and our only daughter in a car accident. Why and why am I still here?”.
Both paused.
Samantha: “I have more work for you.”
Ferdinand’s head fell in his hands and he began to weep. Samantha gave him his space for a few moments.
Samantha: “I’ll make you whole. You know that deep down despite your misgivings. All that’s been taken will be added back.”
Ferdinand sobbed uncontrollably. Samantha put her left hand on his right shoulder.
Samantha: “You’ve never dreamt of milk and cookies like we’ve got back at home. Know that your despair is temporary”.
She smiled deeply and began to fade into golden light that consolidated in the area of her chest which gave a gentle pulse and vanished.
Ferdinand’s tears continued to flow as he sat alone on the park bench. He cried for about half an hour during which time there were no passersby. He went back to the hotel, had dinner, read, and went to sleep. When he woke up he felt as though a heavy weight that he had been carrying for several decades had been lifted.