When the Incompassionate is Silenced

Quick information for reader: This story is a demo of a "would be" book. The full story is about Eden, a girl who has blocked herself from society due to a horrid childhood. Her father abused her when she was young in many awful ways, but he eventually went to prison. Once her father was taken away to prison, three beings currently called "Ghouls" appeared in her life. Only she can see them, and they all are a symbol of tragedy. Nile represents bitterness, Ms. Pamber represents hope and compassion, and Jeryl represents an unbalanced perspective. Jeryl is a bit of a philosopher in the story, and he does not believe in morality. Eden would grow up interacting with these characters exclusively until Eric appeared in her life. He would show her more compassion than anyone else in her life has ever shown. This is a tragic love story. This segment takes place after Eric's death due to an undecided disease. If you have any questions, please ask me!

When The Incompassionate is Silenced

         Eden lay still in her bed for hours while tears constantly poured down the arms she had pressed against her face. She did not know whether it was day or night, but she did not care. She had been given a fantasy that she now realized she had taken for granted, and it was ripped from her arms before she could see how wonderful her days had become since Eric had abruptly appeared in her life.

         Floating ten feet away from the bed, the three Ghouls watched her continuously sob into her arms. Sometimes she cried loudly and other times were soft. Ms. Pamber and Nile silently mourned inside for Eden's loss despite Nile's envious hatred for Eric. The Uncompassionate Jeryl, on the other hand, remained smiling even though his human friend grieved.

         Eden's crying stopped for a moment as she sat up on her dull bed. She pushed the water from her abused eyes while sniffling every few seconds. After she had pushed the remaining specs of water from her eyes, she gazed into the darkness of the lightless room. She had cried so much that her eyesight had not yet adjusted to the dark properly so she could not see her only friends, but she knew they were there.

         "Why?" Eden partially whimpered about to break down into another river of tears, "Why did this have to happen to me?"

         "Oh, my dear," Ms. Pamber spoke with concern, "Should not you try eating? You have wept for two days without a single thing to eat. It's impractical for your grieving body."

         Lashing out in eternal pain Eden cried, "I don't care!" She looked down at her weak legs and loudly whispered, "What does anything mean?"

         With a quick chuckle, Jeryl quickly spewed, "Ah! One question that lingers forever in the ear of humanity!"

         SMACK! Jeryl suddenly collapsed to the floor, though the smile still remained on his face. Out of sudden anger, Nile had struck him so hard across the head that he fell to the ground face first. It was not just because of the senseless comment that had been made. It was the entire situation. This time of suffering would not have occurred if Eden would have listened and kept her distance from Eric. Nile was not ignorant to his personal jealousy towards him, but he was right about him hurting Eden someday even if the thought came from pure envy. Even through death Nile's hatred for Eric increased by a substantial amount because of this, but he somehow wished he would have never left. It was obvious to everyone that Nile had held an anonymous grudge against Eric from the start, but his departure carried a sacred pain so heavily burdened on the human he loved that he preferred his presence over Eden's absent soul.

         Eden remained unaffected by Jeryl's repulsive comment. She pushed herself off the bed and onto her feet, and then walked to the mirror. Staring through the mirror, she could barely see her reflection. Since it was dark, the long black hair that fell to the middle of her back seemed to remain beautiful, but it would probably look horrid if the light was on. She thought about the evening she spent with Eric where she had told him about how she loved her hair. At the time, it was the only possession she owned that she kept in good condition. Everything else was either unvarnished or messy. Before meeting Eric, she only wore white robes that appeared to be worn and unkempt. That was partially due to her rarely washing them. Eric introduced her to wearing all sorts of delightful clothing, and many of the newly discovered fragments of cloth complimented her hair; however, now she returned to her dull robes that seemed forbidden at the time.

         "Eden," Nile softly spoke as he moved towards her, "How do you feel? Do you wish to talk?"

         "I've been talking exclusively to the three of you ever since father was taken to prison," Eden said firmly, "How much more will things only I can see be my only form of companionship?"

         Nile looked to the floor and then said, "Perhaps, but we have always been there for you, haven't we?"

         Jerly mildly chuckled through his lungs in hilarity to what Nile had just spoken. Ms. Pamber quickly lashed a look at Jeryl that appeared to have come straight from Hell, and he just turned away from everyone holding his mouth as if he was about to burst into laughter and guffaw.

         "Remember the night when the three of us were walking on the empty street and those strangers came to me desiring sexual perversion," Eden silently said and then continued with, "..Then you guys just disappeared?"

         Nile cocked back with his fist shutting tight, but Jeryl was obviously amused because he started breaking out into another one of his maniacal laughter.

         Ignoring Jeryl's insanity and jumping straight to Eden's accusation, Nile stirmly said, "Eden, that's not fair.."

         At this point Jeryl's fist had slammed on the ground as he was on his hands and knees laughing ferociously. There wasn't anything Pamber could do to control Jeryl at this point, but it didn't seem to take effect on Eden's next words.

         "That night, the only thing that came to protect me was Eric, and those men beat him down before cowering away. I just left him because I didn't know him at the time, but where were you when those men were intending the harm that you know I've suffered from in the past?" Eden broke down into more tears and then numbingly said, "Are you even real?"

         The whole room entered a state of stillness, and even the Incompassionate Jeryl's laughter had come to an abrupt croak. If Jeryl had been known for smiling often, anybody who just met him would know because his face had turned completely pale. Nile moved backwards slightly as the eyeless sockets on his face felt burdened with pain.

         Broken up into a weak voice, Ms. Pamper then pleaded, "Dear, please-"

         "No!" Eden screamed, "You listen! I'm alone in this awful life, and I always have been!"

         Eden fell to her knees sobbing louder than what she originally had been in the past two days. She held herself as she screamed in tears with dew dripping from her mouth. Jeryl dimly left the room with no more to say. Ms. Pamber, on the other hand, broke down into groans of pain as she went to embrace Eden with a mournful hug. The hug was not even in attempt to accompany Eden in her sorrows, but rather to give Ms. Pamber something to mourn on. Nile stood still, and it was clear he felt torn inside. He could not deny Eden's claims. They were never there to help her in physical distress. It was never because they chose to neglect her, but rather because some force of nature never allowed them to. The only person's who's world they practically existed in was Eden's. Did that render them down to the level of logically being non-existent? Could they simply have been an abused girl's figment of imagination? The thought had consistently crossed Nile's mind, but he did not wish to apply this to their current situation. It seems,though, Eden had already done just that.

         Nile began to pace around the room, while outside of the apartment, snow began to daintily dance to the ground for the first time of the year. Anyone in Eden's room did not get to see the pleasure in the snow's coming, as windows were simply absent from the room. It was Jeryl who would claim the rights to seeing the first fall as he sat on the roof of the condominium that connected the apartments.

         Watching the dancing ice delicately breeze across his face, he compared each flake to life. Many of them were small and all vaporized as soon as they found their way to the earth. Judging his observation, he concluded that the flakes ceased to exist after they made their way to the ground. The skies that gave birth to them cared not, and it did not appear that any of the other flakes changed their path either. It is an excellent representation of life, he thought. In comparison, when somebody seizes to exist in the world they are completely forgotten. Even the ones who have claimed to love the dead would not alter their paths for them as they are more than likely not too far from the ground either. Just like the snow continues to fall, so does life.

         He watched a flake that appeared to have others attached to it fall in between his eyes. Once it hit the ground, the other flakes seized to exist at the same time as the largest of the pack. The other companions of the bigger flake obviously only existed because they were developed together with the superior one. Regardless, they all disappeared at the same time. Somewhere within his deranged mind he concluded that the universe was speaking with him once more. Did he and the other two tragic ghouls only exist because of Eden? Would they lose the right to their existence after Eden's departure? More than likely. No, it was guaranteed.

         "It's a truly disgusting and unbalanced world," Jerly spoke silently as he stared at the ground where the flake that had companions vaporized away.

         But while concluding his observation, he noticed something new. Eventually the snow that had been falling to the ground began to stick. After a few minutes, the continuous flow of snow began to aid in making a collection of an undeniably beautiful sight. After several moments longer, the ground had been completely covered in a blanket of beauty that spanned across the world so far that Jeryl could not see any spot that was empty. He only managed to make a slight chuckle at the new world before him.

         

Several hours passed, and Eden was in the den of the Apartment. Nile and Jeryl were out of sight, but Ms. Pamber stayed near. Eden noticed the snow out the window, and usually would consider it to be a beautiful, though sometimes pestering, sight; However, she could not care less at this moment. All that mattered now was her pitiful life. She did not drop any tears though. In fact, her eyes remained dry for the past hour.

         "Should I have gone to his funeral?" she asked.

         Ms. Pamber gave a long glance at Eden and then said, "What stains would it wipe away? He is absent from the world now."

         "I suppose," Eden spoke soundly.

         Ms. Pamber was not usually this blunt towards Eden, but she was right none the less. Eden could not find any legitiment reason for her presence there. It was a time for people who confidently loved Eric. Eden had only been visited by Eric for the past two years, and she gave him a hard time through most of it. Still, one thought did bother her.

         "What about his family?" Eden questioned.

         "What of it?"

         "Do think they would care to know of his impact on my life?"

         "What impact of good has it made, dear? As of now you sit filthy in your battered robes because of his existence."

         Eden looked into the emptiness of the room with tears beginning to emerge from her eyes again. She then softly spoke, "But you don't even know. For years you alone have tried to teach me to regain hope in my life and the world. I thought very similar to Nile, and thought it was impractical to think that way. I isolated myself from the world as much as I could, but then he forcefully pushed himself into my life. He was persistent on getting to know me, and that made me feel something of importance. Something really special."

         Ms. Pamber looked up in some form of interest. She had noticed a vast change in Eden's life since the day Eric appeared. Perhaps Pamber's words of compassion could never truly repair Eden's demented soul, but a pure example of love would. What would it matter now that he had passed though? Eden was currently in triple the pain that she was before meeting him. Regardless, Ms. Pamber felt compassion override her heart once again.

          Ms. Pamber then said, "Perhaps you are right, dearest one. You should take every ounce of love you have been given and store it safely in your heart. Eric knew he was more than likely cursed with impending death, but he still remained in solace. He wanted to give you love in life so that you could use it and sustain a frutiful gift that he was not blessed with."

         Eden made a slight smile wiping a tear away and then said, "Yeah, that sounds like him."

         "Perhaps you could return a favor to his family after all by giving a testimony to his pure heart."

         "Yes. Maybe I could," Eden spoke softly.

         Eden thought about Eric's kindness. It was not anything like she had witnessed before. It gave her hope that not everything in the world was bad. Eric mentioned to her that he found her mysterious, but she always thought the same thing about him. She began to drift into a peaceful sleep as she thought about him. He wanted her to have a pleasant life, so maybe she could attempt at giving him that wish one day. Her consciousness disappeared into the dreamworld.