LXXV | Flesh

❦

'Thanks for bringing me home.'
Rowan's coal-black eyes

burn into mine.

I shrug.

The words
I want to say to her
are stuck
in my throat
for a moment.

I haven't spoken since
answering her question under the rowan tree.

My throat is dry.

'Thanks for taking me to see Ria.'

The tips of her ears
turn red.

'Don't think about it for
'too long.
'The past is over.'

She's still there though.
And it's all my fault.

Her crying face.
Her pain.
I couldn't do anything about it now.

'Why is God
'not doing anything about it?'

Rowan's pushed open
the door to the nameless chicken rice shop.

She turns to look at me.

The smell of chicken rice
drifts out.

So does
the melody of a hymn.

'Don't worry.

'He's working.
'He's been doing something about it
'even before you were born.'

She gets intercepted
by a customer
inside the shop

so now I'm staring at my reflection
in the door.

What is He doing?

Why don't I see it helping?

Are you sure
he's not just watching
and judging us all
from the other side?

Is he going to punish me
for everything I've ever done?

Am I looking for meaning
or purpose
or destiny
when there's nothing to be found?

[Read the full story at novelconbini.com!]