God's Gone AWOL

[8] Exhaustion

Bentley lay face down on Micaiah's big, squishy couch for several hours without moving. She was awake, but for some reason, she was completely incapable of doing anything at all. Beside her, Sneakers the cat had curled up into a tight ball, snoozing quietly in the Catastrophe's company. For an eternity, there was no sound, no movement throughout the entire room. Everything was just still in the most tiring way possible.

In the darkest hours of the night, after the moon had disappeared behind the hills, Micaiah finally came in to check on her. Carrying a plate of dried figs, he maneuvered his way through the messy living room. He gently set the plate on the cluttered coffee table, and took a long look at her. Sneakers opened her singular functioning eye and blinked up at him slowly, but there was no response from the one beside her. Bentley just remained, laying like the corpse she had once been without any sign of movement.

"Come on, you need to eat something," Micaiah told her.

"No, I don't," A muffled voice replied through the cushions.

"Your physical body might not, but your spirit does," He said, "I know you like figs. Hopefully you won't mind dried ones,"

Hearing the sacred word, Bentley suddenly lifted her head. Loose strands of red hair were stuck to her face. The blazing red of her eyes had been extinguished, but when Micaiah spoke, a little spark appeared in them once again.

"Figs?" she asked,

"You're in the middle of facing a difficult challenge. Hopefully some familiar food will help remind you what you've been fighting for all these years." Micaiah nudged the plate towards her.

"'Remind me'?? I don't need a reminder, I need to figure out what's been motivating me in the first place," Bentley said with a sigh.

"You've been fighting for the exact same thing every single living creature fights for: Increasing happiness and reducing suffering." He sat down in the armchair across from her, "Though you may not believe it, deep down, you're just as worthy of that joy and satisfaction as everyone else,"

"I fight for peace," she told him, "I don't fight for my own happiness,"

"But when you finally manage to restore peace, will you be happy?"

"Probably,"

With a smile, Micaiah plucked one of the figs from the plate and tossed it to her. Without even thinking, Bentley caught it mid-air. It was only afterwards that she realized she had already accepted his offer and his wisdom, whether or not she wanted to.

"So eat the forbidden fruit, and remember just what it is that makes you operate as an individual," He said casually, "Atticus is in Heaven, everyone else is in Hell. As the only person free to do whatever you like, you must choose your first plan of action wisely,"

Bentley contemplated this, then popped the fig into her mouth. Micaiah smiled.

...

Everything was still bright and sunny over on the west coast of North America. May's warm evening sunlight shone across the gleaming buildings of Vancouver's downtown region as thousands of little cars beetled their way around the city in the midst of rush-hour. Despite this, the cool air between the dense trees of Stanley Park, entangled with the salty spray of the ocean, wiped out all scents and sounds of the bustling metropolis.

The Lions Gate Bridge, an iconic symbol of British Columbian infrastructure, looked down across the Vancouver Harbour. It's reflection dancing across the still water of the low tide. A steady stream of cars, trucks, and other such vehicles crossed in both directions, accompanied by various pedestrians and cyclists. Even though they were so close together, sharing the same route and the same view of the world, everyone on the bridge was busy ignoring each other to the best of their abilities —as was custom in the city.