The Apple of Unfulfilled Promises

Chapter 1 - The Stranger's Arrival

He collapses to the floor, his body folding like a wilting flower, surrendering to the weight of his anguish. His hands loosen their grip on himself, his identity, and his existence.

"Why won't you reveal yourself to me?" He says with desperation as he gazes upward, his eyes searching the space as if expecting an answer to materialise out of thin air. His words carry the weight of deep faith and longing, each syllable a heartfelt plea for divine intervention.

The agony and torment of being in the dark about the truth has consumed this unfortunate soul, gripping him like a vice. His heart aches with unanswered questions, each a jagged shard of doubt piercing his fragile resolve.

"I've devoted my entire life to believing in your word..." his voice cracked. "...I've defended your name, yet you remain silent. Why?"

As expected, the man receives no response. The silence mocks him, taunting him with its indifference.

Anger surges within him, a boiling sensation jeering him from beneath his skin. Gritting his teeth, his face contorts with a hatred so intense that it demands the creation of a new word.

With a primal scream, he releases every portion of himself. This is a complete surrender, a profound letting go.

"...I trusted you, but I was a fool," he confesses, his voice raw with pain. "If you're not real... then what does that make me? My faith is a lie, a wasted effort... a source of shame," he confesses.

He retrieves a sizable blade from his coat, gripping it with the point trembling towards his chest.

"This is YOUR doing!" The soul shouts. "You kept me in the dark, feeding me empty promises and false hopes. You betrayed my trust, leaving me to fend for myself in a world of uncertainty and doubt." His accusatory tone is matched only by the fiery hue of his flushed face.

Broken and on the floor, fractured and alone, he looks up at the night sky, the blade gleaming in the moonlight. Desperately searching for a sign, any sign, to guide him, he finds only silence... until a presence disrupts the stillness, cutting through with clarity.

"He won't answer you."

The soul recoils at the unexpected voice of a stranger emerging from behind.

Turning, he sees a figure standing in a shadow cast by an apple tree that hadn't existed before the stranger's arrival.

"No matter how loudly you cry out, no matter how many sacrifices you make, you won't find the answers you seek from him," the stranger says.

Slumped and with distant eyes, the soul wipes away his tears, his gaze fixing on the stranger before him.

The unknown figure moves, settling into a chair that, like the tree, hadn't existed moments ago.

He breathes a sigh, seemingly unaffected by the despair of the shattered soul.

"The one you seek is not present," the stranger remarks, reclining in the chair with hands clasped at the fingertips. His face stays concealed in the shadow as he whispers, "He never is."

"I'm sodden in hopelessness, stranger," the shattered soul says, lowering his eyes. His hands, worn and seemingly worthless to him, weigh heavily on him. "I feel such foolishness, believing in these fantasies."

In a final attempt to make sense of his faith, he looks up to the stranger and asks, "Is He truly absent from our lives?"

In the distance, the sound of waves crashing against a shore can be heard.