Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: DISTANCE (10/08/20)
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TITLE: Silent Loon | Previous Challenge Entry
By Tracy Nunes
10/13/20 -
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The scratch of a small metal door on concrete interrupted his reflections as breakfast, if one could call it that, was delivered. Thin gruel and a piece of dry bread. He had lost his appetite long ago, but he accepted the provision.
In the beginning, this was not so. Forced to choose, he chose life, though in doing so it guaranteed his physical death. Back then, he could not look at the food as anything but a cruel substitute for his family, his beloved wife, and children. He had chosen rightly but it was a bitter pill to swallow as weeks turned into months and years.
His day went as every day went, with faint light in the room and Nathan pouring over scraps of paper that were smuggled to him by an unknown benefactor on the other side of the door. He didn’t know who they were or why they did so, but it was the remedy that kept him from going mad.
As Nathan poured over the growing collection of scraps, he pondered that fateful day.
“Guilty!”
Those words had sealed his fate. His own words. There was no need for a witness. Was he guilty of allegiance to only One? Yes, he was. They paraded his wife and sons before him, sure that he would crumble at the sight of them. And, he might have. But the look of fierce resolve on Gwen’s face and the almost imperceivable shake of her head gave Nathan the courage he needed. Her look of love as they dragged him away, though faded with time, was a milestone that marked his way forward.
When evening came, the metal door opened. A hand reached in to receive the bin filled with his waste. A moment later, his evening provision was slid through the opening. A new scrap of paper was under the bowl.
“Thank you.”
Nathan didn’t know what to make of it. The other scraps had always been the Words of Life, torn from the Book he loved. This seemed to be a personal note. He wondered at it and then put it with the rest of the scraps beneath his thin mattress.
Days went by, and weeks. No day distinctly different, and then, another scrap.
“For truth.”
And then, weeks later,
“For salvation.”
Deep, somber gratitude flooded Nathan’s soul as a realized the meaning of the words. It sustained him for the weeks to come.
Upon a morning, when the Loon’s cry was silent, Nathan awoke to the certainty that this would be the day. The skies were gray through his tiny window. No orange glow colored the morning even briefly. The small metal door that provided his meals did not open this morning. Instead, the large door above it, heavy from lack of use, was slowly pushed open. In the frame stood a large shadow. The light from behind the door momentarily blinded Nathan. Once his eyes adjusted, he could see a man. His imposing presence overshadowed the room.
Nodding, the man stepped to the side and silently indicated that Nathan should follow. Nathan complied. Just as he crossed the threshold the man laid his large hand on Nathan’s shoulder causing him to look up. In the man’s eyes, Nathan saw a brother. This was the one who had given him the scraps.
Tears formed at the corners of the man’s eyes as the man gently squeezed Nathan’s shoulder,
“I was there at your trial. Mocking you…and then you…” The man couldn’t speak the words, but Nathan knew.
Nathan, weak and emaciated, felt the strength of heaven flood his soul. He nodded in silent communion with the man before they turned to take the long walk to the gallows.
The sound of the Loon was heard no more but the chorus of heaven rang from the east to the west and beyond.
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