18 Jun A Short Story: Soul

*This story is entirely a work of fiction.*

I was sitting there at my writing table pondering a few poetic theories, when she entered the room (which she typically never does when I’m working on my writing) and said to me, “Hey there, what are you thinking about?”

A bit surprised with her sudden question, I tried my best to respond sweetly and not appear disturbed, “Other than you? Nothing else really…”

She laughed and said, “That’s sweet, but nice try, I know when you’re thinking about something serious… it’s like you mentally disappear, kind of.”

I responded quickly, “It’s not that I mentally disappear, it’s difficult to explain, sometimes its just like my soul completely takes over and what I’m thinking about is the only conscious ability I have… if that makes sense. Usually its worth the contemplation though and its kind of like I have to think about it.”

Then she kindly said, “You’re lucky I understand you and your creative process because I think most people would think that you’re a sort of crazy.”

I calmly laughed in affirmation and said, “Ah, well people’s short-term opinions of me doesn’t really matter because they’re all still very much hooked on what I think about…whether they hate or love me, my wisdom is an area of expertise that they are fascinatedly addicted to.  And I appreciate you trying to understand me, as that’s why it doesn’t bother me that much when you ask what I’m thinking about. Usually that does irritate me quite a bit.”

She took a seat on the table and softly said, “I never really ask you that…”

Then I said, “Yeah I know, which is why I’m surprised you did.”

She noticed a few new poems that I had written laying on the table, she picked them up and said, “Do you mind if I have these?”

I responded without hesitation, “No go ahead, and let me know what you think of them. Some of them are going to be lyrics for the album I’m going to put together. And if you really want to know what I’m thinking about, I’ll tell you: Recently I’ve been kind of thinking about how people’s souls are like an entity, a living organism; subject to prolific evolution and horrendous mutations. I mean, just look at the global ecosystem… all the different types of people, plants, animals, insects, terrain… that type of stuff… for what reason? Evolution is adaptation to consistent suffering where as mutations are often the reversal of that; cancers… diseases, stuff like that. So I think that souls probably act the same way, sort of like spiritual organisms that typically enhance our well being, but can also be harmful if provided the wrong outside influences, maybe even hereditary. Souls could also be hereditary and as unique as a person’s DNA. Although, not all mutations are bad… in fact evolution is somewhat of a mutation. So… with that said, I’m not entirely sure exactly the connection I’m trying to make yet, but I do seriously think that souls are living organisms.”

She smiled and said, “There is a lot that goes on in your mind Avi…I also believe that people have souls, but how can you tell the good from the bad? I mean you can have a good person with a bad soul or a bad person with a good soul, right?”

I contemplated for a few moments before I said, “That’s a good point. It’s all in people’s eyes, when you look into them rather than looking in them, you can see if someone is progressively getting better or getting worse. And then I also think there are people, for one reason or another, that have different souls enter and leave them regularly… that I can for sure see in people’s eyes and it’s also reflective in their tone of voice.”

She started to get somewhat intrigued with the conversation and said, “And what do you think of those types of people?”

I again contemplated for several seconds before I said, “That depends. I think if your core self stays in-tact, then it’s really not an issue, but I think if you’re inviting the wrong type of souls then you don’t really have a core of a person, you just have an idle mind walking around, breathing, giving life and the people around them the minimum; often times emitting harmful energy to other people. I don’t have pity for those types of people, they do it to themselves… there are too many people struggling and remaining righteous to have pity for those other types of people.”

She closed her eyes and said, “Interesting…”

I laughed and said, “Am I boring you already?”

She rolled her eyes and said, “No not at all, I’m just thinking about what you said, it’s an interesting perspective, despite it being a rough draft… free thinking.”

Then I continued to say, “And I think there’s a difference between a soul and a spirit. I think that a soul defines a person whereas a spirit gives a person power and strength.”

She had her eyes closed while I said that so she must have liked the way I said it. And then she said, “Is this what you’re trying to talk about in your next album?”

I looked around at a few of the notepads on my table and then said, “Probably not. It’ll probably be like another theatrical play/movie… but more in the traditional music format.”

She started reading one of my poems and then looked up at me and said, “Well… I’d like to hear you rap in more of your new songs. You kind of rapped in some of your other songs and it was good… so you should do that more.”

I appreciated her direct comment and then said, “Yeah, I’ll try. The only issue I have is that, with poetry, because of the way the compounded syllables are arranged, the lyrics affect people a lot differently than rap or traditional song lyrics. I want to have more of mainstream product, but at the same time I want to be able to affect people. So I think if I rapped words people aren’t used to hearing, it could have the same effect.”

She joyously sighed and said, “I like when you act and talk intelligently.”

And then I charismatically said, “And I like when you act in my movies, so are you going to give me some sounds from your heartbeat or what?”