Jake C. Wallace: Wednesday Briefs #22 The Hollow: Soul Seekers

Each week a group of authors participate weekly in Wednesday Briefs Flash Fiction. Each installment is 500-1000 words long and is posted to our blogs each week. After you read the latest in my story, click on the links at the end to visit the other flashers.

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Levi shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I don’t understand what you’re getting at?”

“You will. I just need you to listen. Misunderstandings comes when people close themselves off to something new. Can you open yourself up to what I’m going to tell you?”

The intensity of her words, her sharp stare, cut right through Levi. His chest tightened slightly. Breathe. Levi would agree to understand anything if it brought Dr. Winston closer to the point of this bizarre reunion.

“Sure.”

“Good,” Dr. Winston said and clapped her hands together, clanging the metal bangles around her wrists. “The most logical place to start is that article, which actually is a chapter from a larger book, which I currently have at home. Anyway, Senz’anima, means soulless. Do you remember what it said about the soulless?”

Levi shook his head. Ugh! Not a lecture, just a copy would be enough.

A slight grimace crossed the professor’s face but quickly faded. “In this case the soulless aren’t actually soulless as much as their soul and their body have been separated.”

“By death?”

Dr. Winston pursed her lips and shook her head, her large earrings slapping at her neck again. “No, because the person is still alive and not all of the soul is removed.”

“Removed by someone, a seer or something.” Facts from the article were coming back to him.

“Yes, a Soul Seer. There are many reasons for removing a soul – greed, power, salvation.”

“Salvation?”

“Yes, salvation. This is the part I really need you to understand. Seers are born with innate power to peer into a person’s soul. The soul is a misunderstood entity. Christians believe for the most part that since man was created by God then all souls were as well. Actually, the idea of a soul or some essence of a human that continues after death has been written extensively for thousands of years. Plato and Socrates even delved into the subject. Life after death is a concern for all sentient beings. The idea of becoming nothing is unfathomable to most.”

The thought brought a wave of stomach churning panic to Levi. Fear of death was very real to him.

“Anyway, Traducianism is the belief that the soul is actually a creation of the parents and not of God. If God had truly created the universe and rested on the seventh day then he’s not responsible for creating new souls. The idea is that Adam’s souls was the only soul created by God. Since Adam is believed to be the father of all of mankind, it is through generation that new souls are formed, as is true with the body. What this means is that the souls and the bodies of the parents create the soul and body of their offspring.” Dr. Winston paused as she did in her lectures, as if she were waiting for any questions.

The only question Levi had—What does this have to do with the man in black?

Dr. Winston continued. “Seers can see the energy a soul creates and feel its power. Everything in the universe has its origin in energy. Vibration of that energy takes on different forms, creating everything.”

“How exactly do you remove a soul? It’s not like a heart or kidney? Cut the skull open and pop out the toy surprise?” Kinda gross.

Dr. Winston ignored his attempt at humor. “No. It’s not something most people can see. But it can be done. Seers view the soul as a ball of energy, colorful, something like an aura. And the soul is located within the heart not the head. Its energy powers the essence of life. True feeling comes from the soul which is why emotions seem to emanate from the chest.”

Levi placed his hand over the hollow in his chest. Was his soul malfunctioning?

Dr. Winston continued in her focused lecture mode. “Seers aren’t rare but not numerous either. A seer can see disparities in a soul, impurities as you might put it, which put that person at risk. Innately, these come from the joining of the parent’s souls.”

“So it’s the parents that mess up the kid’s soul?” That explains so much, Levi mused to himself. “Okay, so what would warrant something serious enough as removing a soul?” Holy hell, how much longer did he have to endure this? Probably end much quicker if he stopped asking questions.

“It’s nothing small I can tell you that. There has to be such total disharmony within the soul that allowing it to continue would place the individual in jeopardy and continually spill out discordant energy. This affects those around that person most.”

“Is the person evil or something?” A Psychopath?

“Innate evil is very rare but it does happen. No, mainly what human’s consider evil is created through experiences wrapped up a bit in genetics.”

“So that’s how people become soulless. Well, thanks for the rundown of the article. I have to be home soon,” he lied, “Is there anything else you want to tell me, like about that man?”

Dr. Winston narrowed her eyes. “Levi, why do think I went into such detail explaining this concept to you?”

Easy “A”. “Because I asked about it.”

“And why did you ask about it?”

Levi nervously swiped a shock of curls from his face. “I was looking through my notebook from class and I had written the words on a page but didn’t take any notes.” Damn, he just admitted to not paying attention in class.

“Levi, I’m trying to tell you something here about you. Something that from the first day when I saw you in class I thought you knew, had to have known because not to know well, it’s just impossible. The safeguards, the planning…But I can tell you don’t know at all.”

Levi grasped at the sides of his seat. It had been a bad idea to come her. “Know what?”

“Levi, you don’t have a soul."

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