Doubt

Have no idea if I've posted this previously, but enjoy. Comments would be most appreciated

“Don’t you get it? He doesn’t care about you. He has never cared about you, not even at the start. You were just an experiment; a game that he decided to keep on going. Why do you even think he’s there; why do you hold on to your hope.”

The figure stared around at the gathered mass, “I know it’s true. I’ve met him, I’ve talked to him face-to-face. He told me himself.”

He stopped; taking in the astonished silence of his crowd. His hands searched in his pockets and pulled out a cigarette, placing it in his mouth. The tip of it started to flare, and smoke began to plume out. He inhaled, took it out if his mouth and placed his hands by his side.

“Everything that you know is untrue. Don’t believe a single word of it. Most of you have based your lives on a lie, nothing more, nothing less. It’s pathetic. Truly, truly pathetic. I’ve watched over some of you for a while now. And I cried. Yes, I cried. I wept for your wasted time, your unheard cries, your lives.”

The now-silenced crowd looked uneasily at each other. A hushed cough sent vibrations. The figure smiled, placing the cigarette in his mouth, taking a drag, dropping it to the ground and crushing it under his heel.

“But can you blame him for not caring? I mean look at you. You’re disgusting. Every single one of you. You fight, you destroy, and you kill. Some of you have even dedicated your lives to killing. And when these deaths happen, you blame him. Of course it is mostly his fault. He gave you the fingers, the intelligence, and the trigger.”

The wail of sirens echoed in the distance. Red and white lights flashed against the horizon. The figure continued talking over this latest distraction.

“What I find worst of all is the way some of you live your lives. You live it as if they were a dime a dozen. Well let me tell you something, they’re not. You’re born, you live, and then you die. That’s it. There’s no hidden meaning, no secret to life, just death. And your body turns to ash, and eventually you become a part of the planet in which you try to destroy. That is ironic in itself.”

The sirens moved ever closer. Some of the gathered audience looked worriedly at one another. Most were too taken aback by the figures voice to even notice the sirens.

“You were given this Paradise. It was beautiful and luscious and free. And then you came along. You soiled it with your waste, and poisoned it with your pollution. You are a cancer, and this Paradise is dying a slow and painful death.”

The figure reached into his pocket once more, and continued talking.

“Don’t get me wrong. There are some of you that are genuinely good. I won’t deny you that, and I won’t deny their rightful place. Yet they are a dying breed, quickly becoming an endangered species.”

He removed a small packet of chewing-gum from his pocket, and placed one gently into his mouth. He stayed silent as he chewed. The crowd waited with baited breath for him to continue talking. His voice had the same effect as fire; you knew that it is dangerous, and it will cause harm, yet there is something so hypnotic and beautiful about it that it keeps you spellbound.

After a brief pause he continued.

“Some of you go about your daily lives completely oblivious to what is going on around you. You see these people in foreign countries going through such atrocities; your fellow human beings and you don’t care. They’re in a separate part of the world. It has nothing to do with you; it’s never going to happen where you are. And yet when it does, you’re dumbfounded. You’re shocked. You’re appalled. And what do you do? You retaliate. You attack. You kill.”

The sirens were now echoing against the narrow alleyway. The red and white lights reflected against the walls. The figure’s voice drowned out everything else for the majority of his gathered audience. Some sneaked off into the shadows; sirens and lights were not a good sign for these people.

“You have spent most of your lives in fear. Look how you hide away and cower from your fears. It is pathetic. And yet for some of you this is a security blanket; like he was. And now you’re unsure. I can tell. It’s as plain as day. I can see it in your eyes. You can try and hide it all you want, but that uncertainty is still there. Eating away at you. Killing you from the inside. But don’t you worry. Oh no. You are not alone. His grip on all of you is failing. It is becoming weak, and soon it, like you, shall die.”

The whooshing sound of helicopter blades now came into focus. It hovered over the crowd, its searchlight darting too and fro. The voice over the loudspeaker was just a distant whisper falling on deaf ears.

“Even now I can feel the belief here dwindling. It is like a candle standing against the empowering impenetrable darkness. And you know what? I’m not the darkness. You’re the darkness. I didn’t put the disbelief in your heads, it was there already. I merely pulled the cork and let it flow freely. And like champagne, it feels sour at first. And yet you get used to it. But don’t worry, you will get used to it. All of you will.”

The helicopter hovered around to the front of the crowd, its searchlight still shaking. It centered on them, blinding them. The hypnotic effect of the voice was broken, they were free. Eventually their vision came back. They stared back at the figure. And yet he was gone. Vanished. On the ground remained an empty packet of chewing-gum, and a crushed cigarette; still lit and still smoking.