Emote

A Short Story

Written

and edited by

Trenton R.B.N.
Emote

Once upon a time, there was an Eastern woman who was sent to a place of emptiness. This

place was devoid of anything, save for the endless soft white that stretched out before her

without end. Then, alone in that void, she cried. In that place however, unbeknownst to her,

was another. someone who had been there far longer than she. This place was all the individual

had ever known. Here he wandered.  

Scared and confused, the woman walked aimlessly until at last she stumbled upon the man. She

approached him, the only thing in this place of nothingness. But when she stood before him,

she was met with a strange sight. The man squatted on the ground, looking away from the

woman. He was motionless, seemingly unaware of her.  

"Hello?" She asked the man timidly.   

Shifting to face her, he gazed up and into her face. But his eyes were empty; they seemed to

stare right through her.  

Taken aback, she tried talking to him again, a little more afraid and warier than before.  

"Hello?" She tried again, considering if she should run.

Upon hearing her again, his eyes seemed to focus and lose a portion of their disturbing quality.

Then he peered into her eyes again and repeated, "Hello?"  

Bewildered and more than a little alarmed by the man, he wondered if she should get away

from him, but with nothing else as far as the eye could see, she pressed forward. 

"Hello I'm, uhh, I'm Marin."  

"Marin." He repeated thoughtfully, then returned to his original position. "Marin," he said

again, as if swishing the name around in his mind. Then, as Marin was leaving him, he spoke. 

"Your, name?" He asked. 

Stopping, slowly she answered uneasy, "Yes." 

He turned his eyes up and put a finger to his cheek to begin tapping it. He was off in his own

mind again, as if she had stopped existing.  

Marin knelt down to his level to examine the strange creature before her. She gazed at him as

he squatted there. The man deep in thought. He looked human, but something seemed to be

missing. As though most of what made him human was gone.  

He's gone.

The memory came returning to the surface. Then, Marin began to cry again. The memory from

before haunting her. 

Pulled out of his thought he looked at her curiously. Then he blinked at her as if to ask a

question.  

"Oh," she said, drying her tears, "it's just something from before." 

He blinked again, "before?" 

He was odd, but seemed harmless as he squatted there. The threatening aspect about him had

vanished, leaving him so peaceful and calm she decided to tell him. Though he still seemed

more than a small part disturbed. 

"Yeah before," she told him, "back home, where there were trees, houses and water. But here

it’s so... Empty."  

Slowly he mumbled something to himself, then said, "tell me more about, trees." 
Startled that he didn't know what a tree was, she told him. Then she glanced around at the

endless white all around.  

"I guess this is the only place you have ever been, huh?" 

He breathed heavily. "Yes."  

He blinked to himself, seemed to consider something, then fell on his butt, stretched his legs

out, and said, "would, you tell me more about, before?"  

She saw interest flicker in his eyes, and she smiled to herself, "ok, I will," she agreed. 

Soon, after telling him more about before, it became regular for her to inform him about her

home. The man asking her questions as she did. 

This went on in this timeless place until Marin asked the question, "why are you here?"  

He glanced away, then pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket which read, "You are exiled from

reality."

Then after she read the paper, he said, "I don't know, this is the only place I’ve ever been." 

There was a silence between them, when he innocently asked, "why are you here?" 

she sucked air in and shook, she didn’t want to remember, she wanted to forget. 

"Why are you here?" He asked again, curious. 

Her shaking increased, "it's because I did something awful. I did something awful before."  

Emotionless he watched her and asked, "what did you do?" 

She was trembling now, covering her head and crying violently, "You don’t want to know," she

insisted, "it was so awful, so awful you don’t want to know." 

"Tell me," he said softly. 

Shaking, she began in broken sentences, "My husband he... to me... I... did... kids he said...... I-

hi...he hit... me... I..." 

Then her words left her and she broke down and cried. crumpling to the floor as the tears

streamed down. The man stood there, surprised. He gazed at her in confusion as she sobbed.

Then after some time he managed to say calmly, "ok." 

She sniffed regaining herself, and said, "thanks."  Giving him a small smile to mask the pain.

They walked and spoke more, the man warmed up to her and talked a lot more. He began to

tell her his ideas that he made with what she told him from before. Though his ideas were

nonsensical at first, the enthusiasm he showed for them, made it bearable. But as his ideas

became more refined, they really got involved in the wild things he would come up with. The

first time he showed his enthusiasm for his ideas, that had also been the first time he had

shown any real emotion. Eventually his name came up in their conversations. 

Frowning in concentration, he tried to remember. After a long moment he began, "Scott, I think

it was Scott." 

"That’s neat, it’s nice to know your name now." She smiled genuinely.

For a moment she thought she saw a grin tug at the corners of his mouth, but then it was

gone.  

Then as they were walking, as they had grown accustomed to do, Scott brought the question up

again. 

"Tell me, Marin...what did you do that you were sent here? I don’t know why I was, but you

said you did something. What did you do to be banished here like I was?" 
"It," her eyes fell to the ground, "it's like I said, I did something awful, something no person

should ever do."  

He waited, listening. 

"Well," she began reluctantly, stopping. 

He stopped as well. 

"Back home, before now, I was abused by my husband. He would hit me, yell at me and we

would always argue. I wanted kids, but when I brought it up to him, he yelled at me. I, was

upset, and started to yell back."  

Her eyes began to shimmer. 

"We. he. It got to the point where we were hitting each other. 

She began crying, trying to hold the tears in as a few slipped past her guard.

"I didn’t want to, but I didn’t expect. But then again maybe I did. We were fighting when I went

to the kitchen and he followed me. I. I. I was cooking dinner on the stove in a pan. Oh, I hate

myself!"  

She fell to the floor put her hands over her face and began to bawl.  

"I should have never done it." She said dismally. 

He stood there, a little surprised, wondering if he should continue. Then he said, "what did you

do? What happened?" he asked more tenderly than last time.

She met his eyes then yelled, "I killed him!" 

Crumpling even farther down she yelled, "I should have never done it, I regret it so much! I

regret it, more than anything! I could have figured something out, but I took his life instead, and

I got sent here." 

Still crying she looked at him, but she found him kneeling on the ground in front of her, silent

tears rolling down his cheeks.

“oh, that’s so sad.” He said softly in revelation.

He then touched the wetness on his face, feeling the droplets as they slid down. "What is this?"

He said surprised, "what am I feeling?" 

She reached out and touched him, and said through her tears, "Your feeling emotions!"  

His hands shook at the revelation. He felt sorry for her, and such great sadness, but why? He

hadn’t done anything. She reached out and hugged him continuing to cry and wail. Slowly

raising his arms to hug her back, they cried together until their tears were spent.  

Then, Scott began to fade, being taken to before with a chance to have life.

Light, taking him away, she looked up to face Scott one last time, only to see him still crying. But

he was smiling as well, finally knowing what it was like to feel. Though the smile was pained

now they were separating. As he began to float away into the light, all she could manage was a

smile. A smile to say that she was happy for him. As well as to say that she was happy now as

well; her smile no longer a mask to hide pain behind it. But it also carried sadness to see him go.

Then he was carried away, and faded into the light. 

As Marin watched him ascend into the light, leaving this void behind, she smiled, bowing her

head and said, "thank you." 

The End
 This short story is

property of Trenton R.B.N. Do not redistribute, Reproduce, or reprint without

written permission of the author, handwritten, digitally, or otherwise.

This short story is free, if purchased, seek a refund and obtain a free copy instead.

First distributed 7/4/2020