And then, all of a sudden, she asked me what I thought about love. It was crazy! Of all people, she chose to ask me, a priest, what I thought about love. Deep down I'm still pretty sure she didn't really care about what I had to say, actually. She just wanted to talk.
"What do I think about love?" I asked her. She nodded in response.
I knew she didn't want to hear the whole speech about- God loving us all, His creation. About- how we are supposed to love each other and so on. That is why I didn't answer. I did not answer her question, but I took the liberty to make one myself.
"What do you think about love, my child?"
She didn't even look at me and just kept quiet. After some hesitation though, she finally answered.
"I think it's the most beautiful thing in the whole- world. Maybe even the whole universe. Love is what gives us all a purpose. It is what makes us wake up each morning. Because even if we don't realize it, we do love. Always. Whether it is someone else, a relative, a friend, a significant other. Whether it is ourselves, a pet...even a memory, a thought, a dream...we love." She paused briefly. "Love is...completeness. Union."
I looked at her with a faint smile spread across my face. She was...right.
"Love is like a spider. Some people like it...for extremely odd reasons, if I may say so.
And some more people are...reasonably afraid of it. After all, you never know if the spider in front of you is harmless or not.
That tiny, insignificant and- somehow, for you, maybe even cute spider might be poisonous.
It might bite and hurt you.
It might leave a scar. Or not, that depends...
That little spider might kill you. Its venom might be deadly, you know?
But not all of them. Because another one might actually show you that it means no harm.
Another spider will show you that, just because a single one of them is venomous, it doesn't mean that all spiders are. And therefore you should not fear all of them."
She paused again. She lowered her gaze and sighed again.
"But maybe I am wrong. Maybe it is not love that's the spider but...people.' She whispered the last word. 'Maybe, just maybe...we are that spider, and love is just- that invisible cobweb that each one of us builds with so much care and commitment. The same cobweb that people might or might not destroy, voluntarily or not, but that is another story..." She ended her speech with a small laugh.
Finally, she looked up at me, right into my eyes.
"And you, father? Are you afraid of spiders?"
✩♬ ₊˚.🎧⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧₊⁺⋆☾⋆🎧.˚₊ ♬✩
Wrote this in a moment of inspiration. Does it make sense? No, but to me, a couple of nights ago, it seemed extremely poetic (for some odd reason💀). Possible conversation between reader and Father Paul Hill in a possible fanfiction. But it's just a possibility. (maybe? Don't know yet).
