Saving regrets

Luca Rosner

by Luca Rosner

Story

It’s you again. Why won’t you leave me alone?

Not like you owe me for saving you or something.

I don’t know whether I should throw you back into the water myself or make you stop talking otherwise.

Can I pick? Also, make sure not to move your wing much. It hasn’t healed by now and I just changed the bandages.

I’m losing so much energy by suppressing both, the reflex to kill you as much as my hatred towards you right now. But it’s always the same, isn’t it?

Right. Why thank me when you can also change the subject?

At some point, someone needs something, and they seek ways to get it, possibly the easiest, cheapest way. Maybe many others will decide to follow their example. Maybe they’re taught how to achieve the goal. Until all the affected passed long ago and the next generations fight wars, they can’t remember to be started. Until the “always been that way” becomes how we’re wired. 

Where did that come from all of a sudden? Are you starting to hallucinate or something? 

I’ve followed the beliefs… the traditions… they told me it was my duty. But now… now I can’t bear the weight of it. 

I feel your pain. The cycles of your world trap you in a dance of violence. You fight, but the beliefs of your people bind you, blind you. You live in fear of survival, yet you come to take life from those who simply exist, like you.

I didn’t choose this path… I thought I had to. To provide… to belong… 

But at what cost?

All I feel is regret.

You are not alone in your regrets. Even among the depths, I know the sorrow of my kind. The tales they weave of the hunt are born from fear, not love.

What if I fought against what I was taught? I would stand up against the signs of a broken society. I’d teach my people to respect the ocean, to honor life instead of taking it.

The tides of change can be slow; they ripple through generations. But your voice, your choice… it could spark a change. 

I want to protect you… at least now I really do, but what good am I now? Look where this tradition has led me… led to… It’s not just the hunt. It’s how we view each other, how we see nature… I don’t know any better. How should I act or think or even try differently?

Educate yourself. Be open to change. Try. Fail. Then try again. Literally anything would be better, you know.

© Luca Rosner 2024-08-05

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