Chapter 2: Grief
Act 1: Pain I saw him breathe again and just lay there, broken by the fall he had just endured. I could see the dwindling light of hope flickering faintly from within him. Memories of everything that was now lost came flooding through his mind, like a tide that pulled him deeper into the ache of what was.
Act 2: Loss The pain of everything he had lost began to creep in slowly—like cold hands wrapping themselves around his chest. The thought of losing it all and eventually amounting to nothing weighed down on his spirit. All the dreams of what could have been, gone in a brief sequence of events he could never have seen coming. It was all so wrong, but it felt painfully necessary to the path he’s been set on, one he had no power to alter.
Act 3: Doubt I saw him lose faith in the possibility of his redemption. His pain and loss had sunk deep into the core of his existence. He had lost all hope in the assurance of his purpose and the need to stay true to his cause. And in that moment something stirred inside of me. I began to sense that I was meant to be there, to witness, yes—but also to give. To offer him the spark of life, he would need to start again. But will he find himself again?
Act 4: Grief I had seen this man fall. I had seen him wrestle with the weight of his reality—consumed by pain, loss, and doubt. And beneath all of that, I had seen something else—a quiet perseverance, a fragile ember of hope refusing to die. He looked ready to put an end to mourning what was lost and press on for a higher purpose. It was time for him to move on from what had become of him into what he could become. It was time for an encounter.