“Something that destroys love, something that destroys souls, yet, can build cities and worlds of glory? What’s the answer Pluto?”
Those were the words of Pluto’s father. He would constantly ask Pluto this. Persistently remind him over, and over, not wanting his son to forget the difference between greed and love. At first, knowing his father, Pluto would guess riches, or maybe gold.
Pluto’s father, with his patient, agreeable eyes, would settle upon Pluto’s gaze and tell him, “The answer is deeper than that, Son. The answer is greed. Greed may build cities and glory, but it destroys what’s most important. It’s a darkness you should stay away from.”
Pluto never forgot the answer after that. After so many moments of revelation with his father, the answer was drilled into his head. Wealthiness was not something he was supposed to approach or accept. He knew that riches and wealth came with a price, and the price wasn’t worth the bargain.
His father eventually faded, but the answer to the question stayed. Even as Pluto grew, into a stunningly handsome man, his eyes full of contemplation and his dark hair gleaming with precision, he didn’t forget. Then he got married and with his dull clothes, and dull life, he was more than happy to find a girl that loved him for who he was.
Together, they felt as if nothing could get them down. They were perfect together and nothing could possibly break the love they had for each other. Then, his wife became pregnant. They knew a child was going to need a lot of attentive care, and there was no way his wife could continue her job with a baby growing inside of her.
All Pluto could do was continue working hard at the jobs he had. He worked hard physically and mentally, until he was so exhausted that he could barely stand. But when he came home to his smiling wife, he felt it was all worth it, and the next day, he’d start all over.
Half-way through her pregnancy, Pluto’s wife became very sick. She had gotten a terrible fever that was burning her and their daughter from the inside out and killing them both rapidly. The only thing that could save the most important people in Pluto’s life, was a medicine that was more expensive and valued then Pluto could ever afford.
Pluto already knew that there was no hope to just earn enough money that quickly. He went to work that day, more depressed then he’d ever felt before. It was as if the heaviest mountains in the world had been set upon his shoulders and, any second, he would collapse, losing the strength to carry the mountains any longer. All that was important to him was the love he had for his wife, and the love she had for him, and now it was more than likely that he was going to lose her.
On his way home, his feet dragged behind him, and the closer he got to home, the worst he felt. It was as if a wound had been stabbed into his heart and was becoming deeper, transforming into a vast black hole the closer he got to his dying wife. So, he sat down on a bench in front of some stores and a bar. He dropped his head into the isolation of his hands, and the swarms of busy, babbling people didn’t seem to notice him.
That was when he heard the rumor. The one about the rich man. The rich man that was entering the town Pluto lived in. Pluto looked up as the two men were already bustling off, but not before Pluto heard the last of their conversation.
“I heard he has many jewels and other riches,” the first man says.
“It doesn’t matter. He’s only passing through the town,” the second man says matter-of-factly, “I heard he’s only visiting a relative, and then is going back to his mansion.”
“Well, whoever he is, I’d like to meet him. Might be able to convince him to share,” the first man replies, shrugging his shoulders with a grin.
The second man laughs.
Pluto doesn’t laugh. He doesn’t even crack a smile. As he comprehends what they said, a darkness snatches his heart and locks it away. A coldness seeps through him like he never felt before. In fact, it was as if he couldn’t feel anything at all. He was numb with the realization of what he was planning on doing in order to save his wife.
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