You Must Suffer...For Her! (Aaron Thompson, After Six years of A Custody Case In Johnson County Indiana) 2014

It was time. For the past seven weeks, until this day, the voice calmly, softly and comfortingly had said, "Fast."

He knew the voice was right. Throughout his troubled life, the stresses, the evils, the problems...all were taken away with a long fast. The problem was, he didn't want to do it. At 44 years of age, he was tired of fasting. It hurt so bad the first three days; the hunger pains, the thirst, the stress that his body took on from abstaining from mostly all that he so enjoyed.

"Fast," the voice said again, as if reading his negative thoughts. After the first three days, then it was only a matter of mental strength. The hunger pains subsided, became manageable. The thirst, he would quench with just taking a mouthful of water and holding it there. Imagining the time when he could drink water again. Then he would let the water dribble slowly from his lips until none was present any longer. Say the Lord's Prayer and whisper to the winds, "Soon."

"Fast," the voice repeated.

He slowly shook his head. Tears starting to form in his eyes. He finally asked the voice, "Why do I have to always suffer?"

"Because," the voice simply stated.

He shook his head again because he knew what the voice was going to convey to him. He knew the answer even before he had asked the first query. But he had to hear the voice's response to the known question and subsequent answer.

He took a deep breath. Held it deep in his chest and let the exhalation pass slowly from his mouth. Tears now rolling down his cheeks. Finally he choked out, "Because, why?"

The voice with its sincere, calming tone said, "Because it's not about you any longer."

He broke down on his knees and cried uncontrollably with grief, pain and pity. Covering his face with his hands, ashamed even that he had thought, let a lone, asked such a selfish question which he knew the answer to before he had asked.

While the voice said over and over, "The both of you are going to be just fine. Be obedient and fast for fourteen days. You are going to have to do this, and many times after, until you sleep forever...for her."

(to be continued...)