The Proditio

His breath fell heavy as he ran out the house, angry tears glistening in his eyes. 

“Michael! Come back!” His mom repeatedly exclaimed, but Michael continued to run down the street of the neighborhood he didn’t know. Michael didn’t recognize anything around him. Not the cars, not the houses, not the smell in the air, not even the people staring at him in disturbance. 

The neighborhood he had once grown up in was now more than four-hundred miles away from him. His teachers, friends, and even his dad, all taken from him.

The tears threatened Michael’s eyes more fiercely. He tried to push them away, but instead they fought harder to be released. Finally, Michael gave in and felt the tears roll down his cheeks. 

His face became wet, the smile that Michael had once worn happily had vanished and Michael didn’t see it ever returning. 

It was all his mother’s fault. All of it, for she had moved Micheal away for the sole reason of not wanting to get caught in her lies. She was the one who had cheated on Michael's dad. She was the one who had ruined Micheal's friendship with his best friend, since she had gotten with his dad. She was the one who had ruined everything. She had betrayed him, and he would never forgive her. 

Micheal slowed into a walk, not being able to bear the pain flowing through him. He clutched his head and screamed, begging for all the pain to fade. However it didn’t, instead his headache grew, now pounding his head. 

Micheal curled into a ball and cried. His head buried into his legs, his arms continued wrapped around his head. 

Micheal had always found pride, knowing he was never the crying type, but as of right now he didn’t care. He didn’t care if everyone in the world was watching him sob, he didn’t care if an earthquake was taking place, all Micheal wanted to do was lay in the grass and weep into his knees. 

After what seemed like forever, Micheal looked up. The bright blue sky was gone and replaced with darkness and a night sky full of stars. The warm breeze was now colder and stronger, bringing chills to Micheal. 

Taking a look around, he realized he had no idea how to get home, he hadn’t been paying attention to where he was running, desperate to be anywhere but where his mom was. 

Micheal wiped his eyes on his sleeve, begging to panic. He had no idea where to go, no idea where he was, and no idea what to do.

“You good there, mate?” A voice sounded, a surprisingly low voice. Micheal looked around more frantically, but there was no one in sight.

“Hello?” Micheal yelled, aware of how panicked he sounded. He shoved the fear away from him, trying to stay calm. His hands bared into fists, acting as if he was ready for a fight, which he wasn’t–not at all.

“Easy there, I mean no harm.” The voice sounded again. 

“Where are you?” Micheal asked, curiously. 

“Look down at your fists, bud, and look closely,” The voice said. 

Micheal felt a chill down his spine as he pulled his right fist closer to his eyes. As he inspected his hand, he saw nothing. It wasn’t until he turned his hand over that he saw a figure.  A figure that couldn’t have been more than a centimeter tall. A figure that looked like a miniature human-other than the inhumane large ears and fingers without a thumb. A figure that was wearing a plaid blue and white jacket and heavy washed jeans. A figure that had its eyebrows raised and hands extended outwards as if saying ‘Well what do you think? How do I look?’ 

Micheal let out a scream and shook his hands rapidly, without meaning to, desperate to shake the figure off.

“Stop that! Have some respect!” The miniature human yelled. 

“What in the world are you?” Micheal yelled as he stopped shaking his hands and pulled it right back up to his eyes.

“My friend, I am a Proditio,” The figure exclaimed. 

“What is a Proditio? Are you like some human who had an experiment gone wrong and shrunk yourself down? Then again your ears look oddly collosal for a human.” 

“That’s highly offensive,” The Proditio stated, “Nevermind what a Proditio is, why were you crying on the ground?”

Maybe it was the emotion building up in Micheal, maybe it was the fact that he liked the Proditio, or maybe it was merely the fact that Micheal needed someone to talk to, for he felt like he was going to explode.

“Well, it all started on Wednesday, I got home from school and saw-” Micheal began to say, and he explained the rest. Every piece of the story that had been killing him from the moment he had seen it. He told it all to the Proditio, needing to have someone to vent to. It was ten minutes before the story ended, Micheal was talking nonstop, the Proditio was merely nodding, with an occasional “Oh my!” 

“And that’s what happened. She betrayed me and ruined my life,” Micheal finished, trying to keep the quiver and anger out of his voice. 

“My, that’s quite the story.” The Prodito said, rubbing his head. 

Micheal nodded. 

“I think you should go back home and forgive,” The Prodito said, shocking Micheal so much he jumped.

“What?! Were you even listening to the story? She cheated on my dad! With my best friend’s dad!” Micheal yelled.

The Prodito shrugged, “Yes, I heard all that, but how shall anything be fixed if you don’t forgive? Listening to what you’ve told me, it seems your mother has apologized countless times.”

“Apologies don’t fix anything,” Micheal muttered.

“Neither do tears,” The Proditio said, “The damage has been done, there’s no changing that. However, if you forgive you can begin to repair that damage. Nothing is unforgivable, for everyone deserves a second chance. Besides, without forgiveness how will anything ever be fixed? Forgiveness liberates the soul, it removes fear. As much as people love to hold grudges, forgiveness will always be better for the soul.” 

Micheal didn’t answer, not wanting to accept that that was the truth.

The Proditio smiled, knowing he had gotten to Micheal. With that, Micheal could feel the Proditio’s presence vanish, and not just because he could no longer see him, he could feel the Proditio gone. 

Micheal looked down at his shoes and realized there was a slip of paper. He bent down, and picked the paper up carefully. Micheal saw a map, displaying what seemed to be his neighborhood. On one of the houses, there was a large ‘X’. Below the map, there was a sentence written in neat handwriting.

“Go back home, Micheal, and forgive,” Micheal whispered to himself, reading the map. He didn’t have time to question how the Proditio had known his name, so instead he proceeded to follow the map. 

Once Micheal reached the small brick home, he opened the door, surprised at how it had been left open. He flickered the lights on and within seconds was surrounded by his crying mom, begging for forgiveness. This time, instead of running, Micheal hugged his mother and smiled, this time Micheal forgave the betrayal that his mom had committed. 

What Micheal didn’t know was it wasn’t his mother’s fault. For she had cheated against her will. The Proditio, a miniature human, was actually an animal that controlled over people’s minds, making them commit the worst betrayal possible. It wasn’t for the fun of it, or for the joy, but rather to teach to find forgiveness and unlock human souls. This time The Proditio had succeeded, convincing Micheal to forgive his mom.

“Job well done,” The Prodito whispered to himself, patting himself on the back as he watched Micheal hug his mother. 

It was a job well done indeed.