Her Little Bodhisattva

She picked up a poor little Bodhisattva and kept it in her heart, worshiping it devoutly every day. The Bodhisattva does not love her. She waited. The Bodhisattva pushed her away and she chased after him. After the Bodhisattva left, she guarded the empty courtyard and waited year after year. Later the Bodhisattva finally came back. But his body was covered in blood and his eyes were filled with frost. He was no longer the young boy who would quietly look at the flowers under the pear tree. She tried gentleness, patience, and used her body temperature to warm a stone that was cold from the inside out. To no avail. So she changed her approach. She locked up Bodhisattva. She shackled him, locked the door, and trapped him in a cage of her own making. She thought, this way he won't leave. Then he would only look at her. But she didn't know - the reason why Bodhisattva is Bodhisattva is not because he won't hurt others, but because he chooses not to hurt. And when the Bodhisattva decides to no longer be compassionate, the real disaster will come.   One is a bright and warm little sun who loves someone with all his heart. One is a trapped beast that is silent and forbearing, pushing everyone away to rot alone. This is a story about waiting and missing, tenderness and madness. She crawled out of hell and saw him as her only light. He pushed her away, thinking he was protecting her. Only in the end did I realize—— She literally crawled out of hell. And he is that hell.