Unremembered and Unimportant: Chapter 1 – Journey of the Insignificant

 Chapter 1 – Journey of the Insignificant

Today is another sunny day in the world. People happily wake up and go about their daily business with a smile and a welcoming anticipation for the day’s events. They worship the Light of the World of their choice and those who don’t worship live in harmony with those who do. Among the happy inhabitants is a woman dressed in black rags. Half of her body is brown while the other half is a cold gray all of which is separated by black stitching. One of her eyes is black and gold and her other eyes are red, black, and gold. No one is concerned about her even with the sinister smile on her face.

The woman enters a place of worship where a Light is meeting his worshippers and blessing them with wealth, possessions, and whatever else their heart desires. One person is even given the love of their life as the Light puts a spell on the lover so that they feel the same love the other feels for them. Before the couple can walk out, the mysterious woman emanates a darkness from her hand that wakes up the hypnotized lover from their trance before approaching the Light who takes an interest in her.

“My faithful worshippers, we are witnesses to a miracle. Before your eyes is St. Josephine,” the Light says.

Everyone in the worship center claps and cheers for Josephine and touches her as they pass her by and tell her how much she inspired them by her example. She has trouble moving forward for a moment before shaking her head and continuing forward.

“I’m surprised that you remember me,” Josephine says as she stands before the godlike entity of light.

“Why wouldn’t I?” the Light asks with a comforting smile on his face. “You were a woman of the people who did everything in her power to help people and make them happy and doing so until the moment you died.”

“I died the plaything of sick people. They tortured and raped me to their hearts and the demented hearts of everyone who watched.”

Everyone in the room waits for Josephine to continue talking as if she hadn’t made a point.

“And? You made so many people happy. If you didn’t constantly relieve people of their dark needs, who knows what they would’ve done to people in public.”

“Public, private, it doesn’t matter. I was tortured and so were other people.”

“It was your choice to be involved with it, and as far as I remember, you enjoyed it for the most part and invited others to do the same.”

Josephine turns her head in shame.

“…yes, I did, and I regret doing so.”

“You did? Even though you helped hundreds if not hundreds of thousands of people feel happier, which was what you wanted? Even though you received the praise of the people you helped and were showered with riches, possessions, and whatever and whoever else you wanted?”

“You gave me everything I wanted as long as I did everything you asked and believed what you wanted me to believe and convince others to follow my example. If I didn’t, you would’ve killed and thrown me in the trash earlier like you did with the rest of the Dead, but you won’t hurt anyone else anymore!”

As Josephine begins to levitate, the other half of her body turns gray and the rest of her hair turns red. Darkness then radiates from her that somehow shines brighter than the light from the godlike entity in front of her. It begins to consume the light around it and melt the Light itself into nothing more than dried bones and tattered clothes.

Everyone who witnesses this has their eyes opened to the truth that what they were worshipping was no god at all and that the foundation of their welfare and happiness is gone. In their fear, they run away while Josephine’s darkness continues to spread and have the same effect on everyone else it touches. Soon, the people in town are awakened by the dark and are unsure of what to do next, especially when the other Lights tell them what has happened. One of these Lights appears in the minds of the town and lets them know that they can run to any of them for help.

Josephine can even hear their voice as they say, “St. Josephine will no longer be considered a saint for the heinous and blasphemous crime that she has committed today.”

Those who aren’t running away towards another Light or cowering in their homes hurl insults and objects such as trash at Josephine when she passes by them. As the darkness continues to spread, the sky also changes as it quickly becomes cloudy and rains soon after. Because the people of this town know only sunlight and days and nights of endless sunshine, the rain scares and forces them to either run faster away from the town or run into a nearby building or house and lock it up so the rain doesn’t touch them. Continuing on her way, Josephine finds her way to her parent’s house and old neighborhood. She goes up to each door and tries to get them to open up for her.

“I don’t want anything to do with you!” one of her neighbors says.

“You’re a traitor!” a friend yells from inside the house without opening the door.

“You’re a disgrace!”

“Go away!”

“Get away from us, devil!”

All these insults from the people she once loved make her hesitant to knock at her parents’ door, but she does anyway with the small hope that they may answer.

“Mom? Dad! It’s me, Josephine! I’ve freed you from the influence of that false light. Please, open up,” she says while knocking.

Josephine knocks again and again and doesn’t receive an answer.

A next door neighbor yells out from their house, “Leave them alone already! You aren’t their daughter anymore!”

Seeing that her parents aren’t answering the door, Josephine walks away from her home and neighborhood. She tries to keep her head high before falling to her knees and crying in the rain. An entity forms out of the rain in front of her and holds up her hand with one of His nail-pierced hands. His body is pierced by many nails on His back, eyes, and head. As Josephine looks into His eyes, she sees that He understands her pain and she can feel her own being shared with it along with the rest of the pain and sadness that the entity bears.

Josephine doesn’t know what to say and just feigns a smile that appears demented as if she’d gone insane.

“I know how you feel. Speak and I will listen.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Josephine admits, “I’m thankful for this opportunity you’ve given me to make up for my mistakes and wake people up from the corruption of the Lights, but at the same time, I’m beyond miserable because I am hated by everyone I once loved. I know that you said I would be when you first talked to me while I was dying, but it was easy to accept the difficulties at the time. Will things get easier from now on? Will I ever be loved by another person again? Will I be forced to be homeless, despised by the world, and alone for the remainder of my new life?”

“You know the answer to all of those as I had told you how your life would be. It will not be easy living this new life of yours. You will be hated by the world as I am hated and will find no place to permanently lay down your head in peace, but you will not be alone because I will be with you through it all to bear your suffering and sadness and empower you to make it through what I have in store for you.”

The Servant disappears in the rain as if it were never there leaving Josephine not entirely alone but feeling like she was. Knowing that sulking in the rain will do her no good and that it would be a waste of the second chance she has, she picks herself up and looks for a secluded place to rest. She eventually finds one place in a dark and dirty alleyway that is dry enough to rest in and secluded so that no one will find her. After collecting the various rags and covering herself with them, she lies her head down with tears still in her eyes not only for herself but also for the people she loves.