Unremembered and Unimportant: Chapter 3 – Bringing Back the Lost

Chapter 3 – Bringing Back the Lost

“Josephine! Breakfast is ready!” her mom says from downstairs.

At the sound of her mom’s voice, Josephine jumps out of bed with a smile, stretches, and runs downstairs. She eats breakfast with her parents and gives them a big hug and kiss.

“What’s gotten into you? You act like you haven’t seen us in years?” her dad says.

“I just love you is all. Is something wrong with that?” Josephine asks.

“No, not at all. I love you too, baby.”

After eating, Josephine and her mom cook meals and clean up the house for the get-together today while her dad tends the garden, lawn, and outside decorations. Once that is done, the family eats lunch together and Josephine’s parents tell her that they can handle the rest and she is free to see her friends. She does so and visits them at a park near a lake that they like to frequent and speak of old times. A bit of time passes before they go to Josephine’s house, have their daily get-together, enjoy the sight of the stars, and then say their goodbyes. While she looks up at the stars, Josephine feels both happy and empty as usual, but at the same time, she wishes for this day to happen again and again for the rest of her life.

For the many days she’s been here, Josephine has hardly changed the formula of the day. She may include more work, have her loved ones praise her deeds more, and get kisses from a crush she had, however, she’s happy in the cycle that she’s trying to perfect no matter the changes. During the next day, the neighbor comes down to her from the sun.

“Josephine! I’m glad to see that you’re enjoying yourself and happy as always,” he says.

“I am and thank you again for allowing me to have it,” Josephine says, “Will you be joining my family and friends for our get-together today?”

“Thank you for the offer, but not today. I came here to inform you that one of the Conduits of the Servant may be passing by here and to stay on your guard. Don’t let this news disturb your happiness though. More Lights of the World should be here soon so that you’ll be granted the same powers as I so that you can make people happy in a similar way to the way I do.”

“Okay, thank you for letting me know. You should stop by more often to spend time with us. It’s great having you around.”

“I love spending time with you as well. Your reality is wonderful and you are one of the few people I’ve met who are as selfless as I am and that only wants to see people happy for the rest of their lives. I’ll see you again after the Conduit is taken care of.”

The neighbor dissipates into light and leaves Josephine slightly worried.

“Nothing should happen,” she tells herself, “The Servant let me get overtaken by the neighbor. Surely, this other Conduit will as well, but then again, I was never anything special.”

Josephine’s friends and family appear, surround her, and give her support to take away her worries and make her smile again. Another happy day passes before another one comes. As the day goes along and Josephine is spending time with her friends, she sees an unfamiliar face in the park that she didn’t put there. In the distance, she sees a young man standing on a rock looking around until he sees her.

“Hey!” he says to her while waving with a friendly smile on his face.

This young man wears black rags, has gray skin with only one patch of light beige skin around his mouth, and green eyes with a faint gold glow in the center. A gold light seems to emanate from the man which makes the surrounding light seem dim in comparison. Josephine knows that this must be the Conduit that the neighbor was talking about, however, she doesn’t know why nothing is being done about him and why he’s here in her reality. In an attempt to get rid of him, she shifts reality in a way to exclude him from it and even resorts to imagining people shooting him all of which have no effect on him besides amazing him with what’s happening as if she’s performing simple magic tricks for him.

“Woah! How are you doing that?” the young man asks.

“Because this is my reality and I want you out of it,” Josephine says.

“Your reality? This place is a dream and not reality because reality is reality, and in reality, you’re sitting on a park bench with two older people. Are they your parents?”

“Yes.”

“I kind of figured since you look like them. I’m sure you want to get them back to reality, so you should help me so we can get everyone out of here. We don’t have much time since my light can only keep the neighbor confused for so long.”

“I don’t want to.”

“What? Why not? I thought that was why the Servant sent you here.”

“It was but look at me now. The Servant didn’t help me one bit and I’m glad that He didn’t because I finally get to be happy in the way that I want.”

“And what way is that?”

“By making my friends and family happy.”

“What friends and family? This is your dream and everyone in it besides you and me is fake.”

“They’re real to me! They’re real here.”

“But that doesn’t make them actually real. Is making fake people happy what you want to do?”

“No, because I’m happy here as well! The neighbor makes so many people happy by giving them their own reality to live in.”

“You don’t make people happy by making them live in a dream. Besides, there’s more to living life than trying to be happy all the time.”

“And what would that more be?”

“As far as I know, it all boils down to doing the right thing with your life and making the most of it even if you don’t get to be happy for most of it.”

Josephine immediately remembers what the Servant told her about making her life right and the responsibility she felt in doing so. It’s almost as if she can hear the Servant’s voice in the man’s own.

“Tch.”

“You know it’s true.”

“So what if I do? I can’t help you banish the neighbor.”

“Yes, you can. With my help that is. That’s why I’m here. Take my hand.”

As Josephine reaches out to the man, she sees that part of her is transforming back to normal along with her dark aura, however, her darkness is complementary to the man’s light both of which begin to dispel the light of the neighbor.

The reality created by Josephine’s mind and the neighbor’s power begins to dissipate along with everything and everyone in it. In the distance, she can see her friends and family disappear and cry out for her to help them.

“Look at me,” the young man says to get her attention, “They aren’t real, but they are real in reality. You can make them happy there.”

“My friends abandoned and hate me now and I don’t know what my parents would say,” Josephine says.

“There’s a chance that they’ll accept you for doing the right thing. You’re their daughter after all. Why would they hate you?”

After a moment of hesitation and consideration, Josephine takes the young man’s hand causing the false reality around her to shatter. Her parents alongside her also wake up and are confused as to what happened.

“Mom? Dad?” Josephine tepidly says as she approaches them.

Her parents are a bit confused and startled at first by their daughter’s appearance.

“Josephine?” her dad says.

“Is that really you?” her mom adds.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“What happened to you, and who’s that boy?” her mom asks.

“I was brought back to life by the Servant and this boy helped me free you from the neighbor’s light.”

“Why did you do that for? I was living such a good life.”

“Why are you helping that devil, the Servant? It causes so much suffering for people who just want to be happy. I thought you wanted others to be happy,” her dad says.

“I do, but I’d rather do it in the right way.”

“Right way, wrong way. What does it matter when it’s all a matter of opinion? What does it matter when people are happy?”

“It-”

“We were perfectly fine in our reality. We weren’t hurt and no one could be hurt in those wonderful dreams of ours,” her mom says.

“But-”

“I don’t want to hear your excuses. You’re obviously not the same daughter I raised who did whatever she could to make people happy even at the cost of her own happiness.”

“But dad, I-”

Josephine’s parents don’t listen to her as they walk away. The sky turns dark and it begins to rain making everyone run away from it or into shelter except for Josephine and the young man. Again falling to her knees like last time, she covers her face and tries not to cry while also keeping back a burst of hysterical laughter.

“Josephine, don’t worry about them,” the young man says.

“I hope you’re happy!” Josephine yells not only at the man in front of her but also at the Servant. “You got what you wanted! Now leave me alone!”

“Josephine…”

“I gave up what made me happy and now I’m hated by my friends and family and there’s no chance that I can get any of it back! Is this what doing the right thing is like because I hate it!”

“Doing the right thing can be painful and it involves suffering sometimes without getting any relief, thanks, or payment for it.”

Something about what the man says resonates with Josephine as she knows it to be true from experience from before even helping the Servant. The man then hugs her.

“But you don’t need to do it alone because I’ll be helping you and together, we’ll fulfill our purpose in life for the Servant,” he continues to say while giving Josephine a reassuring smile.

A tidal wave of emotions fills Josephine as she feels reinvigorated by the man’s words. It feels to her as if she’s been swept off her feet by him and feelings of love begin to grow inside her. The moment is interrupted as the man notices the Lights of the World who are with the neighbor approaching them all of which are covered by their light that shields them from the rain.

“What did you do?! Why did you ruin our happiness?!” the neighbor says.

“It was the right thing to do,” Josephine says as she stands with the man by her side.

“Well, the next right thing for you will be to suffer and die for what you’ve done to me and the friends I’ve made.”

“Take my hand!” the man says while holding out his hand.

When Josephine does as the man says, a bright light bursts from the man’s other hand that he’s holding up. The skin on his body turns completely beige while Josephine’s skin doesn’t turn all grey like last time. Darkness brighter than the Lights of the World come from her and from her darkness rats with the limbs of cats and the claws of monsters come out. While the light from the man burns the lights and keeps them disorientated, Josephine’s rats tear them apart and eat them from the inside out. By the end of it, there is nothing left of the neighbor and the other Lights of the World besides muck and decomposing flesh. The young man’s body turns back to what it once was and the light from his free hand disappears.

“Glad that’s over. It was cathartic,” Josephine says.

“Doing this can be from time to time. Thank the Servant that it ended in our favor,” the young man says.

“I’m surprised that your body didn’t turn completely grey.”

“That’s because my body and mind are mostly in tune with the Servant. You’ll reach that point soon enough and I’ll teach you how.”

“Yeah. Thank you…for everything. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

“Don’t mention it. I also couldn’t have banished all those lights without your help as well. My name is Memphis, by the way. It’s nice to meet you.”

“My name is Josephine. It’s nice to meet you too.”

Memphis and Josephine smile at each other and blush a bit before Memphis clears his throat and looks away.

“We should get out of the rain,” he suggests.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

The two make their way out of the area together as they begin their journey. For the first time in a while, Josephine feels as if her life will get better and that it is worth living as long as she is with Memphis.