So I Thought

So I Thought

Ever since they were little, Leon and Noel have seen each other. Their families are friends with one another, but what they have can hardly be called a friendship. The two kids constantly tease and pull pranks on the other. When one wins, the score between them has to be settled somehow. Whether that’d be by putting the other one’s face in cake or spraying them with a hose.

“You know, you’re a big poopy face!” Noel would say.

“No, you are!” Leon would say back.

“No, you are!”

“No, you are!”

After a couple years of their competition, Leon decides not to play into Noel’s hand since that’s what she wants. Knowing that Leon isn’t going to fall for any of her traps, Noel smirks with the implication that she’s setting up something when she isn’t doing anything at all. The two play calmly together for the first time in a while, which surprises their parents.

Once it’s time for Leon to leave, Noel says, “I know it was killing you for me to do something, so that’s why I didn’t do anything. It was fun watching you be scared of what I might do.”

“You-!”

Instead of saying anything, Leon closes his mouth and tries to not let his frustration show on his face while Noel keeps prodding him with her devious smile. When they have to hug each other, Leon squeezes Noel to let out his anger and she does the same. From there on, Leon attempts to be as emotionless towards Noel as possible while cracking here and there. Noel keeps pushing and poking to get any kind of reaction out of him and the times that she does get a result, she considers it a victory. This is how things are between the two and their parents let their two-person war continue since they think it’s cute.

Years pass again and both go to the same school and learn in the same classroom. Despite making new friends, they always focus on each other as they always have by pulling pranks on one another and seeing who would crack under the pressure they gave each other. One girl gets jealous of all the attention Leon is giving Noel and decides to start bullying her by starting rumors and messing up her work.

When Leon sees this happening, she goes up to the girl and says, “Stop bullying, Noel!”

Leon sticking up for Noel gets the bully to run away. As Noel is fixing her things, Leon helps her.

“Are you okay, Noel? She didn’t hurt you, did she?”

“N-no, but you should’ve been there when she was bullying me the other times! Stupid, stupid-”

“I’m sorry. I’ll try to be there more often.”

Leon’s words silence Noel as she starts to recognize that Leon and she are more than just friends. She knows that they aren’t friends, but they aren’t enemies either. She’s never been able to pinpoint what to call their relationship and she doesn’t want to admit the obvious. The boys that have a crush on Noel are shocked by what they witness. They thought that Leon and Noel hate each other because of the way they acted. Now, they see that he’s competition, so they start to bully him.

Just like Leon, Noel catches them in the act and says, “Stop bullying Leon! Only I can do that!”

This attracts the attention of the teachers who take the boys aside to bring them to the principal’s office.

“Thank you, Noel,” Leon says.

“Don’t think that this means that I like you, stupid! Only I can bully you, stupid! No one else can! No one!” Noel asserts.

Leon continues what he’s doing as Noel expects a reaction. She then puts her fists to his face as if softly punching him.

“Do something, Leon! This is why you got bullied! You’re weak! You don’t defend yourself! Do something! Hit back!”

Leon calmly does his work while not paying attention to Noel. Noel only stops bothering Leon when she thinks that her being upset is what he wants her to do. Once she gets home, Noel wrestles with her feelings for Leon and decides to take action by writing an anonymous love letter to him. She walks over to his house and puts it in his mailbox. She doesn’t know what she wants from this. The only thing she knows is that it makes her feel better.

From there on out, Noel writes an anonymous love letter to Leon when she beings to feel loving towards him. She also gets anonymous love letters as well. Since she doesn’t know who they’re from, she feels nothing from reading the sweet messages she gets. Part of her wants to think that it’s Leon writing the letters, but her good and bad opinion of him prevents her from accepting this. While going over to Leon’s house, Noel makes sure that she isn’t caught putting the love letters in the mail, but what she doesn’t know is that Leon’s parents catch her doing this. They read the letters after Leon does and don’t tell them they’re from her. Instead, they secretly tell Noel’s parents about it and talk about how their children are falling in love with one another.

Leon’s parents then encourage him to write love letters to Noel when he opens up about having feelings for her.

“What about the girl who’s sending me these letters?” Leon asks his mom.

“Maybe the sweet girl is Noel. You won’t know unless you ask,” she says.

“This can’t be Noel. She’s the furthest thing from sweet.”

Even though Leon doesn’t believe that Noel is the one sending the letters, part of him wants to. He writes love letters to Noel but doesn’t sign his name and puts the letters in her mailbox like how she does. This back and forth continues for five years as they are against each other in public while loving each other in private.

They’re both ten years old now and they’ve written dozens and dozens of letters to one another while keeping their relationship relatively the same. Wanting to make the two kids advance their relationship, Noel’s parents secretly tell Leon’s parents that she’s coming over to deliver a letter and that they should make Leon go to the door.

Leon’s parents quickly do this and tell him, “The girl who’s been leaving you letters is coming!”

“What? Really?” he asks.

“Yes! You should go to the door and greet her with one of your letters.”

“Okay.”

Leon goes to the door not expecting anything special only to be surprised to catch Noel in the act of putting a love letter in the mail. Scared by this, she quickly takes out the letter and puts it behind her back along with the flower that she found along the way that she wanted to give him.

“Noel?”

“I’m…I’m here to steal your mail! Yeah! I bet you didn’t know that you won money and other prizes! Well, I’m not giving them to you! Hahaha!”

“You were the one leaving the love letters?”

“What-what love letters? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I saw that you were going to put another letter in the mail with a flower?”

“Well-uh. This isn't a love letter and a flower. It's…um…”

“You can stop hiding it.”

“Okay, fine, but why haven’t you written me back? Do my letters mean nothing to you?! I work hard on every one of them!”

“I love them. I keep a collection in a safe place, so they don’t get ruined, and I have been writing back to you. It’s just that I don’t sign them. This is one of them.”

“I don’t believe you. I think you would right something nasty to me.”

“Here, I’ll read this letter to you then. It’s a song or poem I came up with.

Don't leave me now

I've been waiting for what's felt like an eternity

You've kept me in Purgatory

And I've been burning

To let you know that my love for you

Is pure and true

And to know if you feel the same too

You've got me waiting to hear you say

"I love you"

I've held onto hope, kept holding on

I lay down my heart and surrender it to you

You've got me on the edge of hope

To know if you love me too

I'll always remember our time together

I pray that it will last forever

And we would live together

Happily ever after

It's been love at first glance

So will you give me a chance?

You've got me waiting to hear you say

"I love you"

I've held onto hope, kept holding on

I lay down my heart and surrender it to you

You've got me on the edge of hope

To know if you love me too

You've got me waiting to hear you say

"I love you"

Please let this be the day

You've got me waiting to hear you say

"I love you"

I've held onto hope, kept holding on

I lay down my heart and surrender it to you

You've got me on the edge of hope

To know if you love me too

You've got me waiting to hear you say

"I love you"

I've held onto hope, kept holding on

I lay down my heart and surrender it to you

You've got me on the edge of hope

To know if you love me too

I need to know if this is the way you feel too

Because I love you”

Noel is taken aback by Leon’s poem. His words and the way he uses them are the same way he uses them in the letters he sent her.

“So…you were sending me letters…stupid! Why didn’t you make the first move?”

“What?”

“Guys are supposed to make the first move, not the lady!”

“I wouldn’t call you a lady.”

“Tch. The least you can do to make up for it is give me the first kiss like you’re supposed to.”

“Okay.”

Leon walks to Noel and as he gets closer, she closes her eyes and waits for his kiss. He gives her a quick kiss on the lips then moves back.

“Huh? What was that?” Noel asks.

“What?”

“The kiss was supposed to be longer and you were supposed to hold me while you kissed me.”

“Oh.”

“Seriously, you’re so stupid. What would you do without me?”

“Live in peace and quiet?”

Noel growls then starts softly hitting Leon’s face with her fists.

“Idiot, idiot! You’re so stupid!”

Leon grabs Noel’s hands.

“Hey! Let me hit you more-”

Leon kisses and holds Noel like she wants.

“Was that what I was supposed to do?”

“Y-yes.” Leon is about to let go of Noel, but she holds on. “…hug me a bit longer.”

“Okay.”

“…do you really love me?”

“Everything I’ve done hasn’t convinced you?”

“Smarty. I want to hear you say it.”

“Okay.”

“Then say it!”

“…I love you.”

“Okay.”

“You have to say it too.”

“…I love you too.”

Leon and Noel begin their relationship at this moment. A moment recorded and heavily photographed by Leon’s parents and Noel’s parents who were secretly watching them.

The End

My Obsession

My Obsession

Aiden begins to wake up from his haze with a heavy head. He can hardly remember what happened that got him here. The only thing he remembers is that he was with his tutor, Ms. Nora. He’s sitting on a bed in a basement with his hands cuffed. The chain of the cuffs is stuck between a pipe and a wall that he is unable to break at the moment. He can see a small window above him, and he can see that’s it’s nighttime, which implies to him that he’s been knocked out for a while.

As soon as he considers calling out for help, he hears the basement door opening and someone coming down the stairs. It’s Ms. Nora who is carrying a bowl of chocolate ice cream with her. Aiden is relieved to see her until he starts to realize immediately that she’s the one who brought him here. She’s always had this cold and attractive look to her that would sometimes scare him.

Ms. Nora sits on the bed close to Aiden and says, “I’m glad you’re awake. I could only play with you while you were unconscious for so long. I was tempted to slap you awake but thought it would be a bad way to start our relationship. You’re probably confused about all this. The truth is that from the first time I met you, I fell in love. No one could catch my attention the way you do and now, I want to make you mine. Your parents think that I took you out on a little three-day trip, so we have a lot of time to spend together.”

Aiden can only stare in fear at Ms. Nora’s cold smile in silence as he can hardly find the words to say anything.

“I got you your favorite ice cream to ease things up a bit, but I added an extra flavor to it that I’m sure you’ll enjoy. I licked all of it. Of course, with all my saliva that you’ll be taking, I expect an equal amount from you in return after you eat.”

Shocked by what is happening to him, Aiden tries to break free from his restraints as Ms. Nora begins to feed him the ice cream with a spoon.

“Come on now, this’ll be easier if you let it happen. I know by the way that you always look at me that you’ve had a crush on me. Now’s your opportunity to claim me and I claim you.”

Ms. Nora pushes the spoonful of ice cream in Aiden’s mouth as moves his head away from it.

“Make this easy for me. Please?”

Giving in to the pressure, Aiden slowly begins to eat the ice cream only to recoil in disgust at the thought of eating ice cream that she already licked.

“If that’s how it’s going to be, then you better open wide.”

Ms. Nora puts some ice cream in her mouth and tries to feed Aiden mouth to mouth. He tries to kick her away, but she lays down on him and grips his head to prevent him from resisting. With her mouth to his, she forces his mouth open with hers as she puts ice cream in his. Aiden can only resist so much as ice cream makes its way into his mouth. He’s unable to spit it out or resist because of how forceful Ms. Nora is. This happens several times until an alarm downstairs lets Ms. Nora know that the doorbell has rung. She spits out whatever ice cream she had in her mouth onto the mouth of Aiden.

“Enjoy that while I’m gone. Please, try not to resist anymore. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Aiden waits until Ms. Nora is out of the basement to find a way out. He tries to break the pipe behind him with force to no result. When he looks further up, he sees that there’s a little space between the pipe that’s cut off. Aiden stands up and puts the chain of his cuffs through the space and frees himself from the restraint. Looking around the room for an exit that won’t make him cross paths with Ms. Nora, he tries to go for the small windows only to find that they’re bolted shut and won’t open.

Before he can figure out a way to break the window, Aiden hears Ms. Nora coming back down. He scrambles for a place to hide and manages to fit in a dark place beneath the stairs. Watching as she comes down with a package, Aiden tries to hold his breath and hide as deep behind the stairs as he can. Ms. Nora quietly looks around the room after putting the package down. She then forcefully throws over the chairs and tables in the room where he could’ve possibly have hidden under. After not finding anything, she moves to get a box cutter to open the package.

While she’s preoccupied, Aiden quietly gets out from beneath the stairs and walks up the stairs and out of the basement then slowly shuts the door behind him. He continues his way to the front door until a crack in the floor scares him. Turning around, he sees Ms. Nora behind him with a collar that looks like it’s meant for a dog.

“You didn’t think you could escape, did you? I knew you were underneath the steps.”

Not wanting to wait for Ms. Nora to catch him, Aiden runs out of the house and into the dark streets with Ms. Nora running after him. He wants to scream out for help, but the sickness in his stomach from ingesting the ice cream is preventing him. Aiden continues to try to get any noise out from his mouth while running for the nearest house with its lights on, which is a block away. Even though he runs as fast as he can, Ms. Nora catches up to him and puts a piece of duct tape over his mouth then carries him back to her house as he kicks and tries to get out of her grips.

Once they’re back home, Ms. Nora repeating smacks Aiden’s butt while biting his neck. Aiden tries even harder to free himself, but the pain is stopping him, so he instead endures it while trying not to cry.

“The truth is that I wanted you to escape, so I would have an excuse to do this to you. You might not like it now, but after some time, you’ll grow to love it.”

Ms. Nora rips off the duct tape from Aiden’s mouth and smiles.

“I love that crying, sad of yours. If I could, I would eat it up. What I like more is your smile. Smile for me, please?”

The pain and sadness Aiden feels make him feel unable to do anything until Ms. Nora smacks him again.

“Smile!”

Her forceful hit makes Aiden push himself to put on a smile.

“That’s better. That smile has always made my days better. It’s worth more to me than the paycheck that your parents give me. I have lots of photos of that smile in my room. Now you know why I always wanted to take a picture of you every time you smiled. I want to see that smile for all eternity.”

Ms. Nora carries Aiden upstairs to her room and puts the collar around Aiden’s neck and ties him to the bedpost.

“You can’t escape now. Just relax and accept my love. Resist and I’ll be forced to hurt you. You're my only infatuation. My purpose, my possession. Live and die with me in my obsession.”

The situation gets worse for Aiden as Ms. Nora tries to kiss him while she squeezes him with her on top of him. Every time he resists, he gets hurt. Aiden keeps trying to resist with whatever strength he has until he passes out. He wakes up later only to find himself wearing a girly dress and makeup.

“It’s about time you woke up. I dressed you up in a way that makes you look even cuter than you already were. Even though it’s nice to play with you while you’re unconscious, I like it even more when you struggle. Tell me, do you think that I’m a lunatic? I go crazy for just a word. For just a touch from you.”

While Ms. Nora goes back to kissing Aiden, he gets the idea to undo the collar around his neck. He manages to take it off and put it around her neck and strangles her with it. When this doesn’t work, he tries to kick and punch her off him.

“Do you think that this bothers me? I love it!”

Ms. Nora only gets more intense with her grip and kissing until Aiden manages to slip out of her grips and runs out of the room and the house.

“You won’t stay away from me for long! I’ll find you again and you’ll be mines forever, my love!”

Finally feeling able to scream, he screams for help while running to the nearest house that’s just turned on its lights. He runs to the house and bangs on the door while continuing to scream. The family that owns the house opens the door and is shocked by the wreck of a boy that they see. Aiden begs them to let him inside and they allow him.

They calm him down then question him on what happened. After he explains his situation, they call the cops to question Ms. Nora; however, when the cops get to her house, they don’t find anyone home. Because of what happened, Aiden periodically visits a priest and psychologist for help. The situation has affected his dreams that feel real to the point where he’s convinced that Ms. Nora comes for him in his room. Because there’s no evidence for this, Aiden is only given medication and more visits to the priest and psychologist.

One day, he receives an anonymous letter in the mail. The letter is signed by Ms. Nora and says, “For my future husband. I enjoy our nights together”. Inside the letter is a wedding ring with Aiden’s and Nora’s name with it. Aiden throws the ring away into his backyard and doesn’t tell anyone about the note. During the next day, he thinks that he could sell the ring for money, but when he goes outside to search for it, he doesn’t find it.

After a while, Aiden begins to lose his fear of Ms. Nora. During a day when Aiden’s parents are at work, he hears the doorbell ring. Thinking that it’s one of the things that he ordered, he runs to the door and opens it only for his hand to be taken and the ring that he threw away put on his finger.

“Now, we’re finally married.”

Aiden looks at the woman in front of him and sees that it’s Ms. Nora. She’s wearing the same clothes that she usually wears when she taught Aiden, but now her belly is bigger, which implies that she’s pregnant. Noticing that Aiden is looking at her belly, she puts his hand on her belly.

“She’s yours. We’re going to be a family.”

Ms. Nora slowly pushes Aiden into his house as he backs up.

“Run away with me and I can make you happy for the rest of our days, my love.”

Aiden quickly takes a small pistol that he put in his pants and shoots Ms. Nora’s leg. She falls down in pain and holds the place where he shot her at. She then holds her hands up to Aiden with tears in her face and fear in her heart as he points his gun at her head.

“D-don’t kill me, p-p-please!”

Aiden smiles and says, “My purpose, my possession. Live and die in my obsession.”

The End

150th book content cont.

Some Behind the Story details for stories in my 150th book.

• My Obsession - This takes a disturbing aspect of my stories with an older woman forcing a boy to love her in the most uncomfortable ways possible ending in an equally disturbing way. The cover style is trying to look like something you would normally see drawn and doesn't lend itself to my drawing strengths.
• So I Thought - Taking the sweeter aspects of my stories, this normal story about a boy and girl falling in love with one another shows true love contrasted to false. This also shows how I can brighten things up after making them dark. The cover is a simpler style that I'm better at doing.
• My Purpose Realized - Any person no matter how sinful they were can become a saint. This cover's design is inspired by album covers by Christian metal band known as Demon Hunter.
• Counter-Revolution - The world is not your friend especially not when you take a good look at it. Just like Freedom at What Cost, this story has worldly problems, politics, and reminders that God is the one who you should truly be focusing on. The cover is inspired by the tribal tattoo designs I used to draw all the time.
• The Darkest Part of Me - Inspired by the band, Red, this story goes back to the psychological horror stories I told and would fit in my Choice and Consequence series, which is my biggest one. The cover tries to take advantage of the ugliness that my work can sometimes have.
• Memory Vision - I have lots of stories that are inspired by dreams that stick with me. In this one, I feared forgetting about God and how to correctly serve Him only to get the condition in this story. I tried to do something different with this cover with the multiple views of the main character in reality and from his viewpoint.
• Choice and Consequence: Love and Fury - Speaking about Choice and Consequence stories from The Darkest Part of Me, this one comes in as an extra. I cut a lot of stories if I think I don't have enough for them and this was no different. It still doesn't have a lot, but this story brings us back to the characters from the first book I published to show how far I've come since then.
• Villains are People too - This is a prologue for an upcoming story I had in mind. At first, I was going to make this story similar to Adventures Into the Forbidden in that it would be a series of tragedies of bad people trying to be good only to fall to their sinful behaviors with few surviving. I think a story about a good man falling to evil only to be redeemed when his friends fall to evil is a better story to tell.

Here are all eight covers if you haven't seen them in my cover gallery or on my social media accounts.

150th book content

Can you believe that I've almost written and published 150 books? I'm already working on the covers for the stories in my 150th book so be sure to check back here for them when they're written. Also, be sure to check out the cover gallery on here and my postings on my social media accounts for the covers. So far, these are my ideas for the stories.
*this post may change if I change my mind, add anything, or take away anything from the stories

• My Obsession - an older woman kidnaps a boy and tries her best to force him to love her the same way she loves him.
• So I Thought - two childhood friends who do nothing but bother each other most of the time secretly love each other and have been sending anonymous love letters to one another.
• My Purpose Realized - a sinful man finally comes to know God after realizing the consequences of his actions.
• Counter-Revolution - living in a corrupt world makes a young boy sing his song against it in the hopes of changing it.
• The Darkest Part of Me - a friend introduces their secrets to another in the hopes of getting help only for their friend attempting to run away from them as their secrets manifest into monsters.
• Memory Vision - after suffering a serious accident, a boy can only see, hear, and live through visions of the past while he still lives in the present while the voices of the people around him can hardly be heard. *based off a dream I had
• Choice and Consequence: Love and Fury - a cut Choice and Consequence story that tells the tale of Nick and Morgan together after they got married.
• Villains are People too - the prologue for an upcoming story I have in mind, but don't exactly have all the pieces for yet. The main character of the story would be the villain of another and is evil for the most part until the actions of the heroes turn the tables. The villain becomes the hero and the heroes become the villains.

Download my latest short story for free!

Download on Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1030691

Happiness is truth. Happiness is good. Happiness is life.

This is what Allegro and many others are told over and over again. They are forced to feel and be happy or be severely punished. Allegro decides to venture into the darkness where he isn't allowed to go to find out the truth and ends up finding more than he expects.

Will what he finds be worth it or is happiness all there is to life?

Happiness is Life: Chapter 3 – Happiness or Truth

Chapter 3 – Happiness or Truth

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to moving through these vents. The people that go back and forth through them must be incredibly brave especially with the surveillance slaves patrolling them. Maybe I’ll get eventually get used to avoiding them. I wonder if there’s even a way to free them. Gioioso and his friends are probably trying to find one if there exists a way to do so.

Speaking about them, where are they? I haven’t heard anything crawling around in the vents and I’m far in. In fact, I’m not that far from an exit. I’m not complaining that I’m not finding trouble. It’s just that…I think I spoke too soon. Wait a second. It’s doing something near a vent. I know that smell. Is that thing pumping happy gas into the vents? I wonder why. It’s not paying attention to me.

I see more of the surveillance slaves doing this to the other vents. What is going on? The only possible thing that they could be doing this for is because of the celebration. Maybe they want more people excited about it by forcing them to feel good. If they do that, then more people would like it and be more devoted to their false values. I have to hurry to the surface to see if this is happening to my family.

As I get up to the surface, I see that I’m in an alley with lights in it. It’s a good sign which means that the light bringers won’t be around here. I’ve got to move fast-! Huh? I got knocked out by something. Where am I? I’m locked to a wall. Who is that masked person in the dark?

“You are charged with; going into the darkness, emerging from it, being without your mask in public, not having a smile on your face, and having emotions that don’t correspond with being happy. For that, you will be made an example of during the celebration,” the person at the desk says before I’m knocked out by a gas.

When I open my eyes, I see that I’m in some kind of parade float. Oh no. I’m going to be one of the examples shown off today. The float opens and something pushes me from behind. It smells like there’s happy gas in the air. From what I’m seeing, it appears to be true because I’ve never seen people this happy and excited about the celebration.

“Before you all, is a disgruntled citizen who has broken many of our laws,” a voice says from the flying smiling face in the sky, “Allegro used to be a student with marvelous grades and no offenses. How the mighty have fallen. We would embarrass him for you just like any normal criminal, but because of his good behavior, we will offer him a second chance. Breath in the good air and dance with us, Allegro!”

The crowd is cheering for me to dance. Is that my parents in the crowd? Are those my friends? I wish this embarrassment would end. Dancing could help-no! I’m not going to do what they want.

“Dance for us!” they say again.

“No, I won’t be made a fool!” I say.

“Dance,” I hear a deep and dark voice say. The music stops along with the parade as the celebration quiets down. “Dance or else.”

“No, I won’t.”

“…so be it. Clear the way.”

A bunch of broken glass comes out from the bottom of the float and part of the float forces me onto it.

“Let’s watch justice take place as this poor sinner does penance for his sins with his blood by walking across this broken glass! Of course, he could always laugh and dance on the float if he truly wants to repent,” a cheery voice says.

I’ve got to be careful especially since they took away my shoes. Above all, I have to trust the Lord. As I walk across the glass, I notice that it doesn’t cut me. Even the sharper shards do nothing to my feet. Once I reach the end, I can hear the crowd’s amazement at how I could do this without getting hurt.

“That-that was just a fluke! He got lucky. How about this!”

Smoke grenades are thrown at me. They have happy gas in them! This amount could kill me! I must really be getting on their nerves for them to resort to this. Please, Lord, guide me through this. Huh? Wait. Is this gas defective or something? It smells like happy gas, but I’m barely feeling anything. Oh, it is working, but not on me. The people around me keep laughing and laughing until they fall down and die from it. More people begin talking as they start to move away from the parade.

“We’re sorry for the casualties in our pursuit to put this devil to justice. Do not fear because the sacrifice of the faithful has not been lost on the God of Light. Look to the skies! Here he comes!”

The skies open and a large man about the size of a building descends from it. He has a smile on his face, a smile for a halo, smiling faces on his wings, and a cloak of smiles. I remember that the so-called god of light usually comes down every five years or during special events to show off and make people believe in him.

“Son, why are you rebelling against happiness? Against all that is good? Do you not see that what you’re against are truth and beauty?” the god says.

“I see clearly now. I see that you’re a false god and the tricks you do are nothing but bread and circuses to make us believe your lies!”

“Blasphemer! You shall burn for your transgressions!”

Woah! The smiling face behind me spews fire on me. Huh? It just feels hot but I’m not burning. What is going on? The god of light is the one who is burning instead. He burns to ashes as the flames continue to fall on me. Once he’s gone, the flames stop trying to burn me and everyone around me is shocked by what happened.

“Demon!” they yell out.

“Devil!”

“God is dead!”

The crowd disperses including the police and people in the parade. I guess faith killed the false god. Since I don’t know where to go, I go back to Gioioso who saw what happened on TV along with everyone else in the underground city. We celebrate today, but this isn’t over. The authorities will probably construct another god to fight against us. They won’t go down until the bitter end, which won’t be a problem for us.

Thank you, Lord, for using me as Your instrument of change. Because of You, dozens of people are coming to You after You destroyed their false faith. Please, continue to use me as You see fit because serving You is my life’s purpose. In You, I have found true happiness.

The End

Happiness is Life: Chapter 2 – Light in the Darkness

Chapter 2 – Light in the Darkness

My eyes are getting a little used to the darkness because of how long I’ve been in it. The Church of Light teaches that if this happens then the darkness is infiltrating our heads and will take over our heads to make us do horrible things. I highly doubt the church’s teachings now because of Gioioso and my experience of being in the dark so far. Despite being lost and alone in these abandoned dark sewers, I’m doing fine, and nothing has hurt me. Oh! A ladder! Finally, found a way out.

Huh? This ladder leads to a vent. I see little bits of light coming out of grates. I can see into people’s houses from the grates. The light hurts my eyes a bit from being in the darkness for so long, but I can still see what’s going on. What would be the use of these vents? Is this one of the ways the authorities know if we’re happy or not? I can hear someone else in the vents with me. It could be a spy for the authorities so I quickly crawl to around the corner and peek my head out to see who it could be. Hopefully, it’s Gioioso.

I can hear them crawling this way, but I can’t see far into the darkness. I’ll have to wait until they pass by the bits of light coming through the grates to see. When they do pass by the light, I can see that it’s definitely not Gioioso. What the heck is it? It looks like a deformed person with smiles and eyes all over their body.

“I see you,” it says.

That’s my cue to get out of here! I crawl as fast as I can without looking back. These vents are a maze that’s confusing to get around. I’m surprised the people in the houses don’t hear me rustling around in the vents, but then again, I didn’t notice anything when I was on the other side. In the darkness, I can see and hear more noises coming my way. There must be more of these things in here. If there’s a way in for these things to come in, then there has to be a way out. The only difficult thing about it is finding it. This place is so confusing that I’m not sure if I’ll ever-is that Gioioso?

“This way, Allegro!” he says.

It is him! I follow him to a vent that we slide down. It’s a long slide down that drops us off in what looks to be a messy house. This house is lit by dim lights that I can better see Gioioso’s appearance. He really does have a band of thorns around his head that appear to dig into his eyes. His smile is wide and stuck in place like the adults with wrinkles in his face due to his smile. Gioioso wears a cloak that seems to be hiding scars and more wrinkled skin that suggest something painful must’ve happened to him.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you faster, Allegro. I didn’t expect there to be so many of those surveillance slaves in the vents today, but I should’ve expected it because of the upcoming parade. Again, I apologize.”

“I understand. Where are we?”

“The lower city. A place that you haven’t heard about or seen until now.”

Gioioso opens the door and beyond it, I see a massive city with houses hanging by support beams. Below the houses is a large drop into a large body of water with ships floating on it. Even though people are smiling here, their smiles look natural and they have varied expressions on their faces. This is all so refreshing to see despite its poor appearance.

“Wow. This was underneath the city this entire time?” I ask.

“Yes. We’ve managed to stay safe as long as we give the city above a share of the resources we get.”

“The authorities know about this city?”

“They do and charge a hefty price so we can keep our freedom. As you can see, we can barely keep the lights on, and our houses are made of scrap. There’s also a rule that if we’re discovered outside of here then that person has to be handed over for punishment for the others to keep their freedom.”

“Has that happened recently?”

“Not so, but it’s bound to happen. The authorities want more slaves in their prisons to mine resources for them. Some of the unfortunate ones become the surveillance slaves you saw in the vents. You didn’t know it, but this is where most of the city’s riches come from. The water, building materials, fish, and so on.”

“We were taught that these resources came from far away farms and mining sites. I guess that was only half true.”

“Take off your mask. You don’t need it anymore.”

“Oh, that’s right. I’m so used to having it on.”

Once I take the mask off, I realize how used to it I was when I had it on since the only time we’re allowed to take it off is at bedtime.

“How does it feel?”

“It feels so freeing being without it.”

“You ready to experience more?”

“Yes, please!” Gioioso leads me through the hanging city across bridges and elevators. Along the way, I see more of the hard workers and people that I didn’t expect to be so happy working in these conditions. “How do people enjoy being here? No offense. It looks difficult to get by with so little.”

“They are fulfilling the role they were made for by the Lord. Money and safety are nothing compared to doing what’s built in your nature.”

“I see. So, that’s why they don’t mind the discomfort of it.”

“You’re getting it.”

“I’m starting to see the truth you’ve been talking about. Despite their freedoms, do you think some of these people wish they could be back on the surface?”

“Yes. Many try to convert the people on the top to come down here or try to make changes there through the system that's in place.”

“Ha. There’s a fat chance of that happening.”

“But they still try. Wouldn’t you want to help others see the truth?”

“I guess.”

“What about your parents or any of your friends?”

“Hmmm. I don’t know if I ever want to go back up after knowing the truth of how the city operates.”

“You’re going to leave those you love ignorant and worried about you?”

“Are you trying to guilt me into going back up after convincing me to come down here?”

“That depends if you’re called by the Lord to go back. I’m just mentioning some things that you should be thinking about. I can’t force you to make a decision. It’s your call.”

It’s my call, huh? I really don’t want to go back up. At the same time, I don’t feel that it’s right to keep the people I know above in the dark about this. Hmm. This thought keeps circulating in my head even though I don’t want to think about it now. Gioioso takes me to what looks to be a makeshift church. It has images and statues crudely made with metal, but appear to be made with love nonetheless. In this church are other people that look like him that went through similar tribulations that he did and some normal-looking people. They look at us as we enter with friendly looks on their faces.

“Friends, I’d like to introduce you to Allegro,” Gioioso says to them.

They all say hi to me and introduce themselves. What surprises me about them is that not all their names mean joy, happiness, smile, light, or a variant of any of them. Usually, people are named one of these things to further emphasize happiness and light. They then talk to me about the truth and the Lord. Everything then begins to make sense to me. The truth about light, darkness, truth, happiness, and love. It all originates from the Lord who is truth and love.

My understanding of God gives me a basic idea that the others use to help expand my comprehension. Since God is truth and love itself, He is who I’ve been after this whole time. The authorities that focused on feelings of happiness and financial stability are short-sighted. Feeling happy and having a comfortable amount of wealth is secondary to living out the role you are made for. Living for love is life’s true goal. Not happiness. Even though people suffer and die for this, it’s worth it because of their love of God and everyone who they try to help.

“Is there anything else you would like to know?” Gioioso says after our long conversation.

“Yeah. How can you see with that band around your head? Doesn’t it bother you?”

“It’s a sort of visor that I can see through. I keep it on as a reminder of my past and as a form of penance for my sins and the sins of others.”

“I see.”

“Now that you know the fundamentals of the truth, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to help you.”

“How?”

“I’ll work down here. Whatever job you need to be done, I’ll do it if you give me the right training.”

“Is that what your heart is telling you to do?”

“Yes.”

“What about the people you love on the surface?”

“I think we can convert them with the right time and ideas.”

“Are you going to be the one to do that?”

“In time, I will.”

“What about right now? You know that people only have so long to live and every sin cuts time off.”

“Well…what do you think I should do?”

“That’s a question you have to answer.”

“I think I should go up to them and try to convince them as soon as possible, but that sounds like a rash idea.”

“If that’s what you’re called to do, then you should do it. It hasn’t been that long since you were last on the surface. If you hurry now, you can rush back home and tell them you were with a friend. You wouldn’t be lying to them.”

“What if I get caught?”

“Then trust in the Lord. You trusted Him to get you this far and He hasn’t let you down.”

“Okay…okay. I’ll do it.”

The people in the church cheer for my decision and praise me for making it. Before I leave, I receive absolution for my sins. Gioioso leads me out of the underground city and to a vent.

“Is this really the only way out?” I ask.

“Yes. I did tell you the authorities want more slaves.”

“That’s encouraging.”

“Just remember what you’re supposed to do.”

“Be careful and trust in the Lord.”

“You got it. Here’s a map to find your way around. There are markings in certain parts of the vents to help you know where you are. I’ll be praying for your safety.”

“Thank you for everything.”

“It was my pleasure. Hopefully, we’ll see each other again soon for a celebration.”

“I hope that’s the case.”

I climb up the ladder into the vents and begin my way back home. Here’s hoping that this doesn’t go badly, but I have a bad feeling about it for some reason.