Humans created God to control the behavior of other humans. Setting rules, and boundaries. Because nobody wants to have things taken away from them. To be deprived of something, feels bad.
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In the halls of our orphanage, Keith and I stood, waiting in line to attend Sunday mass.
"I don't want you to help the Emily. She can do her studying by herself..." The curly haired boy murmured, upset.
Keith, the entitled one. The friend I'd spent my entire life with. We were brought to the orphanage at the same time from different parents.
"Ahaha~ You shouldn't be so selfish, Keith." I reached my hand out to pat his head, hoping to soothe his incessant worries.
He accepted it begrudgingly. "But I want you to be only my friend..."
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All crimes are centered around this concept, deprivation.
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It's not as if I'm heartless. I understand this longing as well. Perhaps because of the way we grew up, we easily became attached to a person, a stuffed toy or an activity.
"She's our friend too-" I tried to reason.
"Alvie isn't our friend! She's trying to steal you away from me!"
Keith feels bad because from his perspective, I had deprived him of something. It's true, there's only so much time in a day. Compared to the usual 23 hours I spent with him, that period of time dropped to 22 hours. By the way, the missing 24th hour is when I'm utilizing the washroom.
Having another friend, it's obvious I would spend less time and resources on him.
"T-that isn't true..." A shaky voice came from behind us, the speaker's face obscured by her own hair. Alvie, the shy new kid. She'd arrived from another orphanage.
Am I a thing that can be stolen?
"It is so!"
"I'm not trying to steal anyone's friend!"
"You are!"
"I'm not!"
"You know _ is my friend! But you're always trying to take _ away! What else is that other than stealing?!"
Judging by these two's argument, these two have accepted the premise that I am a thing that can be taken.
Theft, stealing another's belongings. On the surface, a seemingly light crime, only material objects have been taken. But take into account this. Theft deprives people of a resource as well as the time it took them to obtain said resource. And the thief is reaping the benefits without having spent an equivalent effort.
I don't think that applies here.
Would it be more like adultery? Depriving one's significant other of affection, time and resources.
But it's not like Keith and I have signed a binding contract. This is more of childish entitlement.
As their little spat grew louder, a tall boy from further back in line spoke up, annoyed.
"Pfft! _ doesn't belong to any of you! Are they a dog? What are you two even fighting over?! Ahahaha!" The unwitting instigator, eldest brother Colin.
He doesn't mean any harm. In fact, I think he was trying to help mediate the situation. Unfortunately for him, his word choice is questionable.
"_ isn't a dog! That's mean!" Alvie spoke in as a loud a voice as she could muster.
"Yeah! You take that back, Brother Colin!" Keith yelled.
They had united to take down the evil big bad, Colin. As they continued spouting nonsense, I rested and awaited the nun to call upon us.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Cease your squabbling, children."
All hundred orphans filled the halls of the church. Our impromptu group of 4 sat next to each other on the pews.
As the priest reverently lead Sunday mass, some children gossiped quietly.
Unlike them, I clasped my hands together, closed my eyes and prayed reverently. Despite having never felt a particular connection to God. Maybe some believed in him, and that is fine. Just as the law helps keep humans under control, the belief that a higher being was constantly observing forced some ne'er-do-wells to behave themselves. Because people who stand out are ostracized and treated harshly.
And so, I keep up the pretense of a God-revering child. The nuns give more food to those who prayed wholeheartedly. Whether they did this on purpose or subconsciously, I don't know.
Beside me I could hear Alvie and Keith praying as well. Eldest brother Colin perhaps feeling pressured, joined in. He could read the mood.
That's another reason why I refer to him as Brother Colin. He was one of the only older orphans who takes care of his juniors without taking advantage of them. A respectable person, albeit foul-mouthed. The only one with that trait whom I would talk to. Although I still don't like to be seen in contact with him. The people who you keep company with are important to build up your social image. The adults don't like it when I associate with the more vulgar orphans. So, I've learned to keep my distance.
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After mass, Brother Colin split off from us. The three of us were in our bedroom, lazing around on our shared bed.
"You two were very serious during sermon today. Was there anything you were praying for?" I didn't ask out of curiosity. I just wanted to brighten the atmosphere of our group.
"I was copying you..." Keith answered, his lips pursed, his telltale sign for lying.
"Uh... no reason..." Alvie replied, looking at the ground.
There definitely was. But I'm not going to press them if they're uncomfortable.
After an uncomfortable silence, and perhaps a slight guilt from lying, Keith spoke up. "Well... actually, Brother Colin is leaving the orphanage soon; he's going to a boarding school across the country. I was praying that all 4 of us could be together forever."
"I'd love to stay with you forever too." I answered truthfully.
"Keith, you aren't so dumb sometimes... That's a good wish."
"Heh!" Keith smirked.
"Atchoo!" A sudden sneeze from Alvie surprised all of us.
"Alvie, you need to wear more layers. It's almost Winter."
"Mmm... I fowgot..."
With a tissue, I wiped the dribbling snot off her.
Keith pouts, mad that I was paying attention to Alvie.
"Hey umm, take a look at this." She hesitantly presented to me her book that she'd been carrying around since morning.
The cover features some beautiful illustrations of armored knights and various heroic figures.
"Is this a storybook?"
"Of course, it is!" Keith was overly emboldened after being complimented. "A big baby like Alvie would read storybooks!"
"Nuh-uh, it isn't! It's a light novel! When the mister from the library came, I asked for books where the heroes go into another world."
So, it's a glorified storybook for teenagers and young adults. I don't dislike it, but I'm not interested in non-fiction. There isn't much I could learn from it. I kept this to myself, however.
"The children in this story get brought to another by a God. Then they fight a bunch of monsters and become heroes that everybody loves!"
"That sounds wonderful..."
"It is~ I wish we could all be whisked away into another world too." She hugged her book closely to her heart.
"That's childish! There's no way God would send you to another world! Airhead Alvie!"
"That's not true!"
"Is so!"
"Is not!"
"Is so!!"
"Is not!!"
Perhaps I should mediate before this gets out of hand.
"You!!" She shook her fist at Keith, unable to find words in her anger.
"Hey, golden child. The runts are fighting again, you gotta control them."
"Brother Colin!" I happily greeted him.
"Hey rascals~!" With his huge arms, he managed to get us all in a group hug.
"Ah... I'm going to miss you guys."
"Brother Colin, do you really have to go?" I asked.
"Yeah, I do... Honestly, I wish you guys could quickly grow up and follow me to boarding school too... It's going to be so boring without you three. I'll be back as soon as I can. Promise. Until then, protect Keith and Alvie from the bullies, okay? You're the strongest after all."
I nodded.
"What do you guys got here? The pictures are sweet! Who's the author and illustrator?"
"Uhh, I don't know. I couldn't find anything..." Alvie said.
"Well, let's see. Hmm? It should be on the book spine... nope. Maybe the back cover? Maybe it's on the first page then? No, then it's the last page? Nothing..."
"Hey, Alvie, why'd you scribble our names on the book?" Keith piped up.
"Huh? But I didn't?"
"Then why're our names on the last page? Look, Keith, Colin, Alvie. All our names are there except... Hey! You left _ out! If you're going to write our names, don't forget _ too!"
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But what would happen in a world where God was proven to exist. Where an actual God set the laws of the land?
Would the laws differ from the ones set by humanity?
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On the back of the book was a summary.
'Lux is a world where wishes come true.'
If only wishes could actually come true...
Today only three of us made wishes. But all four of our names were written on the book.
A wish for us to remain together.
A wish for us to go to another world.
A wish for us to grow up.
Then I should make a final wish too.
I wish that their dreams and wishes will come true.
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Sometimes, things are not meant to be.
Of us four, Brother Colin was the first to die. Far away he went to another world, forever unable to grow up. None of our wishes will ever come true in this world.