Novel

Paradise of Fools

Chapter 1

                    Its 7 in the morning, with 40 hours of little to no sleep, I’m feeling the sting of fatigue already but just 8% more and my contract will finally be done. Need to take a break. One cup of milk with honey will do the trick. Full time work and nights without sleep is just all in a days work for someone in the inner workings of society. I’m a shadow that makes the life of “normal” people possible. Information here is everything - names, addresses, transactions, even the smallest of activities can cost somebody’s life here. One’s own true identity is last thing to be shown to anyone. It’s not as bad as it sounds, plus this is something good to kill time. Feeling alive is the feeling that I sought the most; though sometimes even at these risks I still fell somewhat unsatisfied. Boredom is one of my greatest enemies. Double checking the calculations of flight trajectories of NASA’s latest and somewhat expensive toys, screwing a certain leader’s plans for world terrorization and domination and even predicting upcoming natural disasters are just a piece of cake with the use of my own toys. I possess skills  that normal people can only dream of and these leaders and big shots always need my assistance in almost everything they do. If helping the advance of society and preventing its downfall plus being paid with a minimum of 8 digits won’t make me occupied then what else? Am I hero? No, never. I hate people. I don’t do any of these for the people or for anyone. I’m simply doing this for my self, test of skills of some sort. I’ve spent countless days of my life here in this room. A big box with all the things in the world that I want and all I’ll ever need. Normal people might call this a cave or a prison cell, but this is my safe haven, a place where I can work without a care of someone stabbing me from behind or shooting me in the head. My life is always on the line as white hacker but somehow I still feel bored, I still want to do something better. I still want more. I want freedom, freedom from this so called system that the society dearly holds so. It’s an invisible bind that shackles me from doing everything that I want.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kid: “Hey Eagle, it’s done.”

Eagle: “Well done Kid. The payment’s    being sent to the usual accounts.”

Eagle left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Sleep at last.”  I leaned back and closed my eyes. But right when I almost fell asleep a beep came out of nowhere. Astounded, I rose to see it, for it must be another request from another one of my normal requesters in desperate need of something. However, it is a new person that is connected, named “GOD”.  

This is interesting. No one should be able to connect to me unless I let him.

He’s able to bypass my encryption, this bastards definitely a top tier hacker of sorts.

GOD connected.

GOD:  “Hello there, Kid”.

Kid: “Do you need something?”

GOD: “I don’t need anything from you. But I know that you need me Kid.”

(That does it. “Who the hell is this guy?”)

Kid: “You think you’re better than me? Who the hell are you?”

GOD: “I’m the one you call GOD, who are you Kid, or should I say N. Andrew?”

(This shit is no joke.)

Kid: “Too bad I don’t believe in God. You’re the one that should call your God cause I will find you and kill you!”

(“Let’s see whose better you bastard.” My hands are shaking as I typed these words for it’s the first time that somebody found out who I truly am.)  GOD: “You can find me but you can’t kill me.  I’m only here to grant you your request. Your ‘everything’.”

I’ve been hearing a ringing sound inside my head ever since this conversation started, it grows even loader as every second goes by and I can’t endure it anymore. I lie down and effortlessly fell into a deep slumber.

~

I was startled by the sound of a stone door closing from behind. I opened my eyes only to be amazed by the darkness of this “room” yet I can see myself and things from a distance. I seriously thought that this ‘room’ has no walls or boundaries, and as I look back, I saw a giant door about 40ft in length and 20ft wide with an unknown language written on it. I was tremendously intrigued by it and as I walk closer to it a deep echoing voice called to me. “Everything, is it?”

I was even more shocked at this white image of a person in front of me. I can only tell myself this ~ “This is crazy”. I don’t know what kind of matter this ‘person’ in front of me is made of and also he’s capable of. “Who are you?” I asked with calm and steady voice.

“I am everything. I am what you seek and I will give it to you”

“What, what are yo- wh-?”

Pain.

Pain is also one of my greatest enemies. I always chose to avoid unnecessary pain my entire life and always chose not to be hurt for this is one of the feeling I hate the most. Whether its physical or emotional I hate it.

I am being torn apart. It’s as if I’m slowly eroding away, particle by particle, its even more horrifying that I can see the skin, blood and bones slowly erode away before I completely lost consciousness.

I suddenly woke up, sweating cold sweat as I try to recall what I dreamed about. I momentarily looked at the clock and its 6pm already. “That was a nice sleep but quite a disturbing dream.”  No use in further looking into it, it’s just a dream.

Dinner is even more important. A salmon rarebit with a bottle of ice cold beer will erase this uneasiness of mine in an instant. With just 10 minutes of preparation I comfortably sat on my couch and turned on the television. Consecutively digging in my artful creation, I stumbled upon the news. I check it once in a while to see the changes in the society; sometimes it’s full of chaos and disarray, sometimes it not even worth checking upon.

“There have been reports of people suddenly disappearing around the world in the last 48 hours. The number of reports is still climbing every hour. It is estimated that the count was at least 6,000 people. The reports are still flooding in at the moment.”

“The Interpol is on the case already to capture the culprits. There are leads that……..”

“This is quite unusual; maybe they’re being kidnapped by an international terrorist organization for ransom or weapons. What an unlucky bunch of people.”

“Hmm, better check my accounts if the payment for the last contract has been a....gahh”

I felt it again; the sharp sting of pain in my head followed by a ringing sound that grows louder and louder and I’ve been sweating so badly that it’s as if I was liquefying.  I struggled to keep my balance by holding on the couch’s arm rest but still fell sideways on the floor. I didn’t have the strength to move anymore and even become more terrified as blood gushes out of my nose like water from a faucet. Red is all I can see as my sight is blurred by the blood.

“No.”

The only word I can mutter with my dying breath. 

~

I felt a gentle wind brush my face with its gentle hands and smelt its soft scent. I wasn’t dead. I have never felt happier in my life till now.

“Where am I, this isn’t my home.”  After a brief pause of wonder, I was led to consider that this place is a tropical forest, the trees have straight trunks and don’t branch out long enough, the majority of trees have smooth, thin bark. And this forest has lush green vegetation with no shortages of evergreens.

“How the hell did I end up here? I was in my room and…”

“Shit. I don’t want to remember that anymore.”

There are voices of people in the distance and people means the chances of knowing what and where this place is.

I hurriedly walked towards the voices and not long enough I saw a corpse of a heavily mutilated and naked body of a young woman. Forcibly stopping my self from puking the last food that I ate, I horridly stood back and ran as fast as I can as soon as the voices became louder and closer.
”This is bad, real bad.”

I saw a cleared area in a distance and rushed there hastily, only to meet a huge crowd of people about a hundred from all walks of life and all ages here, in this patch of shore doing a lot of things such as gathering fruits and wood for building a makeshift boat.

“Hah..ha..haha. *gasp, What the hell is this place?”

Suddenly a neatly dressed man with black long hair came next to me and gave me a handful of fruits.

He said with a smile. “Welcome.”