Free The Story Begins by Modou Fye Page A

justify the misery of the world?” he’d say to that.
    Kevin never took any offense at these rants. He understood everything Jaden said and admitted that he, too, often wondered and had questions but chose not to let any of the world’s afflictions impede his faith.
    *
    DAY’S END ONE WINTRY EVENING: “Thank goodness the day’s come to an end,” Jaden said as he slid his rucksack off onto the floor and fell backwards onto the couch. It had been a long day of mostly classes after spending a couple of hours running through simulated exercises in the blistering cold and deep snow with Captain Ronan at the helm. The exercises could just as well have been held indoors in one of the buildings the university let the Cadet Command use; however, Captain Ronan’s choice of venue out in the open made it plenty obvious that his anger was still yet to subside even though it had been several weeks since Cadet Phillips’ failing.
    “Did I get any calls?” Jaden asked his roommate.
    “Not while I’ve been here. I haven’t checked for messages yet though,” garbled Kevin, who was sprawled out on the futon with his face half-buried into a pillow. “I’ve been here like this for the past hour.”
    “Long day for you as well, huh?” asked Jaden.
    “Yeah, too long.”
    Kevin planned on attending Bible Study later that evening and, though he knew better than to ask, still he did. Barely raising his head from out the pillow, he said, “Dude, later on, after dinner, I’ll be going to Bible Study. You want to come with?”
    Of course, as expected, his roommate wasn’t the least bit interested. “You serious, dude?” Jaden asked half seriously, his face askance. “Buddy, your God is just that, yours. Not mine, nor most of this world’s,” quipped Jaden while scratching his cheek.
    “Lord, I’m trying but this obstinate child just isn’t budging,” Kevin said as he floated off into dreamland.
    Jaden smiled before jabbing him and bringing him back from his drift. “Dude, your God probably doesn’t even know that you exist. The machine was turned on a long while ago and now we are simply mass produced. Let it go! Are you ready to head down to dinner?” he asked, motioning to get up.
    “Roger, that’s an affirmative, cadet. Let’s move out,” Kevin joked. “And don’t worry, o’ prodigal son, I’ll be praying for you.”
    “And I’ll be hoping for you,” countered Jaden.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Hoping that you wake up from your deep slumber where you live in the bliss of deluded dreams and expectations; and hoping that you get with the program called ‘Life! It is what it is!’ No angels here, my dear friend, just demons, more demons, and yet still even more demons. If ever your God was around, He sure isn’t now. Yep, he lost the fight to the devil a long time ago, a very long time ago. And He can’t recover.”

5
    An Unexpected Visit
    Cassandra’s room was directly above Lydia’s, both with windows overlooking the courtyard. On warm evenings, and even in the cold, they spent countless hours at the windows admiring the garden flowers and talking the night away; and though hardly ever in bed when they were expected to be, neither ever had any difficulty being up in time for school. They’d sometimes stay up even past when their parents would go to bed chatting, albeit whispering, late into the night. And on weekends it was quite normal for the pair to carry on a conversation into the wee hours of the morning.
    Though almost fourteen, both Lydia and Cassandra still loved to play with dolls and tea sets, unlike most of their peers who carried on as though mature adults who knew all about life. And when any of their friends came to visit either of them, they’d hide the toys that the other teens would have considered childish and act as teen-like as the rest of their friends. However, with each other, they were always the souls they really were.
    Today Lydia was hosting a tea party to which Cassandra