Silver and Cold

I: Dr. William Stonem

Chapter One: Ghost with a Lovely Face:

I don’t understand what it is while life today. Everyone is too wrapped up into themselves. They are all consumed with greed. It’s always about what can I get for myself? They live so foolishly until the very Day of Judgment. Then, they pray to their God to redeem them for their sins. There is no God. Humans just created him as a way to banish their own guilt. Where is God when the innocent ones are murdered for no reason or for a stupid reason? Where is God when awful things happen to good hard-working people? Nobody can answer that. I don’t understand my species anymore. I don’t even understand why I keep saving lives in my profession. They are just going to keep leading a path of destruction and die in the end. I just don’t understand it anymore. I used to. But now that I have become disillusioned with time, it all saddens me. Are we really doomed to live in this society of personal greed and self-obsession? It terrifies me to think about it. I try not to, but the truth stares me down right in the face. It disgusts me.

I don’t know. I used to believe in angels and God. I was a simple doctor in England. I took pride in my work. Let me tell you now, I was the best in the country. The council constantly smiled down upon me. I blindly followed every order that they gave me. Ha, the council! They are all a bunch of hypocrites! They pretend to care about their people in exchange for them to sell their souls to them. But in the end, the people are just little pawns to them to be used and thrown away. People are expendable to them. We couldn’t see it at all. Why? They manipulated us into believing everything was going to be okay. I would have happily given mine to them. I lived on contently in London playing by the rules. That’s until I met her…

Elizabeth Campbell. Such a beautiful woman. She was proof that angels do exist. Elizabeth had golden red hair like the sun. Soft brown eyes. Her laugh always brought a summer day. She had the heart of pure gold. We met on her first appointment with me. Elizabeth had always been a sickly woman. It was what you would call love at first sight for me. I chased her like a gentleman. Elizabeth resisted at first, but I won her over in the end. We became lovers and had an affair for many years. Even after she got married, Elizabeth and I still continued to see each other. We were that much in love. In our years together, she opened my eyes to the truth. She told me that there was no God and the council was just a group or powerful liars that used their people like animals to the slaughter. At first, I just went along with because I loved her. Over time, I saw the truth for myself. But, I kept my findings to myself. I still needed the money to survive and live.

The council disapproved of our relationship. They thought Elizabeth was a dangerous woman. They couldn’t touch her because of her rich background. Her family had so much power that they pulled the strings with the weak council. So they decided to take their wrath out on me. As a result, I ended up banished to Scotland. I was forbidden to ever practice medicine in London without consent of the council themselves. I could never talk or see my beloved ever again either. I expected that to be the end of her and me. But, Elizabeth still came to see me. I didn’t care what happened to me. With my darling by my side, I would be happy. We saw each other until her death sixteen years ago. With her died all of my hopes and beliefs in a better life. I just became a bitter and cynical man.

Sixteen years later, I now work as doctor in Tokyo. I work with children in fact. I don’t know why. I guess that’s all I know how to do. But what’s the point? Those poor souls are going to be corrupt and die one day anyway. I finished up with my last patient for the day. My night went on as it usually went. I left the hospital I work at after my shift ended, went out to pick up dinner, and headed home. As I took the subway home, something caught my eye. A boy and girl sat on the seat across from where I stood. My eyes focused closely on the girl. I thought I saw… Elizabeth sitting before me. It seemed that my darling Elizabeth had come back to life and came to Japan to find me once more. Only… she looked much younger. I squinted closely for another look. I realized this girl wasn’t Elizabeth at all. But who was she? I just had to find out. When the subway pulled to a stop, I followed both the boy and girl off at their stop. Here began my quest to regain Elizabeth and set her free once more.