Chapter 1
Sadness. Something that accompanies many. None welcome it, yet it stays with us, like an unwanted present that you were just to make the gifter happy, or a homework assignment that is not assigned in days, but you are worried that you won't get to it in time for it to be due. This feeling is something no one likes but is a constant reminder that we are human.
What is life without a few moments of sadness in it? Life could not be called living if there was no struggle, panic, or action in it. Sadness emphasizes the actions we take, whether good or bad and makes it into something that reminds us that we only have so much time to do the things we want, like writing a book or starring in a show.
Feeling sad about not getting what you wanted for your birthday, shows that you want, which is something everybody does. Feeling sad because you failed in a task, that's something everybody feels. And with everybody feeling sadness, it is not something that makes us feel different or worse than anybody else, but rather it makes us like everybody else, whether you realize it or not.
On the other hand, that is not to say that happiness is something that no one should have. Happiness is just as important as sadness, though not as often felt, but is very often appreciated when you feel it. The opposite is said for sadness. It is often felt, but you don't appreciate it when you feel it. This is natural, but people feel that there is a divide or exception between them whenever they are happy or sad.
Having a feeling of sadness should feel comforting, knowing that others like you have this same feeling. If you feel happy, the people around you that are sad might become more unhappy. This is the repulsion of different emotions, battling each other. People say that sadness and happiness go hand in hand, but that is simply not true.
However, this is not a book about the philosophy of sadness or happiness. This is a story about a boy who saw through all of the harsh problems of life and took everything with a grain of salt. The more he looked at the emotions of people, the more he saw that everyone had one emotion in common. Sadness. Of course, there were definitely varying degrees of sadness.
Some are more superficial than others, and some are so deep that they could be confused with hatred. While everyone thought that their problems were unique to themselves, this boy knew that they were deluding themselves to the real problem. There was no difference between everyone's sadness.
Seeing through this, the boy decided he wanted to be different. To be someone that denies the common reactions to situations. Someone who does not give a damn about what people say or do. To not be affected by situations that would make people collectively feel the same way about it.
As it happens, his attitude towards life gave him some power over life itself. With a wish that has been granted to him by the time he had reached twelve, he had made up his mind that he would continue living in this world as long as possible, not having to use his wish once. No one gets anything worthwhile for free.
However, the little boy soon found out that with each life he affects, changing it permanently, he could feel the wish grow in power, able to grant even more powerful wishes. Although a big turning point, he still did not want it. He vowed to keep up his manipulations until there was nothing new that could be done to satiate his boredom with the simplistic lives of the ignorant.
The effects that the boy has on others' lives continued to grow, as did his wish potency. The manipulations the boy makes go from misinformation spreading, especially online, which had false research to back it up, though nowadays no one takes the time to fact check that research. Taking advantage of this, the possibilities extended even further.
Putting these advantages into real-life manipulations, it started from simple friendships to actual romantic relationships, which turned out to be much more fun and effective than just regular friendships. Such successful manipulations sent elation into the boy's brain, becoming an obsession. One of the biggest advantages that the boy has is his youthful age, now 14.
No one would expect a child at such a young age to be able to manipulate full-grown adults into having internal conflicts, ruining lives and potential marriages. However, the boy did not stop there. At his schools, he was able to convince the teachers that their some gang members among some of the students, planning to convert more students into the gangs until they took over the school.
Although a far-fetched idea, it was not too impossible as there was recently a filed report of murders by gangs, which were all false reports sent in by anonymous sources. These were, of course, sent by me. Posting many of these reports on social media platforms has a way of making opinions and, in this case, reports, into fact.
This is proven by the massive stereotypes of different races or cultures. Having a multitude of false reports sent out, it was not long until it became apparent in multiple news articles, journalists ate up the most interesting stories they could find. This was also very great because people wanted fame. This relates to the reports by people claiming to have been the original source, providing even more evidence that is false but can not be proven so.
This lead these 'credible sources' to post these files in the official newspapers, which made it onto the news. Of course, adults must watch the news in case something happens near them, either for entertainment or just out of boredom. there are even a select few who listen and look for safety.
After the teachers at my school heard about this, and from my reports to the administration, the suspicion grew like an infection, always growing. The only problem is that there was not enough evidence for the prosecutions to begin. This is where the hard work on the boy's part comes in. what he must do is give more information to the students, saying that there is some cool club that they can join for nick nicknacks and other superficial things.
This proved to be very effective against other 13 to 14-year-olds, as their lives were pretty uneventful, and the mention of action would get their adrenaline firing in no time. For this to start, all the boy needed to do was talk absentmindedly in the classroom or in the hallways, spreading that very information into the ears of the passersby.
This was very effective because walking and not talking make one's hearing susceptible to any type of interaction, such as new info. The boy found this out by the head-turning when someone walks by that is alone. This has happened so many times that it has been proven to be true. This way the information could not be traced back to him.
This left a chain of events that he likes to call the 'Telephone Effect'. As the name implies, it works like the familiar game Telephone, where a phrase gets spread amongst a group of people, and it always ends up different from what it was originally was. Though it was effective, it still took a hell of a long time for it to produce results.
However, with this many people, it was not hard for the word to spread to the staff and teachers. Already paranoid about the gang violence going on, the mention of a group of students gathering even more teens to join a mysterious group would have anyone believing that they were from the gang they have seen on the news, though they have no evidence to back that theory up.
'People are so simple.' The boy thought to himself. The ability to believe without evidence always confused him, but that is not what he was trying to get at here. this was his biggest project yet, and it is all going according to his plan. Seeing school getting called off, I knew that my plan went into action.
"DO you think this has anything to do with the gang violence? I wonder what would happen should there actually be students from the school in that gang. Would they close down the school entirely? Even thinking about something so tragic makes me sweat." the boy's mother said to his father, apparently not knowing that the boy could hear them all too clearly from the bottom of the stairwell.
Always smiling, his grin seemed to get even wider as his plan seemed to not only affect the people inside of school but even his own parents. After a couple of days of passing, the boy was finally able to go back to school again. This time, with noticeably more missing students, and also a couple of teachers as well.
**This is the principal speaking. We recently have gotten word over the past few days that there has been some gang activity spotted throughout the school. You may have noticed some of your classmates missing. This is due to the evidence that shows them being guilty. I am telling you all this because those who do not come forward with any knowledge about the gang will be severely punished when they are found to also be guilty. So, please, come forward with any knowledge you have of this case so we can go back to having an education-friendly environment. Thank you.**
Evidence? What evidence? The boy scoffed at the principal's ridiculous statement. This was all of his doing! Elated with the news that he had manipulated the entire school, his biggest project was now coming to a close.