Short Story #2

Hey everyone! I’m back with my next short story! I can’t really call this one a “Christmas” story in the truest sense of the term, as it’s definitely nothing like the usual happy and cozy Christmas stories everyone’s used to. It’s more of a story with sacrifice, giving, and Christmas tied into it. Basically, the story is what I would call a dystopian-type “Christmas” story. Next week, I’ll have a more traditional Christmas story to share, so stay tuned!

Jesus said that the greatest love one could give is to lay down one’s life for a friend (John 15:13). That is why Jesus came as a baby on Christmas, to teach us His Word, and lay down His life for all of us, even while we were sinners (Rom 5:8). God gave us His greatest gift on Christmas, His Son Jesus, so that we might be saved.

The themes to this short story are giving, sacrificing, and not judging others. We should give thanks to God for those He has placed around us, even those who are our enemies.

I hope you all enjoy this short story! Let me know in the comments below! ~ Kay

“All I Can Give You”

“So you see,” I said to my enemy, the leader of the Nameless. “I have beaten you, and I will uncover the truth behind your actions. You couldn’t hide forever, even if you had destroyed the evidence with your base.”

My enemy, who, of course, was without a name, struggled to sit up from his injuries. “You… do not know what you are talking about. I… I gave you all I could give you. But you… you are one of us.”

I snorted. Me, Captain Dillyn Thorne, born into the family of elites, a Nameless? “I have a name; how then could I be a Nameless?”

“The name you call your own is not yours. You are not Dillyn Thorne.”

“Don’t try your tricks on me. You’re bleeding out on this floor — dying — yet you still insist on lying in your last moments!”

“Go.” My enemy’s voice was weak. “Go find the truth you so desire.”

I turned, leaving him to expire where he lay. I unlocked the door, then entered the high security room. To my surprise, only a desk, computer, and two files filled the room. I seated myself at the desk and flipped on the computer. It took me straight to the video footage of an orphanage. I tapped it on.

The room was filled with children of all ages, and it was pure chaos, everyone getting ready for Christmas. However, when a woman dressed all in gray entered, everyone fell silent. “Aunt and Uncle Thorne?” I furrowed my brow as I saw a young couple enter after the woman.

“Do you know what he looks like?” the woman asked them.

“No,” Uncle Thorne answered. “We didn’t even know he existed until we got the letter stating we were his guardians. I know nothing about him, other than the fact that he is my brother’s son.”

The woman then looked around. “Which one of you is Dillyn Thorne?”

The room remained silent.

“I asked a question!” The woman raised her voice, teetering on yelling.

A boy stood with a baby in his arms, and my eyes narrowed. He had a familiar-looking scar across his cheek. “This is Dillyn Thorne, ma’am,” he said, motioning to the baby.

I smiled as I looked at baby me, but then frowned. Why had my enemy been so desperate to return to his compromised base and risk death to destroy this? I clicked out of the video, then saw the only other item on the entire computer was yet more security footage from the same orphanage. I clicked into it.

The woman in gray was sitting in an office with three or four other adults, and one man was yelling. “How could you let this happen?! How could you give a Nameless to the Thornes in place of their nephew?! Do you know what could happen if word of this gets out?!”

“It’s not our fault! We were told the baby was Dillyn Thorne! By the time we found the portfolios on him, the Thornes had taken him and gone! Besides, no one will ever know!” the woman in gray replied.

“What about the real Dillyn Thorne?!”

“He’s the boy who claimed the baby was himself! He said something about how he wanted the baby to have a merry Christmas with a family who would love him and not treat him like trash just because of what class he was born into. Then when we came back to further question him, he was gone! We’ve looked everywhere; it’s hopeless.”

“We’ll have to keep this under wraps,” another man said calmly. “Don’t tell anyone this happened. You said the portfolios disappeared with Thorne, did you not? Well, without them, we don’t have any proof that the baby is not Dillyn Thorne. The Thornes are happy, and so is everyone else. No one needs to know.”

The recording stopped, and my gaze slowly fell to the portfolios. I… was not Dillyn Thorne? I was a Nameless, just as my enemy had said. But why would he be so desperate to destroy that evidence? Was he one of those in the room in the last recording?

I opened the two files lying in front of me on the desk. One had no name listed at top, and the image was of baby me. My location at time of the photo — the orphanage in the recording.

I opened the second one, which had the name Dillyn Thorne listed above. His picture showed the boy in the recording who had held baby me. I studied his photo, the scar on his face seeming eerily familiar. Who had a scar that I knew, other than — it hit me then. The real Dillyn had stolen these portfolios… and they were here, in my enemy’s base. The real Dillyn had a scar running down one cheek… just like my enemy. He was my enemy. He was right… the name I’d called my own was not mine… everything I’d known to be true was a lie.

He’d been willing to risk his life so that I wouldn’t find the truth about myself… so that I could live the life of luxury that was his. I had stolen his name, his identity, and now his life.

I exited the room and bent down next to the lifeless form of my enemy. “You gave up everything so that I could be loved… so that I could have a merry Christmas. I don’t have much to give you now… but what I can give you… I will. I will give you your name back… and I will take up your cause. You, the real Dillyn Thorne, fought for all people to be treated equally. I will once again follow in the shadow of your identity. That is all I can give you now…”