Hey Dad,

I read through your diary. Or your notes. Or whatever they were.

I’m sorry. It doesn’t look like you wanted me to, yet. You wanted me to be older first. But I didn’t know what else to do…

I don’t think I understood a lot. At least not entirely. But…

I don’t know. Should I start over?

What’s the point?

A boat showed up, like you said it would. There was a body inside it. I didn’t see any injuries on them. And they didn’t look desiccated or anything, like they starved. They just stared blankly ahead, like you used to when you were focusing.

Was that you? Your notes said you could kill fish – I guess that was all the floating fish in the ocean every now and again. Could you do that to a person? Did you do that to a person? Just because they were focusing here? What if they were coming here for a reason?

Dad…

They had a book in the boat. I picked it up and I felt a shock. I panicked, I don’t know what it was. My heart raced, and I’m still a bit scared that I’m dying. But… I don’t think I am? I haven’t yet…

I skimmed through it. I’ll read it all fully later, like your notes. It read similar to it, like it was a second part or something? It mostly focused on four people, though. Like had a biography on them. It called them Saints. Is that some kind of special person or something? It felt like they were big people, or people who did big things. Does that make sense?

It did have that Joi person that you had in your notes. A lot. It called him the Shepherd, too.

It confirms most of what you said in your notes. But it went into more detail, and said that things were instead of you just thinking them.

Joi cared deeply about people, and made sure everyone had powers. Anyone with a deep-seated love for something would receive the gift of powers from him, so they could pursue their passions. Even if they didn’t know he existed – is that important? He saw it as his responsibility to keep people alive, even as everything fell apart.

So, does that mean that Joi actually was a god? Or trying to be a god? Or used forbidden magic? Is being a Saint just that, a god or proto-god or something? It doesn’t seem like he was responsible for the Collapse like you thought, right? If he saw it was his responsibility for keeping people alive, he wouldn’t cause all that… well, I guess Mom caused all that, right? That’s what you said in your notes.

Did… he try to fix what Mom broke?

There were three other Saints in the book. Joi was called the Shepherd. There was a RedDwarf the Hobo, LY the Greenskin, and Alys the Judge.

The Hobo seemed like a bad person. He killed a bunch of people because they didn’t have homes, because everyone complained… that they didn’t have homes. Wouldn’t it have been better to just give them homes instead of killing them? Killing people… is wrong, right?

After he did that, the book said he went around the world giving everything that they wished for, but they didn’t want. He sounds like one of the genies in the stories you used to tell me when I was super small.

The Greenskin seemed nicer, but I don’t think I understand… why she was a Saint. People hate each other for being different? Like Mom was different from you and me cause she got smaller instead of bigger, and slept all the time, and didn’t eat? People would… not like her? And kill her? Because of that? I don’t understand…

But the Greenskin thought that was wrong, and she worked to get everyone to like each other, or at least not hate each other. The book said she wasn’t that known – not like Joi and the Hobo – since she just cared about spreading acceptance and loyalty instead of her name.

Is all that a big deal? Like… giving everyone power seems big. Killing a lot of people and then granting wishes seems big. But… getting people to like each other? Is that really big? Is that important or hard?

The last one – the Judge – she seemed sad. She made a mistake as a kid and burnt everyone around her by accident. She kept hurting herself, and everyone else… cause she felt responsible? For a mistake? But she ended up dying after killing the bad people who made her make that first mistake.

But… she didn’t die. She came back? And she saw it as her responsibility to hold everyone accountable. That every action must have a consequence. That things had to be done the right way. And that she was the one to make sure people did that.

Dad, I think I have to leave soon. Mom died.

…and so did you.

I don’t think there’s anything for me here. I’ll find somewhere else to go. Your notes said that there were people alive on other islands, so maybe I can find someone to help me there. Until I’m big enough to do things on my own.

Thanks, Dad.