Mortimus Pedals Furiously

 Let me introduce you to Mortimus MacKenzie. He is named after a World of Warcraft character, a game popular with both his parents, who had met and fallen in love while playing it. But, of course, this was before the Kingdom fall. Since then, they have received some pressure from the Church to change it to something more biblically sound, but so far, they have been able to resist.

The darkness fell, and Mortimus was out too late. He pedals furiously to make it home before he is stopped by the Kingdom Guard. He might not be in too much trouble, being only eight years old, but it might harm his parents.

It was innocent enough. He had been at his friend's, Mark (solid biblical name there) Griner, and they were just so busy playing Kingdom's Gate that they had lost track of time. 

Mortimus was getting close. Only three blocks to go. But the next block was the Holiness Church. And even though it was past curfew, there seemed to be a crowd. People attending church events could be exempt from the curfew. They just had to have an event pass bracelet on their wrist. Could you forge an event pass to cover up being out too late? Yes, but the penalties for forging were quite severe. Commit the offense three times, and you could lose a hand.

As he got closer, he saw there was a huge bonfire. They threw books into the flames and sang Give Me Oil In My Lamp. The people looked entranced, their eyes wide in ecstatic fever.

The biggest surprise to Mortimus was that, after six years of Kingdom rule, they were still finding books to burn. That seemed like a long time to find new troves of books. Hadn't they found them all yet?

Someone looked over at him. He'd been spotted! But he pedaled quickly away and was out of sight before they could react further.

Mortimus realized that they could be finding books hitherto undiscovered. After all, didn't his parents have a shelf of books hidden away in the basement, behind a false wall? He only knew it was there because he hid on the basement stairs as his parents opened it up one day.  

They had given him a book or two to read. He would have it for a few days, and then his parents would take it back. One was The Giving Tree. Others included I Am Jazz, The Prince & Knight, and Charlotte's Web. They seemed okay to him. He couldn't understand why people wanted to burn them. When his reading skills improved, his parents told him they would let him read A Wrinkle in Time and The Diary of Anne Frank.

He liked reading books, but it made him afraid of what would happen if they found the books? What would they do to his parents? What would happen to him?

Mortimus has a terrible thought. What if the burning at the Holiness Church were his parent's books?

He pedaled furiously, furiouser and furiouser, faster and faster.

He got home and raced in, the front door unlocked. He called loudly for them. They didn't answer. Weren't they home.

He went through the kitchen, shouting, worried.

And then he noticed.

The door leading to the basement was open.

Fear enveloped him.

Mortimus wept.