Toeing the line between reality and fantasy and life and death, "The Orphan Creed" is ultimately about fighting for justice and a higher level of self-awareness while inspiring readers to recognize and take action against the injustices they may observe in their own lives. Thrown into a lonely and abusive world after the death of his parents, a young boy runs away from foster care after being orphaned only to embark upon an amazing journey of self-discovery in a foreign city...and then a foreign world. "The Orphan Creed" is a rich and poignant account that speaks to karma and the circle of life, as well as probing intimately into the human issues of family, religion, gratitude, loneliness, guilt, deception, friendship, faith, hope, and human resilience. The Orphan Creed By Davitch Faryn Vago AuthorHouse Copyright © 2011 Davitch Faryn Vago All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4567-6455-5 Chapter One "I am the cold floor. I am the slamming door. I am the child whore. I will become a broken home. The shattered door. The open sore." There is no greater hope than the hope of an orphan. Unless the greater hope is the hope of the dying. Whether it is a single orphaned child or a world of dying men; it is their hope that keeps them alive. But it is because they do not know what awaits them in this world or the next that makes their hope so painful, and so fragile; and makes their fear so desperate and so lonely. But I was never alone. And neither are you. We are all orphans in our own right. Some more than others, and others more than some; but we are all orphans. And in the quiet moments before we fall to sleep we often wonder if we are ever to find again that which we know in our deepest selves we believe we have lost forever. We are all lost in our ways. Only in my case now; it is more a metaphor than a truth; and in your case, it is more the truth now than a metaphor. There has never been a time in the life of this planet when human beings have felt more alone, or more afraid, or more lonely, or more desperate. There has never been a time in your history when your hope has been so fragile, or caused you so much pain. By the road I have traveled I would tell you of how I once came to be wrecked upon a beach, and near death, alone; yet in that place was surrounded by a warmth and a love I will in my poor way attempt to share with you now. I can tell you as I begin that it was not my choice to live or die in a place such as that. I can tell you now that every orphan searches for it; or a place like it in his own way; yet few find it. In the sad final moments before they flee their lives; they each look back and realize that little; if anything they did in their search for that place, meant much if anything at all. No one wishes on their deathbed to have spent less time living. It is, ironically; in that moment, that we realize that in our own unique ways; we are in our own individual lives, each of us; all of us; wrecked upon a beach. I can tell you that sooner or later, every single one of us will find our own way there. I can tell you how I met my life's journey's end in it. I can tell you also how I met an even stranger paradox; a beginning in that end. This place I will take you to is real. It draws me gently back to it even as I begin this story to you. In fact, it is more real than the life you believe is real. It is more real than the fantasy you and all of us have created for ourselves. It is more true than the lie you have built around you and come to doubt at every meaningless twist and turn of your own fragile life. For this is the Orphan Creed. To go home again. But really it is more. It is in its essence and has at its core a single purpose. For the orphan whose life is fractured by his disbelief of everything that others would have him believe as true; it is a map. For the orphan who grieves the home he lost or relinquished; or the orphan who laments the place that seems to have been taken from him; it is a coming home. It is the candle in the window. It is the warm bed, the sure embrace. But there is a price to it. There is only one way to regain that which was taken from you. Or thrown away by you. It is simple. In order to find your way back; you must bring at least one other orphan with you. Leave no one behind. This is your charge. This is the price. If you take it, and accept it; it is yours. You don't have to believe me. That really is the beauty of it. But deep down inside, after you read this, you will believe me. Every orphan who hears my story will believe me. He will recognize the place I will take him to now. He will know it and remember it; and in remembering it; he will find his own way home. This is the only promise I can make to him now. He will find his own way home and I will wait for him there. But all orphans are liars. Or so I've been told a hundred times. Orphans are criminals, liars and thieves and be