7:13
“Goddamn storm,” Linda said under her breath, looking out the window.
She hated snow. She hated being cold. She hated driving on slick streets. But she would have to. This was it, the day they’d waited twenty years for. If it were going to happen, she’d have to leave the house. Her lover was ready to come back to her. He’d spent enough time in the other world. His place was there, with her. Their work needed to continue. It was fate that had chosen them for their grand task. Killien would be a God. She would be the beneficiary of his power. He wouldn’t kill her. She meant too much to him. She was sure that he would create a new world for them, away from all of the pain of this one. Humanity would no longer exist. They’d be the last two, living in their own heaven.
If she had known Killien’s real plan or what Lucifer would do if he were loosed, she would have stopped then and there. If she had felt like she was in any danger at all, she would have stopped. But her lover had promised her eternal life, and she believed him. And even Killien himself didn’t know what trickery the devil had planned.
A good strategy always has many pawns. They were all proof of that. Jack was the only one who realized just how expendable he really was.
A knock sounded at the back door. Linda got up from the kitchen table, smiling through the window at her neighbor.
Opening the door she said enthusiastically, “Hi Betty. Come on in.”
The woman wiped her feet on the mat and entered. She lowered her snow-covered scarf as she spoke.
“It sure is coming down out there.”
“It sure is. Say, follow me to the bedroom. I want to show you something.”
“Alright,” she said, walking slowly.
Betty stepped into the room and Linda shut the door behind her, reaching for the nightstand. When she turned around she was holding a large silver knife with a wide blade.
“Have you ever done any acting Betty?”
Staring uneasily at the blade she responded, “No. I can’t say that I have.”
“None at all?”
“Not even in grade school. I’ve always been too shy for that type of thing.”
Linda’s eyes lit up, “Well you won’t have to worry about being shy today.”
“I’m sorry?”
Linda lunged forward and sliced the woman across the chest. Blood poured as Betty fell to the floor. Gripping her wound, she weakly attempted to crawl away.
Linda was over her with the dripping knife, “You see, it doesn’t matter if they catch me. It only matters when. That’s why I need you to put on a good performance today.”
The woman on the floor gagged. Her lungs heaved at the air around her.
“Oh, I didn’t tell you? You’ll be playing me today,” She stepped up, “I know what you’re thinking Betty. What’s your motivation? Right?”
She took a handful of gray hair and pulled the head up. The blade was at Betty’s neck. “Here’s your motivation, Bitch.”
The cold steel sliced through the jugular, emptying her bloodstream onto the carpet. Linda calmly sat down on the bed, watching her neighbor’s body twitch.
7:14
Jack soared higher into the void. It had been a long time since he’s seen other astral beings of any kind. It appeared that they were all behind him now. He flew as fast as he could into the pitch-black nothingness. He was sure that was the direction he’d gone before, when he saw Heaven. Only at the time he didn’t know it had been God himself. But now, it was different. There was nothing out there. It had all moved. He kept going, hoping that he would find something, anything that could help him. He couldn’t stop thinking that if he didn’t find God, he was damned inside a course of events that could not be stopped.
A tiny light appeared far in the distance. It was like a faint star. He couldn’t decide at first if it was real or his imagination. He thought perhaps that he needed to find it so desperately that his mind was playing tricks on him. But as he got closer her saw that it was really there. It got brighter as he approached. He kept going full speed. It was getting bigger.
The mundane world was so far behind him now he didn’t know if he’d ever find his way back. He couldn’t be concerned with that now though. He’d have to worry about that when his task was complete. If that ever-brightening star he saw was God, he couldn’t figure out why he would’ve moved so far out. Sure, God could move about as he pleased but Jack wondered if there was some reason he’d traveled so far. Did what was happening now have something to do with it? Was he, the creator of the world, afraid? Or maybe just strategically positioning himself for a battle? Maybe the final war between God and Lucifer, the great Armageddon, would take place here, at the edge of the universe.
Jack was close enough now to see the exploding rainbow of energy. Blinding lightning curved around the perpetual blast in huge arcs. Dots of astral energy swam around it randomly like tadpoles in an aquarium. They were God’s own angels and were drawn to his power, like moths to a light bulb.
He raced straight toward it, watching it grow bigger as he neared. Finally he was close enough to feel its warmth, its vibration. It felt different than before. The peace and comfort he’d experienced, the bliss of ultimate calm had been replaced with frustration and confusion. There was a fear that lived inside that cloud. Not for itself, but for the whole mundane existence. Jack did not displace the field of sadness for mankind. It passed through him and he could feel every part of his being become saturated with it. He was dripping with God’s regret.
And yet, somewhere deep inside all of it was a will, a desire that could not be overlooked. It was a fire that burned with determination and strength. It was telling Jack that it hadn’t given up. It felt almost as if God himself was telling him not to lay down and die just yet.
The cloud took up his entire frontal vision now. He was close. A large glowing astral mass was flying quickly up behind him. He turned, throwing himself into its path. He had to get its attention.
It did not stop or even slow down. It plowed into him full force, sending him backward into the cloud. When the momentum finally let loose he was at least ten feet inside the mist. Its power surrounded him, snapping at his glowing body. Then a pressure started building at his back. The heat pulsed in ever quickening bursts. And then, as if being shot from a cannon, Jack was pushed out of the cloud. His astral form sucked into a small tight sphere as he flew. He tried to stop himself. He couldn’t. The etheric ball started to increase in speed.
God no.
Jack strained against it. He pushed with all of his might.
Please, I need to get back.
It was no use. He would just have to ride it out. Faster and faster he flew. The stars and planets went by so fast that they had become just a slight variance in his vision. A faint streak and then blackness. Something was ahead of him.
A speck.
A blue light…Earth.
He entered the atmosphere like a comet.
Clouds.
Ocean.
Land.
He crashed into his body with the force of a train. He hit so hard the mortal flesh shook under the impact. Part of his energy overshot the mark and took a few seconds to gather itself and re-enter. Jack opened his eyes. He had a pounding headache directly behind them.
“Shit.”
Two hours he’d traveled to get there. God had sent him back in less than two minutes. All of it was for nothing. He hadn’t gotten the help he needed. They wouldn’t even stop to recognize him. He hadn’t accomplished anything. He didn’t have time to go back now. He had wasted too much already. Without angelic assistance he’d damned the whole world and everything in it to nothingness.
If a book were to remain telling the history of the world, the universe and all existence, Jack imagined that there would be an entire chapter dedicated to him. The man who’s mortal desires and selfishness had, in effect, killed God and ended everything.
But he knew that there would be no books, no lineage of the human race, for there would be none left to read it. The only ones who’d know his sins, or that he had ever existed at all, would be the ones that had tricked him.
Jack thought that the devil must be very pleased with the plans he’d laid. They were in full fruition and there was nothing he, or anyone, could do to stop it.
copyright ©2002 Brian Holtz
All rights reserved