by RJ Pritchett
Rebellia saw the same exact thing Patricia saw, but her reaction was mild compared to Patricia’s.
Patricia stood up and walked closer to what she saw… her walking slowly turned into a jog, and that jog turned into an all-out sprint. Tears flew out of her eyes as she reached out and embraced Travis with a giant hug.
“What’s up, Pat?” Travis said, smiling. He wore a nice-fitting gray suit with a black tie over his gray button-up shirt. Looking as sharp as Patricia ever seen him.
“Is this real?” Patricia said, still hugging him. She didn’t want to let him go.
“Yeah. I’m really here,” Travis smiled, “this is not like a mind game or an illusion. I came to pick you up.”
“Pick me up… I’m going?” Patricia lost her ability to form proper sentences.
“Only if you want to,” Travis chuckled, “but that’s not the only reason I was sent here,” he turned to face Rebellia, who remained by the tree staring blankly at them. He started walking towards her with Patricia closely behind him. “Wow. I lowkey thought that when I made my return, you would just instantly snap out of it,” he said when he got close enough to where Rebellia sat, “Come on, Reby. Come give me a hug,” he opened his arms and smiled.
Patricia stood in silence, watching Rebellia as she remained motionless while Travis kept his arms open, “It’s for a limited time only,” he said, stretching his arms further.
Patricia shook her head, “I don’t think-”
Rebellia moved. Much to the surprise of both Patricia and Travis, she stood up. It took her a while, but she walked over to Travis and wrapped her arms firmly around him. She started sobbing immediately into his shoulder.
“I missed you too, Rebellia,” Travis said, rubbing her back, “I know who else misses you… Faye. She’s still a little mad at you, but that girl loves you and she told me to tell you that you better not ever forget that. She’ll be waiting for you for as long as it takes.”
Rebellia let one hand free from Travis and she held it out, motioning for Patricia to join in on the hug. She knew. Patricia wrapped her arms around both Rebellia and Travis. The group hug probably would’ve lasted forever had Rebellia not released her grip on them.
“Tell her I love her too,” Rebellia said, smiling with teary eyes, “I love all of you. I’ll never forget… always remember… never forget.”
“I will… I really can’t believe how different things are now,” Travis looked around, “I wish I could make a quick trip back to the sanctuary to see everybody. How’s my guy Tobias doing? Still crazy?”
“He is,” Patricia answered with a laugh.
“That’s good,” Travis smiled, “Let everyone know that I love them -even the new people. Man, I can’t wait to see this world when the project is complete. I’ll probably be back one day… and with a few other visitors to see it,” he winked.
“Deal,” Rebellia smiled.
“Okay, I think I should be heading back now,” Travis said looking at an imaginary watch on his left wrist, “You coming, Pat?”
“…” Patricia didn’t know what to say, “Travis… I’ve wanted this ever since the day you moved on. I prayed for it during those lonely nights when I missed your presence. I couldn’t wait to be with you again.”
“But…?” Travis said, expecting a rebuttal.
“As much as I want to, Rebellia needs me now more than ever. This girl was in a trance just now and it looks like she finally snapped out of it. She already lost you and Faye, I don’t think I should leave her. The world we all dreamed of isn’t complete, it’s actually far from it, and I want to be a part of the creation of that world. I want to stick around a little while longer until Rebellia is at least back to her normal self.”
“I see,” Travis nodded, “Yeah, definitely. If I had the chance to stay here with Rebellia, I’d probably do the same, just to be a part of this-”
“Go,” Rebellia said, looking at Patricia. “Go. I’ll be fine.”
Patricia was caught off guard, “What?”
“This is your happily ever after,” Rebellia said, “I’m not getting in the way of that. Go with him, you two deserve to be happy together forever. I’m happy for you. Both of you. I’m… proud. I am thankful to have met you two and I know my time in this world isn’t over. But your time here is… You deserve to rest in peace. You deserve everything. I’m going to miss you, but I’m going to see you again when I feel this world doesn’t need me anymore.”
“Whoa. The mighty Rebellia is actually thinking about moving on?” Travis said, smirking.
“I’ve held people down here long enough for my own selfish reasons, and eventually it cost me dearly. If I learned anything over the past few days, it’s that nobody stays here forever. Not even me. But I won’t be at peace until I give this world absolutely everything I can. There’s still a lot for me to do here. I’ll be fine. Go.”
Patricia’s eyes watered as she gave Rebellia one last hug. Travis was next to hug Rebellia before she bid her final farewell to both of them.
“You two will always be members of this guild,” Rebellia said, holding back more tears, “I’ll never forget you for as long as I exist. I can’t wait to see you again.”
“Here’s to forever?” Travis said, holding his fist out.
“To forever,” Rebellia smiled and placed her fist on top of his.
“To forever,” Patricia placed her hand on top of Rebellia’s.
Rebellia smiled as the two of them walked away hands interlocked. “I can’t wait until we get there. Watch when you see…” Travis said, but Patricia stopped him. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and planted a kiss on his lips, holding him tight. The kiss lasted a very long time, but they eventually pulled themselves apart.
“I’ve always wanted to do that,” Patricia smiled.
Rebellia waved as the two of them continued to walk farther away. She kept her eyes on them, but when she blinked, they were gone.
Rebellia returned to her spot underneath the willow tree, but she was no longer sitting still, staring into space. She removed the fanny pack from around her waist and stared down at the bag, thinking of Courtney and how happy she was when she found this empty bag on the ground.
Rebellia received one last visitor the next morning, and to her visitor’s surprise, Rebellia was standing, and active.
“Rebellia!”
Rebellia looked over to the sound of the voice to see Vivian standing there without her dark clothes or her mask. She stood wearing the all-white uniform that most of the people at the sanctuary wore. The only pieces of clothes they were able to find in that abandoned building they turned into their sanctuary. Her hair looked to be straightened and she was also holding a piece of cloth in her arms.
“Vivian,” Rebellia said once Vivian got a little closer to her.
“Have you seen Patricia?” Vivian asked, “She came here to visit you yesterday but she never came back.”
“She’s gone,” Rebellia said, “moved on… Travis came to get her.”
“Who’s Travis?”
“You never met him. He was a vital member of the guild though,” Rebellia said, adding the finishing touches to her work on the tree, “He was also Patricia’s best friend and now lover.”
“Whoa. You can fill me in on all that later,” Vivian said, “What are you doing?”
“I buried Courtney’s fanny pack,” Rebellia said, pointing at the clump of soil beneath her feet. “Under this tree. I thought about burning it, so I could finally move past her memory, but I didn’t want to burn it. I also don’t want to forget her anymore. That girl was only about eleven years old. She did not deserve that fate. I’m still upset about the way things ended for her because she didn’t know what she was doing. She wasn’t taught the value of life even after death. I tried to teach her, and I could’ve helped her eventually. God pulled the plug too soon. I buried this bag so that when that little girl’s family enters this world, I can give them a piece of her. The on
ly piece of her left.”
“What happened to that little girl helped create the person you are today,” Vivian said, looking at the name ‘Courtney’ carved into the trunk of the tree, “she triggered the already slightly-present rift between you and Orion… I remember the day like it was yesterday. You told me that you were leaving, and I really wanted to go with you, but I also didn’t want to openly rebel against God after what I did to come into this world. I’m lucky to be standing here now and not obliterated after what I did back on Earth. I didn’t want to take that chance, but I never closed the door on joining your guild. I offered to join you from the inside. I recruited people for your guild while under Orion’s nose. I lied and told Orion that my group of masked warriors were spies for him… we fought for him. He liked that. I always knew you meant well, but I was too scared to fully commit to your cause. You wanted everyone to stay here when this place is already regarded as a stepping stone to the next world. We are not meant to be here forever, but you been here long enough, and it seems like you’re proving that we can stay here as long as we want. As I stand here today as a member of your guild, I have pretty much given up on trying to find my way into Heaven. I’m here. I prayed all the time and I’m still here. I apologized countless times and I’m still here. Nothing is working, so maybe my purpose is bigger than what Orion was able to offer. Maybe my purpose is to help you create the free world you always wanted. Maybe all this time, God wanted me to join your fight against the normal order of things. We have the power to change this world’s purpose. Make it our own.”
“I believe so too,” Rebellia said, “I knew that somewhere deep down inside, God is rooting for me to succeed, even if it means sacrificing the initial purpose of this world. We don’t have to beg, pray and follow society’s rules to be accepted by anyone. Not even God. I always wanted to take the power in our own hands and stop kneeling at the throne. I’ve always had my beef with the way God has run the world, by just sitting back and doing nothing while also punishing the people who didn’t believe. Sitting back and doing nothing while poor children starved and the rich ate well. Stayed silent while the future of mankind is educated on propaganda instead of what really matters. As I look at the land I was born into, I saw nearly everything from the safety of a penthouse suite. I saw things that can traumatize someone forever. I saw how crooked the world was, and I was too powerless to fix it. I was just a regular girl with rich parents. My parents tried to give back every so often, but not enough in my eyes. My fight with God is not for my own benefit, but for the benefit of the less fortunate. The hand that God dealt me was a very nice one. But I guess Patricia was right, I am feeling survivor’s guilt. There I was in this nice house while people on my TV are homeless, dealing with violent crimes, losing a loved one, or losing their lives. I ate every night and prayed to a God that gave me everything but either gave those people nothing or took away from those people, leaving them with nothing. That was and is my only problem with God. More of my beef is with humanity. I gave up on it while here in this world because I know that no matter what happens from this world forward, I can’t go back to fix things. By the time people would cross my path, they have already been through whatever fate they went through. I can stand in front of a crowd and speak on how much humanity is hurting themselves and the future generations with their bullshit politics, selfishness and wars; but in the back of my mind, I’ll know that my words won’t reach the mass audience on Earth. I can’t go back to speak to those people. I’m speaking to people that can’t hear a word I say.”
“You’d be surprised,” Vivian said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rebellia said.
“Nothing,” Vivian said, “Are you finished here? Because there are a lot of people that want to see you. There are people that need to see you. I bet they’re going to lose their minds with joy when they see that you’re back.”
Rebellia took one last look at the destroyed building and then at the tree, “Alright,” she said before following Vivian towards the forest.
“You know, Rebellia. You never told me your real name,” Vivian smirked, “Remember you told me that you would tell me your real name after I told you my backstory?”
“Sounds familiar,” Rebellia nodded, “I may have told you that even when I didn’t know my real name. Sounds like a good trade though.”
“Okay… just know that I’m not that good at telling stories,” Vivian said, “but here goes...”
Chapter 15 (Vivian’s Story)
“Men lie, women lie.”
Before we begin, I want to talk about this feeling called rage. Rage is what gives us the strength and the courage to not think twice about doing something. Over the years, there have been these sayings that the devil is on your shoulder whispering in your ear in these moments of rage. The reason for that is because rage makes a person do things that they most likely cannot come back from. While you were away, that girl Maria told me a little about the situation she found herself in… rage was present. That boy had to be angry enough to stalk her daughter and ambush her like that. Rage makes a person do some crazy things, and the scariest part is that some humans will never know how to properly deal with this. Everybody has different triggers that set them off. My trigger was different. When I was alive, I listened to the devil in that moment of rage. I listened to his whispers and that probably got me booted from Eden. I was denied entry into Heaven when I died. In fact, I didn’t even make it to the gates, I just woke up here just like you. I don’t remember seeing Heaven’s gates at all. Even my judgment is a blur. Instead of making the right choice that probably would’ve benefitted me in the long run, I made a decision that cost me everything. I made a decision that was sure to doom me for eternity. Being in a state of rage is the best feeling and the very worst. On one hand, you feel powerful enough to do whatever you set your mind to with no fear of the consequences, but on the other hand, what you set your mind to do at that moment is hardly ever good. You can say things you can’t take back or you can do things that you can’t take back. My first few months in this world were good. I had no memory of my life and my dreams weren’t bad. I thought I was a good person, and with Orion’s help, I was destined to make it to Heaven one day. But everything changed when you and Courtney found that guy… the guy in the forest that attacked you out of rage. I still don’t understand why he attacked you, but I might have a clue. It took me a minute to remember why that guy looked so familiar, but that’s because we’ve met before… at a wedding. My boyfriend introduced us.
“Vivian, this is my friend Meagan, and this is her husband Bernard and her two daughters… um… Taylor and… Meagan Junior?”
“Margaret!” the little one said, smiling, “her name is Margaret.”
“Nice to meet you all,” I shook Meagan’s hand first. Then her husband’s, and then her two daughters. Even though the older daughter was paying more attention to her cell phone that she was to us, they all looked happy. “And who’s this little guy?” I asked, rubbing on Meagan’s pregnant belly without her permission.
“That’s what she said,” Bernard said, cracking up at his own joke. I mean… I laughed too, but not as loud and boisterous as he did.
“Yeah… she did say that…” the younger daughter Taylor said, looking confused, “I think we all heard her say it just now.”
“No,” her older sister said, “it’s a grown-up joke. You’re too young for that kinda stuff.”
“That’s what she said,” Taylor said, pointing at her sister, “Did I use that right?”
I didn’t expect to laugh as loud as I did, but that little girl was just so adorable. And the problem is, I think she was well aware of that. She was being cute all night long and it made me like that whole family.
I didn’t know why at the time, but Jasper would always act weird around them. That night, he denied a kiss from me, and he told me to wait until later. He didn’t even want me to hold his hand. He was acting strange the whole entire night
. It was almost as if he didn’t want anybody to know we were together… that was the vibe I was getting, but I just ignored it.
Looking at it from a different way, well maybe he’s embarrassed because we’re around family. Some people get shy. But I kissed him around his family before, so his affair with Meagan had to be the reason. He didn’t want to do it around her. I noticed that because he acted differently once she and her family went home for the night. Looking at everything in hindsight really helps you understand the big picture.