The old woman didn’t answer him, embracing her skin as the darkness melted away her wisdom-filled flesh and formed youngness. That’s when she began walking toward the floating Kerchief that was directly behind Jeremy.
“Death has come to me now, I will see you all once again on the twenty-fifth of this month,” the woman whispered, stretching out her wings to a great length. She began to fly off from the ground and the Kerchief floated next to her as she stuck her head into it. Jeremy, Sam and Mary couldn’t believe their eyes, seeing the woman sticking her entire body into something that was made of cloth, something that was flat, and something that was holy. As soon as the old woman vanished into the Kerchief, Jeremy turned around with terror and fright, causing tears to flush out from his pupils.
“What’s happening?” Jeremy shouted, noticing the Kerchief fall to the ground when the girls dropped the cross from their hands.
“That is the gateway to Heaven, Jeremy, the Kerchief is the entrance to the life in Heaven,” Michael said. Michael then walked up to Sam’s innocent and beautiful self and slapped her in the face. He immediately walked up to Mary and slapped her also, yelling out, “Never drop the cross! Pick it up again!”
Mary, frazzled at Michael’s hand imprinted on her face, slowly picked it up, being nervous of Michael’s change in character, seeing Jeremy showing a baffled anger, and hearing Gabriel yelling out, “Michael, you have no right to slap them, no right at all!”
“Listen to me, I want this whole thing to be over very soon, and by them dropping the cross it allows us to waste more time,” yelled Michael. David then walked up to him and hit him in the face with the back of his right hand.
“No, Michael, I told you before that you don’t have the right to act out the way you used to be in the past life. When we begin the eighth sign that is when you will be able to act the way you were in that life. But for right now, you are supposed to act the way this human life wanted you to act. Now, apologize to these two beautiful women!” David yelled. Mary picked up the cross and looked at Michael with fear in her mind, but Jeremy wasn’t afraid anymore. Jeremy cared for Mary, and even Sam, and through Michael’s actions of sinister qualities, it proved to his mind that unacceptable actions came from Michael, and it had to be treated with great punishment, a physical punishment that Jeremy knew only he would have the courage to act out. So Jeremy ran up to Michael, looked at him in his malevolence-filled eyes, and began punching him all over his body.
Jeremy screamed, “Don’t you ever hit them again, you hear, ever!”
David grasped onto his body and pulled Jeremy away from Michael. He then let go of Jeremy’s anger-filled body and yelled to Michael, “Michael, apologize to them, now!”
“I’m sorry,” said Michael. Mary looked at Sam while holding the cross, and neither replied to his “sorry”. Instead they grabbed onto the cross and allowed the light to shoot toward the Kerchief again. They felt that the cross was their only protection, and to nurture it was why they grabbed onto it, hoping it would protect them from the newfound beast that took over Michael for the moment. As it accelerated toward the Kerchief, it allowed the Kerchief to float once again and through it came a voice.
“Walk into the Kerchief, but walk into it while you all hold onto the Shroud,” the voice echoed. Jeremy turned his head and twisted his eyes, scanning the darkened room for the Shroud. He caught sight of it and saw it on the ground next to the table. He ran and picked it up quickly and walked up to the girls without hesitation, listening to the mysterious voice and obeying its orders without wasting time.
“Here, grab one end of it,” said Jeremy in a nervous style. Gabriel, David and Michael walked up to them also and they all grabbed one piece of the long, white Shroud and then stared at the floating, glowing Kerchief, awaiting the next piece of instructions.
“Now, walk into it, let the fear guide you,” the voice ordered. They all turned their heads and watched one another, trying to see whose feet would follow the voice’s order. Coincidentally, they all followed it at once, and started walking slowly up to it. Jeremy stared at the floating cloth, he looked intently with wide eyes and grinding teeth, screening his fears through his terrified image, depicting he was petrified, fervent, dismayed, delighted, and had every emotion imaginable with his stares being on the cloth in the air. Everyone took a bottomless breath as Jeremy, who was the first in line, gradually ambled into the Kerchief, still holding one end of the Shroud with a hand that shook like a bee’s wing.
He stuck his head into it while closing his eyes, and pulled it back instantly, like he was testing out the water, the cloth, seeing if his solid head could really step into matter that was made of fabric. He wedged his head slowly into it again with his eyes opened this time, and suddenly a cyclone of images passed before his view. He saw bright light with white cotton-ball clouds that seemed as if the sun was underneath them, they were so brilliant with their whiteness. He attempted to pull his head back out of it again, but some force, some suction allowed his entire body to be hauled through it, a vortex that made him be in this realm of heavenly textures. After they entered it, some might, some force, some means of vigor caused them all to be in a state of flight, a fast flight, with tremendous pressure that pressed against their faces, pushing their cheeks and skin back like rubber, making their voices shout and scream, yet no sound was heard to their ears. Swift and fast, more speed came to their thoughts, their flesh, soaring more rapidly than the speed of light, the speed of time, the speed of thought, as they found themselves soaring through what seemed to be yellow and blue clouds, mixing and frolicking together, as if the clouds were meeting for the first time, and dancing together with vibrant colors to show their love for one another. The colors changed as their speed elevated, as if sparks from a fire were changing every time the wind blew at their fire-like bodies, so were the colors to their eyes, capturing the force of the speed numbing their skin, and the bright luminosity nearly blinding their eyes and paralyzing their courage.
At the same time of their flight, their eyes were cast upon the sight of what seemed to them as angels of some sort, millions of angels that flew alongside of them, flapping their wings so quickly that a buzzing sound could be heard, and yet still their screams couldn’t. To Jeremy’s sight, it was as if the angels were guiding them to some place, some destination, telling their unknown reason through their smiles, proving their wisdom through their wings of large mass. Jeremy, still screaming from fright of this flight, turned his head to look behind him, trying to figure out or comprehend this new world, and that’s when he noticed the clouds were black, pure darkness, as if nothing existed behind him. But when he turned his head around to face the front again, the clouds were white and yellow, with his ears hearing a voice saying to them all, “Don’t be afraid.”
Sam and Mary started weeping with apprehension in their tears, being fearful of what they saw, and what they were going to see when they finished this journey through the clouds. Not even the calming voice soothed their terror. To all of them, this flight was calm, even though their speed was great; everything was still tranquil to them physically and mentally. It was as if they were in the depths of their imagination, a state of dreaming, but not being able to control their destination. Frantic at this new sight, their fears grew larger, perceiving that the clouds suddenly poured out rain, with their vibrant colors slowly turning black, as if the rain made their color, and now it was escaping, leaving the clouds there to die.
Without warning, they all closed their eyes at once, and then heard a voice say, “Welcome”, in great kindness. They opened their eyes, and their sight revealed that the voice came from Luke, as they found themselves back at the cave where they had begun their journey from. Their flight ended, and their bodies sat firmly on the sandy ground in front of his cave, as if the flight was in their minds, like it never happened, and the only thing that could prove it existed was their recollections of it. Each of them, with perplexity still in their psyche, got up from
the ground and turned their sight on the Dead Sea that was on the side of them, staring at the calm water that made up the sea of death.
Widening their eyes and rubbing their heads, Luke grabbed onto Jeremy’s left hand and said, “You have completed five signs. The next one will be completed now.” Jeremy looked at Luke’s hand that wrapped itself around his, and just kept his sight on it for a bit, wondering what Luke meant by those words; what subliminal meaning stood in them. “All of you wait out here, it’s Jeremy’s turn to have his memory come to him,” he added.
Jeremy’s eyes turned away from Luke’s hand and landed on Michael, David, Gabriel and the girls, staring at each of them as they stood on the cold, rain-filled ground. The rain still poured and the wind didn’t lay off its might for a second, and Jeremy’s sight showed trepidation of what his concealed memories would embrace.
Jeremy quickly felt the stress in his mind flow toward his nerves. He voiced his stress, saying, “I don’t understand anything that is happening. I don’t even understand this journey that I’m on!”
Luke gave out a grin that revealed the green textures of his teeth. Jeremy still gaped at Luke, and saw him turn around. As Luke turned, he found the Shroud and the Kerchief lying on the ground, with the rain never hitting them, or the wind never blowing them away. Luke picked them up and handed them to Jeremy very gently, as if he was handing him a newborn baby.
“Well, Jeremy, now you will understand. Now you will know what your story is about. You started it from the beginning, and now you are in the middle,” Luke explained. Slowly and delicately, Luke grabbed Jeremy’s hand again, and they both walked into the cave that was filled with darkness and mystery.
Frustration still grew inside of Jeremy, and it was so great that the mystification and disorder permitted tears to flow out of Jeremy’s eyes and be shown to Luke. Jeremy cried out, “I don’t understand what you’re talking about! I don’t even know who you are!” His voice echoed throughout the darkened cave, hammering itself into Luke’s ears, as he felt Jeremy’s pain and bafflement all at once.
“Jeremy,” Luke said, his voice staying calm and quiet, craving to calm Jeremy down. “Jeremy, your story began when you first saw the statues move about, and now the story goes on with you knowing who you are and why you’ve come to the Holy Land. You know about Judgment Day, and how you all were chosen to deliver the eight signs, but you don’t know why you were chosen,” Luke explained as Jeremy went deeper into the cave, still being filled with frustration. His eyes caught the sight of one single candle that was burning with great fury to its torch. But then it burnt out from the wind of Luke’s breath, who was purposely blowing out the light. As soon as he blew out the candle, Luke added, still with calmness to his voice, “Now we shall begin the journey of retrieving the memory you once had; the memory of why you are here, and how you came about being chosen to be here.”
Still with darkness from the cave and the sound of the rain and wind whistling throughout the rocks, Luke patted Jeremy on the back and said, “Jeremy, let us begin your journey….”
II
The Evil Beholds a Face, A Reflection Without a Trace
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Crying and weeping out her soul that was filled with tremendous sorrow, lacking the hope it deserved, she looked out of the window of an airplane, her veins swathed with anxious nerves and great fear that overtook her will to think straight. Jeremy’s mother, her hands shaking from her sorrow, continued to look out the airplane window, and then looked over at Gabriel and Michael’s and David’s parents, perceiving their tears that weren’t segregated from her own. She was about to fall apart. With her son, Jeremy, still missing, her mind traveled to horrible places, thinking about the worst that might have happened to her son.
“Frank, what’s happening?” she cried, gawking out the window again and seeing only the dark. The darkness became her, like the darkness symbolized her soul at this moment, filling with a horrible night-like melancholy that stormed at her imagination. “This is supposed to be daytime, and all I see is dark!”
“I know, honey, I don’t know what’s happening either,” replied Frank, grasping a hold of her hand tightly and seeing her tears flowing down over his index finger.
Tears were birthing in Frank’s eyes as well, feeling guilty for letting his son, Jeremy, go to Grewsal in the first place, wanting so badly to turn time around and stop him from leaving. Abruptly, his tears stopped by the sound of a voice that was behind them, saying, “The signs are being shown, that’s what’s happening.” The parents turned their tear-filled eyes toward the direction that the voice came from, and saw that it was Curtis, a man whom Jeremy and the rest knew very well, noticing a small smirk forming on his mouth. Terror filled their minds even more after hearing Curtis’s words, hearing him add, “I might as well tell you now—the sun is no longer a sun, it is just a black ball of fire, fire that’s black itself. It’s one of the signs that means the Lord is getting prepared for the final day.”
David’s father shouted, “You’re crazy, if the sun turned black, then that would mean snow, cold, overall below-zero temperatures!”
“Well, that means that the Lord is causing it. You see, by your witnessing no light from the sun, and also no below-zero weather, that means the Lord is working in his own way, a way that tells us the end is coming. All of the signs are like that, there’s no meaning behind them, well, except for a few. But for that, it means the Lord is behind them, and your ignorance is causing your own confusion,” Curtis explained, lighting a cigarette and lying back in his seat.
“What do you mean?” David’s father asked.
Victor, who sat across from Curtis, turned his head to face him and replied, “Well, the Lord is showing his presence through each of the signs. As soon as the last sign comes into hand, that’s when the Lord shall show his own fireworks; and all Hell will break loose, literally. The oceans have already been drained, the sun has already been covered, and the wind and rain have already developed a mind of their own: you know the drill. Every wind that passes means an angel is passing by. Every raindrop that falls means the Lord is washing the earth and preparing for the day he will step his feet upon it. And let me tell you, it needs a lot of cleaning!”
“I don’t know what kind of narcotics you’re taking, but the Lord isn’t doing any of this. This is all natural, it will pass very soon,” David’s father stated, showing his anger though the loud pitch of his voice. “I just hope that you are correct about our sons being by the Dead Sea, and this isn’t just another one of your imaginary tales, like the other ones you told us. Because if this is just another tale, then your butt is going to jail,” he shouted, seeing Victor getting up from his seat by squeezing his large belly out from the sides of it. “We took you along because you said that Doctor Callahan was kidnapped by them, which I personally do not believe. So, out of that lie about her being kidnapped, I suggest that you quit while you’re ahead with your tall tale fantasies about God!”
“You listen to me, sir, Curtis and I are not lying about this; the end is near, and all of your sons are in Jordan, with the wrath of God staring at them and them only. The only way any of you people will believe in what we speak of is if you actually see it for yourselves. Well, I’m afraid that’s not how it works. If you don’t believe now, and the end comes, then your sinful souls will go to where sin is accepted. For right now, we will take you to all of your sons, but after that, you have to use your faith to believe that the end is coming. We were sent here to stop the Wrath from occurring, and I’m afraid your sons are the cause of everything you see now. The sun being covered, the oceans being drained, and the wind and rain developing a mind of their own, all that was caused by your sons, just to name a few,” yelled Victor with grand passion to his words. The parents sat still, with incomprehension and trepidation in their minds. “Grewsal kept the wrath from not being taken on, it kept your sons away from the memories of what they are and what they must do. The wrath is what
they were sent on earth to pursue, and that’s what they are doing now!”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Gabriel and Michael’s mother asked in a loud fashion.
“Your sons are angels, angels whom were sent by God to deliver his wrath. We were sent by Jastian to make sure your sons do not deliver it,” explained Curtis, feeling the plane shake due to turbulence.
“Who the hell is Jastian?” questioned Jeremy’s mother.
“Jastian is a God, a strong God, where the angels who die go to be judged, as well as the sinners that Lucifer can’t control. He is in the air you breathe, he is a Father-like God to your God, created by evil and good. Me and Curtis follow his orders!” Victor shouted. “We do not answer to your God, it is God’s will that the earth shall end, but Jastian doesn’t want it to…. That is all I shall say. You shall not hear any more about this, only the angels, saints and saviors shall know the rest of this story: so tough. You aren’t worthy enough; all of you are a bunch of sinners. We will take you to your sons now. After that, we shall take them away from you and keep them till December twenty-fifth. After the twenty-fifth comes, you will have them and our mission will be finished. The wrath is set for Christmas Day, and once it has passed with your sons in our grip, our mission will be done, and the day of the wrath shall come and pass without it even being called a ‘wrath’,” Victor added, squeezing his large body back into his seat.
The Wrath of Jeremy Page 21