He paused and looked at the mirrors around him that were once broken, and stared at Mary and Sam’s images. “I know who the woman was.”
“Who?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, who?” Mary urged as the two of them showed grand interest in knowing.
Jeremy’s eyes turned to Mary, seeing a lonely teardrop hanging by her nose. He reached his shaky hand over to her and wiped her tear away, answering, “It was you, Mary. You were that woman. And now you are here, doing this life again, helping me to prove to God that you are worthy enough to go to Heaven. That was the deal you made to him.”
Mary stood and gaped at him and then out the window, not wanting to believe his tale at all. She was in denial, urging her own burning to stop, longing for Jeremy to say it was a lie. Inside, Mary cursed Jeremy to be crazy at this point, insane beyond repair, but distinguished that he wasn’t, and knew that everything he spoke from his mind’s own sequence was the truth.
Mary breathed in the fresh air from the darkness outside the window, and exhaled. “It’s not fair. I always wanted to have kids someday. Maybe you’re right, Jeremy. I believe you, for some reason. I don’t want to, but I do. And if that’s your first memory, then so be it. But for what it’s worth, I personally wouldn’t call that a sin to take away the pain from your child. Or maybe, deep inside, I would. Yet, I’m not God. I’m just a human being, afraid inside, afraid for what tomorrow will bring, Jeremy. I never believed in a divinity, but I do believe in a deity, a forgiving God, and hope, if that memory is real, that he forgives me, and that my daughter from another time forgives me, too… It’s not fair.”
And so the three of them hugged each other tightly, and fixed their eyes on the outside world, closing their gaze to the people below, and opening them only to the darkened heavens, praying that the time of the wrath wasn’t far away.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Darkness still triumphed over the cities and land, and the evanescent day ended, landing on the next, merely to have Mary, Sam and the boys’ torment breed and grow. In a building, a structure resembling an arena, Mary, Sam and the boys were waiting for the next question from an audience member on The Frederick Redone Show, with new clothes sheathing their nervous figures. The silence was frightening, as the show took place in a baseball stadium and the stage was next to a doorway that led to the interior of the arena. All they could do was sit and wait, praying that they could get the courage to get up and flee through the door, never looking back, only looking forward to a new life.
The grass below was painted in red and blue letters, spelling out the show’s name. The boys being in the middle of the decorated stage, and Mary and Sam to the right of them. It was as if this was a freak show and they were the star attractions. The stadium was packed, filled with people from side to side, up and down, with hundreds of cameras from different stations pointing at their faces, watching every reaction they made, telecasting it around the world for all to see. The stage was filled with décor that resembled religious statues, crosses, making it feel all the more like a freak show to the newly crowned stars on the stage, assembling this experience to feel like an execution was about to come around, with all eyes on them, and all negative judging to be against their words. The host, Frederick, with a beard and mustache a mile long, and well-dressed clothes that proved he was an elite personage in television, sat at the bottom of the stage and stared into a huge television that hung from the rafters of the stadium, seeing how it showed the guests on the stage first, and then traveled through the audience. This is how he would pick each audience member who had a question. Sam, Mary, Jeremy, Michael, David and Gabriel already had been on for thirty minutes, and that was enough time for them to finish explaining their story of why they’re there, their mission, and who they really were. The audience members feared their words, the news of the “wrath” that they spoke of, which caused even more anger to be released toward them, feeling that if they ridiculed them enough, they would admit that this was all a prank. In the distance, the audience was colorful, filled with skinheads, atheists, Christians, racists, and almost every sort of religion, every type of human with anger in their belly. And the anger generated more, waiting for them to admit they were lying. Yet still Sam, Mary and the boys stuck to their story.
In the middle of the stage, Jeremy sat in his seat and watched as a little girl got up and wanted to ask a question. On the big screen, Frederick pointed to the cameraman to stop when it reached the little girl and he asked through his microphone, “Hello, sweetie, did you want to ask a question?” The little girl grabbed a microphone that was handed to her by one of the show’s workers while Jeremy looked at Michael, and Michael looked at Gabriel, Gabriel looked at David, and David looked at Jeremy, all awaiting the little girl’s question.
Sam and Mary stared at each other for a few seconds, and then stopped when they heard the little girl ask, “Why are you doing this?”
Frederick, with as much real passion as a rotten egg, got up and ran to the big screen, saying, “Oh, now, isn’t that sweet?” He turned to the stage and added in a strict manner, “Well, guys, are you going to answer her?”
Jeremy looked at Frederick’s long, black mustache and shiny, lubricated hair, ready to answer him. Yet Gabriel stepped in, replying, “We already told you why we are doing this!”
Another female audience member raised her hand and once Frederick caught her in his sight, he ordered the cameraman to stop on her. Jeremy, David, Gabriel and Michael sat there motionless, with sweat from the heat of the set lights causing them to get dehydrated and parched. The brilliance from the lights pierced them mostly, not so much Sam and Mary, leaving it looking like the boys were lying as all the audience members saw were four boys sweating ferociously, and two women not sweating at all. This gave a feeling to the audience as if the boys were in a cult, and Mary and Sam were only brainwashed by them, but they didn’t rule the women out as innocent yet. To take the sweat away, each picked up a glass of water that was left for them on the ground of the stage, but before they could even get a sip of the water, they heard the woman yell into the microphone she yanked out of the show’s worker’s hand, “Listen, you are scaring many innocent people, and many innocent children with this so-called ‘mission’ of yours. If you all are angels, and if you really were sent to deliver such a wrath, then why don’t you prove it to us? I know I have personally heard this story for the past seven days, and I personally believe that it is B.S., and that you all are just begging for attention. Well, let me tell you that you’re going about getting popular the wrong way. If this mission is true, then prove it to us, make some miracle happen, or use your so-called ‘powers’ and ask God for a miracle!” The audience immediately clapped hard and the echo drummed in the stadium. “Prove it to us!”
Her loudness caused the boys to drop their glasses of water, shattering them once they hit the wooden stage. Giving up on asking for another glass, due to the panic that was released through the air, Michael leaned over his head so the rest of the boys could see him, as well as Mary and Sam. He looked at Mary, asking, “What should we do?” He then whispered to Jeremy, “What answer should we give?”
Mary tapped him on the leg and Michael focused his eyes on her, hearing her words, “Tell them the truth, and only the truth.”
Now, the boys knew if they told the truth and only that, the audience would get even more brutal and filled with dismay, allowing more resentment to hoist in their already perplexed minds. But each of them knew Mary was right, and they didn’t want to give up on what they had to do. So, Michael bent his head to face the audience, the lights, the anger and emotions, and turned his eyes to face the big screen with the angry woman in its cube.
He answered with apparent nervousness in his voice, “We can’t do that, ma’am, you all have to believe us through faith, not by us showing your miracles. It’s just like believing the Lord exists; you don’t see him, but it’s up to you to use your faith in order to know he’s there. As long as
your eyes are watching us, no miracles can be performed by us.”
The audience grew soundless, and that was Frederick’s cue to liven them up. So, with his talent speaking voice and supposed intellect, Frederick got up, turned to the boys and yelled into his microphone toward Jeremy, “Why should we believe you? I mean, you say you’re Lucifer, and that the rest of you are angels, but the thing is, all of you are angels who want to destroy the earth!” The audience let go of their silence and their rage grew again. They started to shout once more, seeing Frederick turning to the television camera and adding, “They’ll answer that in a few moments, we have to cut to a commercial break. We’ll be right back.” The cameras turned off and the boys waited on the stage and watched the audience members’ faces and voices, showing fear mixed with fury in their eyes.
Michael turned to Jeremy and asked in a joking way, “Which one is Lucifer, Jeremy, you or the great Frederick?” They boys chuckled a bit, but ended their laughter quickly, being that their fear was too great to hold down. “How the hell are we going to get out of here? They don’t believe us, they’re just treating us like we’re freaks. So, in return, they’ll definitely not allow us to leave this stadium, or New York.”
The voices from the audience rose higher, and rocks and bottles began flying from their seats toward the stage. Jeremy said, “I don’t know, I thought this was going to be simple. I thought because the seas have drained and the sun has gone – but miraculously we’re all still alive – that this would be a simple task and the people would want to believe us.” Suddenly the bottles and rocks stopped falling from the crowd, and the yells and screams lessened. This caught the boys’ attention, so they turned and looked around to see what the derivation of the quick change was. There, walking out of the door that led to the interior of the stadium, and walking onto the stage were no other than Curtis and Victor. Curtis and Victor had also became famous to the world as the ones who found that the boys were supposedly spreading this story, putting on a persona that made it look like they were trying to stop the boys from this prank. And for those that believed the boys’ story, Curtis and Victor made it seem like they were also trying to stop them from performing the wrath. They fooled the world, proving to everyone that they were the good guys and the boys were not. Yet, whether it be a lie or truth, to Jeremy at least, he was still confused about who the good guys were and who were the bad. But, remembering that it was God’s will, Jeremy and the rest saw Curtis and Victor as the bad guys, only because they were going against God’s wishes for the boys to complete the wrath.
Onstage, Curtis and Victor, with malevolence and wickedness in their veins, smirked at them and sat in seats that were on separate sides of the stage. “Great, look who decided to show up,” Jeremy sarcastically said as Michael turned to face Curtis and Victor.
Gabriel leaned in to Jeremy’s right ear and whispered, “Oh no, now we’re definitely screwed. There’s no way we’re gonna get out of here now.”
The bottles and rocks started up again, being thrown toward the boys, yet not reaching them because of the far distance of the audience. Each of them knew it was only a matter of time till the bottles and debris would reach them, due to the audience leaving their seats and attacking with no mercy. After hearing Curtis and Victor’s lies and how they fed the fire in the audience’s bellies, the boys foresaw death coming to them. This vision urged each of their minds to contemplate a plan quickly, to get out of this situation.
Looking past Gabriel, David asked Jeremy, “Wait a second, didn’t Luke say to you that we have one more miracle left we could use?”
“Yeah, but if we use it to get out of here and go back to Jordan, then we’re going to have to use it without anyone seeing it. By the looks of it, I highly doubt that anyone is going to turn their backs on us now,” Jeremy answered. “Besides, even after the show, there are millions and millions of people picketing and waiting outside for us, and we have to get past them first. We have to go to some room or something were no one’s at.”
Frederick sipped a glass of water, showing the boys this exercise, teasing them and making their dry mouths jealous of his hydrated one. Frederick then walked up to the television camera, saying with a fake smile, “Welcome back to The Frederick Redone Show, I’m Frederick Redone and am speaking to four young men who say they are the cause of the rain falling hard, the wind blowing fast, the seas being drained and the sun being lost. The last question before the break was, ‘Why we should believe them?’ Well, why should we believe you? Let’s hear it from the ringleader. Jeremy, why should we believe your story?”
“I don’t care if you believe me or not. It’s not up to me to decide who the sinners are and who are not. We told you our mission, and now it’s up to you whether you want to believe. But let me tell you that the Lord shall not hear any more prayers, or any more pleas for forgiveness. He left the cross and now the prayers of many are being said without a listener. If you want to be forgiven and you know you’re a sinner, then you have to stand where we are going to stand on December twenty-fourth. But you have to believe us before you see the wrath taking place, you have to believe us before you see any sort of magic appear. Once we begin the wrath, and the angels show themselves, you are no longer allowed to be forgiven. When twelve o’clock midnight shows and the twenty-fourth turns into the twenty-fifth, judgment shall be passed. Like we said before, you have to use your faith, the rest is up to you. We are just messengers to you, we are afraid just like you are, and even we don’t know everything that’s about to come,” replied Jeremy. Frederick started laughing.
“Okay, well, that was a good reply,” Frederick chuckled with sarcasm. “We are now going to talk to two men who worked in Grewsal before it burned down. Curtis Henderson and Victor Hayes worked with these young men, and these young men say that they are also angels, but angels of a God that we never heard of. Curtis, you’re a doctor and you worked with these young men, tell me what it was like. What was it like hearing for the first time that these boys said ‘you are angels also’?” Frederick asked before Curtis began smiling.
“Well, Frederick, I felt appalled by the accusation. What we have here are four individuals whose minds were altered by something that is surreal. When these young men came into Grewsal, they were seeing statues of religious figures moving about. You see, they wanted attention and they wanted everyone to believe that they weren’t crazy. So, in return, they burnt down Grewsal, and somehow poured dirt where it used to stand,” Curtis explained.
Gabriel got up from his seat with anger, screaming, “That is a lie, and you know it. We did not burn down Grewsal!” Before Gabriel could run and punch Curtis, David pulled his shirt and forced him to sit down in his seat again.
In his defense, Curtis put back on his laughing composure, heaving his voice and saying, “It is not a lie. You boys are suffering from a sickness that has become worse over time, and this proves it. Also, their parents say that Victor and I told them about this. Their parents claim that Victor and I explained a similar story to them about their sons being the deliverers of the wrath. Well, it’s safe to say that their parents are receiving help in an institution right now, just as these boys should be receiving it at this very moment!”
The audience began clapping, glorifying Curtis as a great doctor through their cheers. “Why did their parents say a similar story to theirs?” asked Frederick.
“Well, it’s like this: When a parent loves a child, they want to protect them as much as possible. Therefore, when they heard about this story their sons spoke of, they decided to help them by vouching for their story, and in the process, they actually made themselves believe it,” Curtis explained, suddenly hearing Jeremy’s voice.
Jeremy yelled, “You did tell them about it, Curtis! Why don’t you just tell these people the truth? Why don’t you just say that you are here to try and keep us from delivering the wrath?”
“Well, personally, I feel that it is a great honor for you to say that me and Victor were se
nt here to stop you from it. It makes me feel like a superhero. If it is true, I mean, hypothetically, if it is true about you being the deliverers of the wrath, then I, as well as all these people, will make sure you never step foot on the Holy Land again,” Curtis replied. The audience stood up and gave a round of applause.
Frederick stepped in as the audience slowly sat down. “Well, we are now going to hear from two young women who say they could vouch for this story. They say that they were there when these boys completed some sort of seven signs, signs that mean the end’s coming. But there is also talk that these severely sick young men took these two beautiful ladies hostage. Now, ladies, tell us your version of the story.” Mary and Sam looked at each other in nervousness after hearing that Frederick was asking them to speak. “Mary, how about you begin first?”
Before Mary spoke, she looked at the boys’ faces and suddenly a feeling of appreciation came to her soul, seeing how special they really were. This comprehension permitted a tear to fall from her right eye. She answered in a slow motion state, “Well, Frederick, um, um, I…” She paused. It was as if something was caught in her throat. Her eyes emerged from their teary moment, and she looked over at Curtis and Victor, watching as they smiled at her, a smirk that meant they were in control of the situation.
“Well, Frederick, um, well, um, I was—” she said again, stopping once she looked at Jeremy’s fear-filled eyes. She saw all the boys’ eyes, and how Jeremy’s were the only ones that were glossy, as if tears were ready to pop out at any moment.
Mary knew what she had to do. “Well, I, um, I was, was lying the whole time. These boys kidnapped us and said that if we don’t vouch for their story, then they’ll kill us. So, now that me and Sam are safe and away from them, we could finally say the truth,” Mary stated in a fast manner, hearing the audience making noises of a gossipy tone. They were appalled by her story, and all the boys could do was look at her with shock in their eyes along with a single tear falling from each of their glares. Each of the boys closed their eyes in hurt, listening to her echo reaching the arena. “I’m sorry, I’m so very sorry,” she said in a low tone to the boys. They couldn’t even look at her; the hurt was too great.
The Wrath of Jeremy Page 29