69 INCHES AND RISING

by Rebecca Steinbeck

  The cold fingers of the Devil wrapped around her throat and she found it hard to breath. Sweat formed on her brow and she began to feel sick in her stomach. She put down the phone and stepped away from it.

  Jonathon turned to her. “Who was it?”

  She was shaking and sweating and unsteady on her feet. She touched her hand to her forehead and it was covered in sweat. She reached behind her for the stool she had stood up from to answer the phone and sat back down. She was sickly pale and looked like she had just seen a ghost. She looked at him and, sadly and with a soul whose every fibre had been gripped by fear, said, “Your mother.”

  Jonathon looked at her for several moments, unable to believe what he had just heard her say. It hit him soon enough though and he leaned back against the kitchen bench. He looked around the room, taking in all those things he saw in the hope they would overwhelm those things he felt, hoping that what he saw would banish what he felt for all time but they didn’t because that’s not how things work.

  Just then a clap of thunder roared over his home, and the early morning sky lit up like a Christmas tree pumped full of steroids and high on speed and cocaine. Jonathon looked outside and saw the stars twinkling against the black, velvet-like backdrop that was outer space. Another clap of thunder came and he wondered what was going on for there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. He stood up and went to the window and a pillar of pure white light descended from above. An angel of extraordinary beauty, the likes of which Jonathon had never seen before, stepped out of the light and beckoned him and Serena with open arms. “Come to me children, for this is the way and you must take it before it’s too late.”

  Jonathon and Serena looked at each other. There was no need for words and none were spoken because sometimes you just have to trust that something out there knows more and better than you, and this was one of those times because they trusted in what they saw. They took each others hand and left the house by the front door. Jonathon closed it then looked back at what he was leaving behind which was a whole heap but he knew in his heart that the pull of the light was strong, that their greater good was being called upon, and it was time to answer that call with all their hearts. They stepped toward the light and the angel embraced them both, wrapping her wings around them and closing them tight, drawing Jonathon and Serena into the light which drained them of all human life and replaced it with everlasting life after death. The pillar of light vanished and it took the world’s best-selling writer of horror and his girlfriend who had changed his life forever with it, leaving behind no sign but the words on a blank page and the love two hearts shared that they were here at all.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The pillar of white light that took Jonathon and Serena from where they were to where they now are slowly vanished and they looked around in awe at the scene before them. Birds flew across a clear blue sky, each of them singing a perfect song in perfect tune. Green grass spread out before them like a blanket perfectly sewn by the hand of God. A rainbow with all the pretty colors arced across the sky from one end of the horizon to the other. The sun shone brilliantly, bathing the land before them with an effervescent warmth. A cheery rabbit bounced across the ground in front of Jonathon and Serena then dived into a hole next to a great oak that towered into the sky. Jonathon and Serena looked at each other then turned to the angel that was standing behind them.

  “Are we dead?” Jonathon asked. “We must surely be dead for this must surely be Heaven.”

  The angel smiled. “Nothing is ever dead, child. It is only moved on from where it was to where it is meant to be.” She turned them back and sent them forth. She watched them wander around hand in hand, each of them like a young child at Christmas. She so hoped he had it in him to be everything she needed him to be, and she so hoped that Serena, who was once but a simple fan of his work and who was now the woman who would spend all of time by his side, had it in her to understand that while her father was not perfect and he, like everyone else, had made mistakes, he had committed the cardinal sin, murder, and not just of a human being but of the love held by one human being for another, and for that he had to be punished to the full extent of the law as written by a God who created man not to kill but to love and to do so in his name. Meanwhile, as Jonathon and Serena enjoyed the warmth given off by the sun, the man in black’s soul was burning to death in the fires of Hell. It screamed for help of course but no one helped because no one heard, and no one heard because no one cared, and while the man in black’s soul burned to death in Hell, Jonathon and Serena kissed and held each other close as the sun set behind the horizon and the twinkling stars came out to play.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The darkness surrounded Jonathon’s mother and it scared her and she wept for what she no longer had. She wept for her late husband and the pain he suffered when a car smashed hard into another, and she wept for the man she reached out to in her time of need and who responded by taking her hand and her heart and who then let go of the former and blasted a bullet into the latter. She wept for her son and his lady who she could only hope would never know what she had done and who she could only hope would never know who with. And she wept for the man in black who loved her once but proved to have loved himself even more and who hid behind a bullet in a gun when the going just got way too tough.

  Please, God. End it now. Please.

  She wanted to say the words but her tears were many and much too loud and she couldn’t get them out. She pulled her knees tight to her chest and she cried some more. Rivers of blood crossed her mind and the bones of dead men and women washed upon their shores. A bony hand grabbed her tight now and her stomach turned. The wall came down and she screamed the words that came to her and they came hard and fast and gut-wrenchingly loud. Gut-wrenching, blood-curdling, and heart-breaking. “For the love of God, Jonathon . . . please help me!!” The bony hand moved from her shoulder to her throat and gripped it tight and the screaming stopped and so did the tears.

  The words came to Jonathon too and he turned to Serena and looked at her with hurt in his eyes. “My mother is close by and she needs my help.” He stood up and helped Serena to her feet. They turned to where the pillar of light had brought them, and the angel too who was nowhere to be seen. But something else was, and it was big and bad and bloody. A tear came to Serena’s eye as the demon sent forth by the Devil and which was blocking their way hissed and spat blood and pus at them. “You shall not pass,” it said, waving its blood-stained sword through the air. Blood and pus ran down its chin and still the angel was nowhere to be seen. Jonathon stepped in front of Serena and the demon laughed. “You think you can protect her, you weak human?” It swung its sword at him and struck his arm, cutting into his flesh and he began to bleed. He looked at the wound and fear filled him and it filled Serena too. The demon swung its sword again and it cut Jonathon’s throat and that bled too. He was hurting and Serena knew it and she began to cry. Plumes of smoke began to rise from the ground and they filled the air with the pungent smell of sulphur and it burned Jonathon’s throat and nose. Thunder roared and the demon swung its sword a third time but this time Jonathon ducked and the sword missed him but it caught Serena’s arm. Her flesh burned like the fires of Hell and she prayed to God for His help.

  The angel that had taken Jonathon and Serena to their new home was in Heaven before the band of angels she had already fronted and together they looked down on what was happening. “I don’t know what to do,” the angel said. The other angels looked at each other and shook their heads. In a fit of rage, one of the angels grabbed the first angel by the throat and lifted her in the air. “We are tired of your ineptitude.” It then aimed the angel at the ground and threw her with every ounce of strength God had given it. The angel fell back toward the ground and soon it crashed at Jonathon and Serena’s feet and its wing broke and the angel wept. My God, why have you forsaken me? Why indeed.

  The demon watched the angel for several moments and it nudged it with the tip of its sword
. The angel began to sob and the demon smiled. It looked at Jonathon and Serena and raised its sword in the air. It roared and its putrid smell cut Jonathon deeper than the sword’s blade already had. The fires of Hell rose around them and their home began to burn. The demons in Hell danced with joy and the Devil smiled. Game, set, and match. But good will never die, and neither do good men, and Jonathon Steel, for all his weaknesses and short-comings and self-indulgences, was not just a good man, he was a great one and his chance to prove it had come. God could only hope he believed he was as great as those in Heaven already knew he was.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Hours turned into days and days passed, and soon the sun set behind the hills again and darkness swept the land once more. Jonathon looked around. His home had burned to Hell and it was no longer beautiful. But it was still his home and he had to love it and he did, and the love he had for it gave him strength. He turned to Serena and she was sleeping. Her arm was stained red still from the blood she had lost and her wound was a stain on his heart that he did not like. It gnawed at him and hurt him and he had to fight back but didn’t know how. He looked around for the angel and saw her standing on top of a hill that smouldered from the fire that still burnt here and there but was mostly out. Her back was to him and her broken wing hung low beside her body. He climbed the hill toward her, treading softly on the ground for it was hot from the fire and it would surely burn him if he trod heavily upon it. He reached her and saw that her wing had almost broken away from her body and her back was stained with blood.

  “I have failed you, Jonathon,” the angel said. “I have failed your mother and I have failed you.” She looked to the darkness and prayed to

  God it would swallow her whole and she could forget this nightmare had ever happened.

  “There comes a time,” Jonathon said, “when we must turn a blind eye to what is not and accept what is, for what is, is meant to be.” He might be dead, he thought, but he hadn’t lost the ability to come up with a good quote every now and then. There comes a time when we must turn a blind eye to what is not and accept what is, for what is, is meant to be. Put that on social media.

  The angel bowed her head for she knew he was right, and to not believe it would be to turn a blind eye to what is in the hope that what wasn’t would take its place. In that moment her heart began to beat again with the belief that what was in that moment would take them to wherever they had to be. “The time has come, Jonathon, for me to stop feeling sorry for myself and to teach you all you need to know so you might fulfil your destiny, which is to free your mother from the depths of Hell and to rule this land and to do s0 with Serena by your side.” She looked around at the smouldering earth and it almost broke her heart again but she knew, deep down, and deep down was reached because she had peeled away the layer of despair that had built itself around her, that what had been built once could be built again and it would be, because Jonathon Steel was not just a good man, he was a great one.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Jonathon went and sat on the scorched earth next to Serena who was still sleeping. He thought of where they had come from and what they had given up to be where they were. In life before death he had everything he wanted. It wasn’t until he passed into life after death that he would get everything he needed. He rested his hand on Serena’s arm. It was as soft and warm to the touch as the very first time he touched it and a tear came to his eye, for he loved her so and he wanted only what was good for her. The warmth from the fires that no longer burned crawled upon his skin, and he wondered how good he had really been for her if all he had done was brought her to a place that was dead.

  “I’m terribly sorry,” he said to her, on one hand hoping she would hear him and on the other hoping she was dreaming of a far away place that was full of love and hope, and devoid of pain and hurt. But neither life nor life after death is ever that easy, and the monsters in the dark were hunting Serena for fun and Serena was running for her life. The full moon in the sky laughed heartily as Serena raised her hand and brushed away a low-hanging branch and she passed the branch and then she ran some more. Her breath became short and her body weak. The monsters were close behind her now and their bony hands reached out. They caught her heart and they laughed and played with it, bouncing it on the ground then shooting it to the hoop for a three-pointer and BANG the crowd goes wild as the monsters inch ever so closer to the gold medal.

  A tear escaped Serena’s eye as she slept peacefully on the ground and the man in black stepped into the light, reached out to the monsters that were chasing his beloved daughter, and wrapped his hand around their necks and pulled them to the ground. A gut-wrenching scream pierced Serena’s heart and she looked back to her father who was driving the blade of a rusty knife into the hearts of the monsters. The blood of the Devil, which was laced with the venom of a thousand deadly snakes, poured from the wounds. Her father looked up at her. “Run, Serena. Run with all your might and don’t ever look back.” She ran and prayed to God she would never have to.

  Jonathon kissed Serena on the forehead then stood up and brushed the dirt from his jeans and looked around. It was dark, and clouds of smoke swirled through the air, leaving a putrid taste on his tongue. He looked down at Serena and wished her a heavy and happy sleep, that she wouldn’t have to face the darkness he had put into words on a page and then, with the help of a masterful marketing team, sold millions of copies of the book the words became to people who thought they owned him but never did. It was a world that wasn’t real, but it was all he had back then and it was everything God had given him and now He wanted some of it back and the time had come for Jonathon to give it. He turned and looked up at the angel with a broken wing who was resting on top of the hill and he went to her, leaving Serena in the bosom of God, trusting Him to protect her as Jonathon had. He came up behind the angel who was looking down to the other side of the hill. At the bottom of the hill was a flat piece of ground and it was surrounded by a dozen soldiers in uniform and they were armed with swords and shields.

  “Are you ready?” the angel asked without turning back to him.

  He looked down at the soldiers who didn’t look back. They only stood at attention, ready for the battle that was about to take place and one the angel hoped would turn him into what he needed to be. Was he ready? The answer was always yes and it was this time too. He was strong from all the bad things that had happened to him and it was time to put that strength to good use, so of course the answer was yes. It always was.

  The angel felt his soul touch hers. She drew strength from his and she thrived on it. Her broken wing began to heal and the goodness in God surged through her heart. She stood up and spread her wings and they were a glorious sight as they reached across the night sky. She touched her hand to her chest and connected with her heart and soul and they radiated love from one side of the Universe to the other. The energy that is, was, and will be everything from the beginning of time to its end tapped into them and it drove the angel forward and Jonathon followed.

  The angel and Jonathon climbed down the hill and joined the soldiers at the bottom of it. They walked between them and stood in the middle of the flat piece of ground. The angel turned to him. “You’ve been brought here, Jonathon, to save your mother from the darkest, most putrid depths of Hell.” Jonathon closed his eyes but not before a tear escaped one of them. The angel continued speaking. “Cry if you must, for now is the time to do it. In front of me and in front of these men who don’t care if you cry, who don’t care if you hurt or not. Shed your tears now because the demons you will surely face in your quest to save your mother will destroy you for all time if you show them any sign of weakness.”

  “Tears aren’t a sign of weakness,” Jonathon replied, wiping one away.

  The angel laid a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe. Maybe not. But they are an opportunity the dark side will take advantage of. You can be sure of that.”

  More tears came and Jonathon tried hard to quell their flow, but
like a powerful river, they kept coming. And with the tears came all the hurt and pain he had known and felt in life that didn’t serve him then and wouldn’t serve him now. He fell to his knees and he lifted his head high to the darkness and roared like a lion. He jumped to his feet and ran to the first soldier and dived at him. He crashed into him and they fell to the ground, rolling in the dirt and dust and the ashes of what was Jonathon’s new home. The soldier pushed him off and reached for his sword that had fallen to the ground. Jonathon pinned his arm to the ground and the soldier fought him off. The soldier reached for it again and Jonathon bit into his arm and drew blood from his flesh. It was clumsy but effective. The angel was impressed but it wasn’t enough. She had more work to do and she stepped forward to begin it.

  “You have plenty of courage, Jonathon,” the angel said. She reached down, grabbed his arm, and helped him to his feet. “I can see why the other angels gave you to me.”

  Jonathon brushed the dirt off his clothes and spat the soldier’s blood from his mouth. “What do you mean, ‘gave me to you’?”

  The angel smiled. “You have been chosen, Jonathon. In life, you were chosen to tell stories that would help take humanity from where it was to where it was meant to be. In life after death, you were chosen to help your mother from where she was to where she was meant to be. And you were chosen to do both because they trusted you to get the job done.”

  The angel stepped back and another of the soldiers rushed toward him. He turned to the soldier, cocked his elbow, and struck him a powerful blow to the jaw. The soldier fell to the ground holding his face and he writhed in pain. Blood flowed freely from his mouth and it ran between his fingers toward his neck. The angel looked at the blood and smiled. She went to the soldier and wiped his mouth with her hand which was smeared now with his blood. She wiped it over her arm and her body tingled with delight. She licked her fingers, tasting the soldier’s blood as it passed over the back of her mouth and down her throat. She laughed out loud and raised her hand in the air, drawing a lightning bolt into it then driving it into the soldier’s heart, cooking it like a piece of steak. She reached into his chest and pulled out his heart. It was cooked through and the angel bit into, its meaty goodness filling her body with sweet delight. She turned to Jonathon and offered him some. He shook his head. “No thank you,” he said. She smiled and took another bite. He watched her as she began to dance which she did with natural aplomb, gliding across the charred earth as if she was floating on air. She smiled at Jonathon in a way that suggested to him that she wanted to take his cock out of his pants and suck it until he came in her mouth then turned to the soldier behind her and opened her mouth wide to reveal the fangs of a vampire then sunk them deep into his neck. She drank his blood until she was full then let his body go and it collapsed in a heap on the ground. She turned back to Jonathon. “You thought you’d left it all behind, didn’t you?” she said. “But you haven’t. No man ever really does, especially not the world-famous Jonathon Steel who in death is much more powerful with his hands than he ever was in life with his words. You see Jonathon, while words have the power to change the world, they can only do so if the reader wants to be changed. A man’s hands, however, can kill another against the other’s will. And their own, come to think of it. All the money in the world can’t buy you that kind of power.”