Pulse of Heroes

by A. Jacob Sweeny

  Elliot was obviously upset talking about such things. His eyes glowed and changed colors. First the blue of his eyes changed shades from dark to light and then they took on different shades of green, while his pupils glowed in yellows and gold. Michelle sat on the couch staring at him and her heart filled with apprehension. She mused that there in front of her sat a creature that only looked human, a forgery of the real thing, and she was no longer sure if it was a good idea to get too close to him. When Elliot noticed the way Michelle leaned back away from him with alarm, he realized that he had frightened her and he wanted to leave at once. But he knew that if he left abruptly it would make him seem all the more cold and uncaring, which would frightened her even more. He hated it when he scared people. He hated it because it made him feel that much further from being one of them; it made him feel like an outsider, a monster. But maybe it was a good thing if Michelle grew frightened of him? She would leave him alone if she feared him, and then he wouldn’t have to think about what he felt for her because the situation would be out of his hands completely.

  Elliot looked at the door desperately, and when Michelle picked up on his thoughts her expression quickly changed from nervousness to worry. She hadn’t meant to judge him, and she didn’t want him to leave. Elliot’s eyes searched the room, landing on the clock that read 7:15 PM, and he got up from the couch.

  “Elliot, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to sound like that,” Michelle said, trying not to sound too desperate. “I know that people die in wars. It’s just that the idea of it is so foreign to me. I’ve never been in a battle. I’m sorry.”

  Elliot was touched by Michelle’s vulnerability and the fact the she didn’t hide it from him. It was one of the things that attracted him to her to begin with. Yes, she tried to play games with her feelings, and yes she put on a front and tried her best to pry herself out of uncomfortable situations, but in the end, she was completely honest about what was in her heart. She didn’t feel embarrassed by her feelings. They were pure, even if they included fear or anger.

  In a softer tone Elliot told her that he had been a soldier in many wars and had fought for numerous countries. But he was done with that. He had realized that greed and want of power were society’s biggest ills, and even good leaders with good intentions succumbed to their temptations. “There is nothing anyone can do to stop it, not religion, not government, and not war. It has to be stopped from within, but people are people and they haven’t really changed much in all those years. With all the technology and knowledge being lost and then found again, it has all remained the same.” He smiled at her sadly. He had realized that no leader was worth the sweat of his brow or a drop of his blood. “I’m telling you about the world of yesterday, but you live in the here and now, in today. What happened in my past is no longer relevant to what I’m doing now.” He suddenly realized how very tired Michelle looked and worried about her getting enough rest. He knew that she was still recovering from her drowning, and also suspected that her parents would be arriving home soon. He wasn’t sure if talking about these subjects was a good idea. It obviously upset her and she needed to be as calm and comfortable as possible for the healing process to really work. Don’t shut me out, Michelle wanted to plead to him, but she was afraid she might sound desperate. But then the next words that came out of her mouth did so without her even thinking about what they meant.

  “I wish I could have been there with you, to see all those things and…” Michelle immediately regretted her words; she wished she could press a button and rewind time, but it was too late. The words were out there and they revealed that she would not have minded spending all those years next to him. She had put herself out there, and now she could really get hurt or rejected. But Elliot just smiled at her and put his hand on her cheek like he did the first night he came to see her.

  “Michelle, I wouldn’t want you to be there with me. No one should have to bear the sadness of more than one human lifetime. I don’t know how I do it sometimes. All that I’ve seen and learned does not make up for the loss.”

  “But what about the happiness and the good things that come in life? “She still wished that Elliot could snap his fingers and they could both be transformed to another time in some distant land. She wished she were far away from Willow’s Creek, a place where she was stuck being a teenager in high school. Maybe she could live in a sunny port town with Elliot by her side and watch merchants sell salted fish out of baskets. She had a faraway smile on her face.

  “There are always good things in life, and those never change. But I have outlived each and every one of them. I have seen rivers disappear and oceans reclaim whole cities. It’s hard for me to look back and see the lively places I have traveled to reduced to mere ruins. There are so many people who wish to stay alive longer but they don’t really know what they are asking for. They are blessed that they have an end, which is always the beginning of something else. What has happened to me is kind of a curse. I envy you and everybody else. I’m stuck walking but never getting anywhere.” Michelle didn’t like hearing Elliot refer to his own life as a curse. She was only beginning to get to know him, and to her he was a miracle.

  Chapter 9

  After their last meeting Elliot did not visit Michelle for four excruciating days. She knew that he went out of town and would be back soon but that didn’t seem to matter. She missed him horribly, more than she would have ever imagined. She felt so abandoned by him even though she knew that it wasn’t true. But how could she know that he wasn’t visiting another girl. He was way too good looking to be out there without other women noticing him. Michelle’s insecurities dug deep into her mind and refused to let her rest. By Thursday evening Michelle thought that she would go crazy if she didn’t see him or at least get some sort of message from him. And at bedtime between silent tears Michelle whispered Elliot’s name hoping that by some means he would hear her. Just maybe he would be able to sense her sadness and return.

  Friday, when Michelle returned home from school the mailman had delivered a small package in her name. Once upstairs in her room, Michelle went straight to her desk and looked at the nondescript brown wrapping. It was small, a little larger than a crayon box, and had no return address. She shook the box and heard nothing unusual rattle in there. What she found inside surprised her and excited her beyond belief. It was a brand new cell phone. It was almost identical to the one she used to have, only newer and with more features. At first she wondered if her mom bought it after seeing that her old one was broken and was only playing a joke on her. But then she noticed a folded piece of notepaper taped to the backside of the box. She removed it carefully making sure that it didn’t rip and when she unfolded it she couldn’t believe what she saw written on it:

  Dearest Michelle, I’m sorry about what happened to your phone and hope this one will do as a replacement.

  Yours Truly, Elliot

  Michelle’s heart almost burst with relief. The gift meant that Elliot was thinking about her, even if she wasn’t around him. He cared about her and the cell phone was evidence for that. Later that evening during dinner her mom asked her what was in the package and Michelle told her that it was an ‘inside’ joke from her friends. That explanation seemed to satisfy her, but Michelle knew that she would have to come up with a better answer because to use the phone her mother would have to agree to activate it.

  Saturday morning Michelle was in great mood and joined her mother on a bike ride to the local bookstore. A local author who had made it big was signing copies of his novel. While the author gave a brief lecture, Michelle quietly wandered about the store leafing through many of the new books on display. A book called Immortality: Myth and Mystery caught her eye and she picked it up with great interest. But to her disappointment it was obvious that the author was writing to someone that already knew about the subject. She would have to take a whole class just to understand the introduction alone. Later, while having lunch, Michelle was grateful for the closeness that she shared w
ith her mother. But it felt strange to be hiding Elliot from her. Even if he didn’t belong to the Hekademos Learning Center she would still keep him all to herself. It felt good. She enjoyed having her own life away from her parents and wondered if that was wrong or just a part of her growing up.

  When their car approached the driveway of the house Michelle immediately picked up the unmistaken aroma of the sea through her rolled down window. Elliot was somewhere nearby. As they got out of the car Michelle was curious to see if her mother could detect the scent too, but she didn’t. After her mom went into the house, Michelle stuck around outside to see if Elliot would reveal himself. She wanted to know that she wasn’t going crazy and picking up on things that weren’t there. “How did you know I was here?” he asked Michelle, stepping forward from the side yard. Elliot smiled at her and she smiled right back at him and told him that she could sense him and his scent was everywhere. Perhaps she too had extra-human abilities, she teased. Elliot joked that he hadn’t showered that morning and he hoped he wasn’t insulting her with his body odor.

  “No really, what is that smell? Is that cologne?”

  “Are you serious? I’m not wearing anything,” a surprised Elliot answered.

  “I guess it’s all in my mind,” Michelle laughed it off. She wasn’t going to dwell on such a non-issue. Elliot was back and he was happy.

  Michelle told her mother that she was going to go study with Samantha, and a few minutes later she and Elliot were heading towards the school. Michelle let him know how much she appreciated him getting her a new phone. But Elliot didn’t make a big deal out of it. “I was the one that broke it; it’s only fair that I replace it.” Michelle fought her urges to ask him where he had gone to, but as usual her curiosity won out over her will. And he freely explained to her that he had gone to listen to a lecture that a professor at Harvard University was giving on ‘Heroes of the Ancient World’.

  “You just flew over there for one lecture?” Michelle wondered if Elliot was telling her the truth, and if he was extra wealthy or just crazy to do something like that. Maybe both? But then she remembered the book she had looked at earlier in the day. “I read in a book today that Giants really existed a long time ago. Did the professor mention that?” she asked smartly.

  “Not in so many words, but close,” Elliot said as he walked over to enter the access code to open the school’s front gate. To Michelle’s surprise, Elliot walked straight to the Thunderbird and fished out the keys from his pocket. He unlocked the door for Michelle.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, excited and apprehensive all at once.

  “For a drive.”

  “Where?” Michelle asked again, trying not to sound too alarmed.

  “Anywhere you’d like,” Elliot answered back smiling. Michelle smiled with excitement and wondered if what they were doing would count as their first official date. Once they had driven out of the large gates Michelle asked him again about the giants.

  “Are you sure you really want to know about all of this?” Elliot asked, warning her that delving into such topics was like opening Pandora’s Box. But Michelle didn’t care. She knew that if such subjects were so important to him, that she would need to learn more about them, and maybe she would even be able to help him one day if he ever needed her to. Elliot had to think for a while. He really didn’t know where to begin, but since Michelle had mentioned giants he decided to start there. He began by telling her a story that he had heard a long time ago while growing up in Eridu around 2700 BC.

  “Back then, just like today, there were many stories circulating about people with special powers who could live for an unimaginable amount of time. I didn’t pay much attention to them because they were no different than children’s fairytales. But when I realized that I was different and that some of the things I could do were mentioned in those same stories, I began scrutinizing them and asking people where they originated from.

  “Did you find anything?” she asked, fascinated.

  “I learned that Gilgamesh was a real king who ruled Ur, a neighboring city-state, some time before I was born. He is described as possessing superhuman abilities, and supposedly ruled after the great flood, which is the same flood the Bible talks about, the one with Noah and the Ark. Anyway, Gilgamesh is described as many things: a giant, a hero, a mighty hunter, and a champion. The story tells us that he was a wild and ruthless leader early in his life, challenging every strong man to a fighting match, and seducing every virgin on her wedding night.”

  “What a jerk!” Michelle exclaimed. Elliot laughed because she had no problem getting angry at the mythical king.

  “Gilgamesh is described as being 1/3 human and 2/3 god. He was an Anunaki, the Sumerian equivalent of a demigod or a titan.” Michelle’s eyes grew large and she swallowed hard.

  “I knew it! So if you are anything like him, then you are a god or an angel!” she said to him with admiration.

  “I am not an angel Michelle, but I’ll take that as a compliment. If I was, I think I would have figured that out by now.” Elliot smiled with sad eyes, and Michelle felt disappointed and a little silly. She looked at him and thought that if there were angels, they would definitely look like him.

  “Don’t worry about it. Whenever people meet someone who can do the things I can they automatically assume that they are either angels or demons. We are either feared and hated or loved and venerated as gods.” It was obvious that Elliot was speaking from personal experience.

  “So, if you’re not like Gilgamesh, than what do you think you are?”

  Elliot shook his head in frustration because that was the exact question that had been burning a hole in his brain for thousands of years.

  “Michelle, I already told you; no matter how many times you ask me the answer is always the same. None of us really know anything about our true origin. Not so far anyway, and…”

  “But what about God in the Bible? Didn’t he create everything?” Michelle blurted out.

  “God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Eve and Gilgamesh, or Adam and Eve and Elliot,” he said, telling her that he had already researched that avenue.

  “Well then I guess you are the Devil’s mischief,” Michelle teased, lowering her tone to sound like the voice-over in an old black and white horror flick. Elliot, obviously upset, suddenly accelerated the vehicle and her body jerked back and stuck to her seat.

  “I have never understood why people are so negative towards things they don’t understand. Why can’t someone like me belong in this world the same way that you do? Why is it that I either have to be a special creature belonging to God, or a spawn, a monster born completely outside of God’s realm?” Elliot spoke with pain and Michelle thought about the isolation that he previously had only hinted of, suddenly realizing why he could speak of himself as being cursed. He just didn’t belong.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that…” Michelle looked at his pained face and Elliot could tell that he had frightened her. He slowed down the car and started to reach for her hand, but then changed his mind, to Michelle’s disappointment.

  “It’s not you, Michelle. You are only going by what you know.” He didn’t want to continue with his self-pity. He wanted to just be.

  “And besides, the Bible is filled with references to other beings that aren’t mentioned in the story of creation.” Michelle looked at him, puzzled. Elliot explained to her that if she read the Bible she would find many mentions of ‘giants’, also called ‘Anakim’ in Hebrew. From the description of the Anakim it was obvious that they were the same as the Sumerian Anunaki. The Hebrew Bible, just like the epic story of Gilgamesh, used the word ‘giants’ interchangeably with words such as: heroes, guardians, champions, and watchers. What’s more, just like in the Sumerian creation myth, the great flood of Noah was sent in part to destroy these beings. But they weren’t all destroyed. The Bible recounts that remnants of these champions survived and lived among humans. Michelle looked at Elliot in disbelief. She ha
d never heard anything even remotely close to what he was telling her. Giants and champions? She wondered what Bible he was reading out of!

  “I can tell that you don’t believe me,” Elliot said. Michelle tried to protest but he just told her again that it wasn’t her fault.

  “The Bible has fallen out of favor in the last century. What people who never read it don’t understand is that there is a wealth of worldly knowledge in there. It’s not just about believing or not. There are many historical truths in it. Trust me, I know.

  Michelle asked him more about the giants.

  “You’ll find the Bible tells of the Nephilim, ‘the fallen.’ Sometimes they are referred to as the ‘Sons of God’. Before the great flood, these Nephilim are said to have mated with human women. These unions produced a cursed hybrid known as the Anakim, the giants. And God brought on the great flood to destroy them.

  “But why destroy them?” Michelle asked, concerned that if Elliot was somehow connected to these beings that someone out there might want to hurt him. He was obviously good.

  “It says that they abused the powers they had to control humans and lived like tyrants, kind of like King Gilgamesh did before he had a change of heart. There are other books that were part of the original Hebrew sacred writings and they have lots of references to the Giants and Champions. But it wasn’t until the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered that anyone paid much attention to them. Some of the writings even have references to special towns that were built for the Nephilim and their descendants, the Giants, to dwell in. They even mention Gilgamesh by name in the Book of Giants!”