A Abba's Apocalypse (18 page)

              I advance slowly forward trying not to brush a bush or

even snap a twig. I weave my way to the edge of the clearing and begin circling the perimeter. My head moves like a radar back and forth across the clearing, and then returning to the forest. The frosty brown grass crunches under my feet forcing me to take slower thoughtful steps. The darkness reveals a worn path around the stone that the daylight camouflages. The worn area is darker than its surroundings. I continue moving while staring for any unusual shadows or figures in the forest. The night turns every bush into a crouched Demon, and every tree into a motionless LD. I near the circle’s end without incident. I know the next step of my journey can endanger many lives. I pray I’m doing the right thing.

              I slowly spin and observe while taking my final steps toward the entrance stone. Something in me just doesn’t feel right. It’s that feeling you get when someone is watching. I stop and stare for signs of red dots in the dark, but I just don’t see anything. I realize I can’t keep standing here. I got to either: return to the bunch and jeopardize them, or try and enter “T,” and possibly jeopardize its existence, and the brothers below. I think of the family hidden in the bushes as the hair on my neck stiffens. Haste warns me to take a chance and enter. My subconscious tells me to listen to my dangerous feeling. Logic commands my common senses “there’s no evil here.” I decide I’ll have to take a chance for the family’s sake.

              I progress swiftly to move in position and slide the stone away. I bend down close to the ground where I nervously pounce down the secret unlocking key. I hear the click of the unlocking mechanism. I place my hands on the slab’s cold frosty surface and begin pushing it away. My worse fear is realized, as I hear stamping and snarling sounds charge towards me. Frantically, I try relocking the lid by sliding it back to its original resting position. My shaking hands are sliding faster than the slick stone is moving. I hurry and lean forward in an attempt to apply even more pressure

and counteract the stone’s slipperiness. I hope the increased

pressure will slow the slipping of my hands long enough to

beat the remaining stone before they completely slide off it. I win, as it clicks shut. I calmly and purposely stand to face my foe with outstretched arms. I surrender as I watch a dozen, or so, LD preparing to pounce on me. Several have those evil red eyes bouncing up and down, while the rest are like black pearls peering in the night. They are just several feet away as my eyes look to the tree line. Four figures drift away as my heart goes with those shadows. A great peace comes over me right before this doom does.

Chapter 7: Heaven over Hell

              My spirit suddenly grabs my hand inviting me to go to a better place. I am too weak to resist its placid pull. I am surrounded by this most peaceful white mist as I venture forward effortlessly. It feels so warm and moist. It’s like being in a warm relaxing shower that cleans and massages away all the worries and pains of the world. I close my eyes and enjoy its sweet aroma of fresh purity. In the distant mist comes a voice. It sounds so familiar and loving. It whispers words I’ve not heard for an eternity. “Joey, my dear Joey,” wanders softly up to my most willing ears. I can barely make out the approaching figure floating with its two faces. It mysteriously travels towards me searching for a person with my name. The wafting whiteness swirls around revealing a glimpse of the intertwined couple. “Momma, and, is that you sis?” The inseparable figures unlock and stretch their approaching arms towards me. I fall to my knees in repentance. I cannot fight back the uncontrollable tears as both sorrow and joy overtake me. I lean my head back and bare my naked heart. The cleansing flow washes over my cheeks. Every desire, worry, fear, is spit out of my soul. The only thing I feel now is innocent love.

              I am squeezed by unconditional arms that will never ever let me go. I close my eyes as I see them, smell them, and hug them once more. “My little Joey,” momma comfortably whispers. She once again strokes my hair like she’s done so many times before. I remember falling asleep as she’d hum a relaxing rhythm to her soothing strokes. I once again melt to sleep in the longing of my momma’s secure arms. My adoring sister tricks me with her soft duplicating touch. Then, she abruptly tickles me back awake. Her devilish side once again shows her natural ornery affection. She begins wrestling me out of momma’s embrace while momma laughs. I hear her treacherous giggling that has gotten me in so much trouble in times past. She continues forcing her tickles and pecking

kisses all over me. I curl to defend myself against the merciless princess onslaught. How I love this moment. How I never want it to end.

              “We’ve been waiting for you Sonny. We have always been waiting for you.” I pull ever so slightly away so I can see their wonderful faces once more. I notice, and then say, “Momma, you’re so young and pretty. And, you too sis!” She sweetly says to me, “Oh my dear Joey, you’re what beautiful is.” I uncontrollably cry some more. She whispers, “Aw, now then. You just let it all out baby.” Momma holds me tight as her warm hand swipes small circles on my back that melts every bit of anxiety away. I tell them how much I love them and how much I miss them. I feel my momma telling me, “We always knew inside you would find your way home to Heaven.” Sis just looks, smiles, and slowly nods her confirmation up and down. “How I missed you,” I tell them in my attempt to hug them both once more.

              Momma tells me, “We were allowed to come visit you to tell you something.” She stops and places the soft palm of her hand against my cheek. Sis continues the statement, “God wants us to tell you He is with you. He is also very proud of the love you have for others.” Momma resumes with, “You have to return for a little while more, but know He will be your champion over all evil.” I gaze not into my momma’s eyes, but into a prophet’s. Mom says, “There is coming great sorrow and destruction. You will need to rely on His word, and your strong faith.” Suddenly, my momma and sister are being peeled away from me as I am pulled backwards into the steamy haze. The last thing I hear as they disappear is, “Remember, always carry our love with you and God’s hope.” I continue drifting into the misty abyss as my heart receives a kiss of faith. I’m sucked back into the white womb and cry out, “Bye momma, bye sis! For a little while more.”

              I am standing in the cold once more. My blurry sight adjusts from the heavenly brightness to this hellish darkness. At once I detect streaks of orange, blue, red, and white

swirling within this shadowy tapestry. My eyes begin to focus through this carnival of lights as some strange force holds me still. I am powerless to move. I can only stand and silently watch these puffs of fireworks on the horizon. My consciousness slaps me back to life, rewinding my memory to the looming doom. I once again see the field and feel the fear. But, the field is clear. I rip myself out of my powerless pose and spin around in to a defensive position. I see absolutely nothing. The burden of death has fled the field as I stand just confused and in awe.

              I hear a loud explosion, and then ringing. There is another even closer explosion, but all I hear still is this peaceful ring. Out of nowhere, I am jerked to the ground from behind. “Is this an LD?” I turn over and am instantly comforted to see it is my brother Gary trying to say something. His mouth is moving, but no words are coming out. He looks like he’s yelling at me. I turn my ear towards him so I can hear him better. As I do, I hear a louder ringing overtake the first one. Great flashes blind me as the ground begins to shakes. I keep straining to hear as Gary grabs and drags me down inside the chamber. I lay on the steps dazed and paralyzed for some reason. I stare up just in time to see Gary sliding the stone cover back in place. Everything is surreal. I don’t hear any sound now; not even the ringing. I am numb and dumbfounded.

              Gary jumps over me as the chamber light comes on. It looks like he’s in a hurry to go down below. I notice I am awfully tired while feeling funny vibrations coming randomly from the stone steps. I see the last of Gary as he vanishes into the lower chamber. I want to follow him, but I can’t for some reason. I question, “Why has he abandoned me in my time of need?” I am too tired though to get up and tell him what kind of friend he is. My ear itches, so I pry my left hand from the shaking step to scratch it. There’s something like spit on my fingers. I grow angry with Gary as I roll the goo between my

fingers. I think he must be “fighting mad” to spit on me. I

can’t remember doing anything to make him mad though. I recall him yelling at me outside, but I don’t remember doing anything to hurt him. I don’t remember him spitting on me either. Maybe he spit on me outside? I am curiously intoxicated and angry, but, in a way, kind of wonderful. I think, “What happened to the Demons?” I bring my hand to my face and stare at the glob in my hand. I really try and focus in on it, because it looks kind of funny. My head is hurting and think, “Maybe this is why I can’t see right, and why I feel dizzy.” I squeeze and stretch the jelly mess between my fingers. It feels like spit, but, why is it red? I want to get up, and go down stairs with my other brothers. But, I am just too, too tired. I wish I could hear something. I think I’ll take a short nap here on the steps.

              “You get that side of him, and we’ll carry this end,” the voices say. I think things are returning to normal, because I can hear again- hooray! I wonder, “What are they trying to carry away in such a hurry? What the heck are you guys doing?” I open my eyes and ask, “Why are you grabbing me?” I feel like I am a rope in a “tug of war” game. I tell them, “Okay, you guys had your fun, so put me down.” But, they won’t listen to me. I feel myself getting angry and defensive. I sense them running along while stretching me. “Why are you doing this?” I tell them. I am confused because these were my friends. I feel real sad now. I wonder what they’re going to do to me. I want to fight them off. But, I am too tired. I think I’ll sleep a couple more minutes.

              “Joey, can you hear me?” I open my eyes and see Gary. I ask him, “What did I do to make you guys so mad at me?” He leans over me, and, “What the heck?”-hugs me! “You were hurt by the meteor shower,” he informs me. My mind race to recall the last memories I have of being outside. As I do, warm wool blankets press on me while I am being sucked down into this comfortable cradle. I try and figure out what happened and what’s going on. Gary says, “We felt the chamber shaking over and over. We knew something was happening outside.

I ran upstairs to see if I could find out what was going on. I opened the hatch and saw you standing in the middle of the meteor shower. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen. They were exploding everywhere.” I reach to my ear because Gary’s voice sounds real muffled. He grabs my hand and tells me, “Your ears were injured. I put cotton balls in them to stop the bleeding.” He lets go of my arm as I proceed to confirm the cotton in my ears. I tap the area and feel the soft fibers. I gently squeeze and twist it to identify with my fingers that it really is cotton stuck in my ears. “The explosions became so violent we even thought we’d be destroyed. Everything was shaking down here. Well, I saw you just standing there. I don’t know how long you were outside, but it was long enough to injury your ears. Everything else on you seems to work okay.”

              I tell Gary “My head hurts a little and I am real sleepy.” Gary replies, “You take a rest. All the commotion seems to be over now anyways.” The last thing I hear is, “Goodnight,” as I see the room get dark.

              I can’t tell if I’m dreaming or awake as I lay in this quiet darkness. I wonder if I’ll have permanent hearing damage, while also thinking of what may have happened to the LD. I have a sudden moment of fear realizing they were about to tear me to shreds. I have a lot of questions I just can’t answer. Is this a bad dream? I feel my nose and realize I am awake. I think of Moses, Katie, and the kids. My heart becomes excited and yells to me to get up and go help them. I feel half rested, but I know I cannot sleep if my friends are in danger. I grab the sides of this cradle and realize it’s really a cot. I push up while wishing I had some light to show me what is in this dark. The cot slides against the stone below and scratches it. I turn and sit sideways to pat myself and see what I am wearing. I identify I have my pants, socks, and undershirt on. I feel around on the floor and find my boots. I fumble in the dark but manage to slide each one on. I figure this is good

enough until I find some light. I stand and slowly stretch my

arms out in front of me and proceed to blindly feel through the darkness ahead. My body follows my probing whiskers that I imagine are moving in a straight line. I step with one foot then slide the other alongside it. This should help me to stay in a straight line. I count four steps and still feel nothing. I wonder if this is the supply room. I rationalize that it has to be, just because of the sheer size of the emptiness. Ah, I feel a flat surface finally. This has to be a wall. I’ll try moving left while I slide my hands on it. “Oops,” I think, “I just kicked over a box.” I reach my hand down and acknowledge it has the feel of cardboard. I run my hand over its top to locate its end and height. I step over it with my left leg as I return my left hand to the wall. I slide my hand further along the wall and lift and join my right leg to my left. “Ah, finally,” I feel the door. I slide my hand down until it thumps the knob. I open the door and can see again.

              I turn back inside the room and see my shirt, jacket, and belt. Quickly and quietly, I put them on. “Joey, did you get a good sleep?” my Irreverent brother Sam asks. I see him in the doorway as I finish getting dressed. I tell him, “I can’t spend any more time sleeping! I have to help another brother named Moses.” I friendly warn Sam not to tell the others I’m up. I’m afraid they might try and force me to sleep some more. I tell Sam, “I can’t afford anymore beauty sleep. I got to get out of here.” He tells me, “Well, you shouldn’t. You’ve been asleep for a day and a half.” My body’s telling me, “That’s impossible!” I am still tired. I tell Sam, “I got to go.” I grow angry with myself at the thought I would ever leave a family in such dire need. Sam senses my serious urgency as I watch his face staunchly change to a shade of loyal blue. I hurry and buckle up. I kindly shove Sam aside so I can get out of this room now! Other brothers come out of the chapel and ask me how am I feeling? I split the crowd with my hurried departure as I tell them, “Sorry, out of my way. I have to go on a rescue mission.” Gary jumps in front of me blocking my way. He tries convincing me nothing could have survived