The Wrath of Jeremy (28 page)

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

C
rying 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!”