Chapter Nine
1
Trevor felt great after waking up. He was actually getting things done around the house. His unemployment check had come and he had gotten some things that he had needed.
He needed a lot of things. The storms had destroyed his garden.
He had to keep hoping that things would get better. He had to do whatever he could to keep the bad stuff off his mind.
The windows were open in the living room. The breeze felt good as he sat on the couch and tried to play guitar. He hadn’t played since his dad’s funeral.
He thought about a movie that he had seen. It was about going down to the crossroads. He felt like he was at a crossroads in his life.
The guitar wasn’t sounding like he had wanted it to. He decided to put it back in its case. When he was getting up, the front door swung open.
Sunlight filled the room through the open door, and then a shadow appeared. The screen door had not opened, but a man still walked in.
Trevor knew he had to do something, but he couldn’t move. He had just watched a man walk through his screen door without hurting himself or the door.
The man was dressed like a priest. The man stopped and stood in front of Trevor.
Time stood still as the silence got uncomfortable. The two just stood there.
“You…,” Trevor started. He knew that he couldn’t be talking to a normal man. He had walked through the door. “You have to leave.”
The man wasn’t going to leave. He grabbed the cross that hung around his neck and held it up.
“You have to leave,” Trevor repeated.
The priest held the cross with both hands. He closed his eyes and appeared to be praying.
Trevor got an image of the priest walking and then getting beat up. He couldn’t control what was going on in his head.
The house started shaking and Trevor couldn’t take it anymore. He took off running and just about busted through the screen door. He couldn’t stop long enough to open the door.
Trevor looked back as he was running down the sidewalk. The priest was standing on the porch. He was holding the cross in the air with both hands.
Trevor ran down the street not knowing where he was going.
2
Terry was sitting with her grandma when a knock had come at the door. She took her time getting up. When she did get up and had seen who it was, she had wished she had been quicker about it.
“How are you?” Terry said. She pushed open the screen door. “Surprised to see you here.”
Trevor stood on the porch and he looked all shook up. He looked almost like Robert had just not beaten up. He didn’t say anything at first.
“Come on in,” Terry said.
“Well,” Trevor started. He looked around. “I kind of would like to sit out here.”
“Ok,” Terry said. She stepped out onto the porch. “Is everything ok?”
“Yeah,” Trevor said. “Just needed to get out of the house.”
“Alright,” Terry said.
They both leaned against the porch railing. The weather was holding up to a decent day.
“You read the Bible, right?” Trevor asked.
Terry was a little shocked by the question. They had never talked about religion before. Everyone knew her grandma was better suited to answer religious questions.
“Um, yeah I do a little,” Terry replied. She didn’t want him to think that she was a nerd. “Not as much as I should, anyways.”
“Have you read the book of Revelations?” He asked.
Terry didn’t realize that her jaw had dropped. The question made her think about Robert. He had talked about the same book from the Bible.
“Ok, what’s this about?” Terry asked.
“It’s about the weird shit that has been going on.” Trevor’s eyes seemed to go off into the distance. “I had a visitor today.”
“Who?” Terry asked.
“I don’t know,” Trevor replied.
“You don’t know?” Terry was confused.
“He just…,” Trevor started. He didn’t want her to think that he was losing his mind. “He just sort of walked in.”
“Just walked in?” Terry said. “What happened?”
“Not much,” Trevor replied. “He just stood there and said nothing.”
“And you don’t know who it was?” Terry asked.
“Nope,” Trevor said. “He was dressed like a priest.”
“Wow,” Terry said. “How did you get him to leave?”
“I didn’t,” he said. “I left.”
They both had gone silent. Terry was trying to process what she had just heard. She couldn’t figure out what was going on with her friends.
“I know it all sounds crazy,” Trevor said. “But…Why’s this stuff happening to me? Hell…What’ happening to the damned world?”
“Revelations,” Terry’s grandma said. She walked out onto the porch. “The book has started to be opened.”
“What book?” Terry asked.
Her grandma had her Bible in her hand. There was a bookmark at the spot where she wanted to read. She didn’t waste any time.
“The book,” she started. “The book that is sealed with seven golden seals. The book that has released the horsemen.”
“Yeah,” Trevor said. He knew what book she was talking about. The book from his dreams. “But…Isn’t there more to it than that?”
“Of course there is,” Patty said. “It sounds as if the fifth seal has been undone.”
“Why do you say that?” Trevor asked.
Terry stood quietly as Trevor and her grandma talked. The two had never been in a conversation that lasted more than five minutes before. She didn’t know what to think about it.
“Your visitor,” Patty started. “The fifth seal releases those who died for the word of God. You were visited by a dead priest.”
“Hold up,” Terry interrupted. “Who said that the guy was dead? Who is to say that he was even a real priest?”
“When did you stopped believing?” her grandma asked.
“Believing what?” Terry asked.
“In the Bible,” Patty said. “Faith and believing has been fading out for generations.”
“Well,” Terry said. “I do believe.”
“You think that you do,” Patty said. “You might believe in the stories of the past, but you don’t see how things can happen in our time.”
“I do,” Terry said. “I just don’t think what’s going on now means that it is the end of the world.”
“Oh, believe it,” Patty said.
“Alright,” Trevor said. He was getting uncomfortable. “I should get going.”
“Don’t let me run you off,” Patty said.
“Oh, you’re not,” Trevor said. He walked off the porch. “You two have a good day.”
“You too,” they both said.
As Trevor walked away, Terry stared at her grandma. She always seemed to butt in whenever she was talking to Trevor.
“Thanks,” Terry said.
“For what?” Patty asked confused.
“Nothing,” Terry replied.
Terry went into the house. She had gone straight to her room.