Stories that are Short!
Christopher S. Closson
Published by Christopher Closson at Smashwords
Copy Right 2010 Christopher Closson
Enjoy my huge, or I mean short, stories. I wrote the first one in a short time, it should only fit you can read it in a short time. The others are a bit longer. Yes, I am the writer and I have not stolen any of this from anyone but my own imagination. These stories have not been copy written, copy wrote, copied and pasted, or any other typed of copied. I own every little wiggling copyright of these stories. I hope you like them. I should have more stories up sometime in our human lives.
Nothing Is Everything
It wakes up and looks at the purple sky above. The land beneath its feet was warmed from the bright green light hanging above. Being confused, it didn't know which way to go, or what to do after it went that way. After much debate with the two spouts from its head, it chose to go in the same direction that the wonderful blue trees were leaning towards.
On its way, it saw a very serene counterpart. One that it had noticed was very brown. It went over to this thing and smiled with its big, happy belly. The thing saw this and gave a loud giggly hymn. They wiggled their legs and moved on together.
The thing and the it were both so excited and happy together, that every step they took, they made a loud squishy noise. A few thousand squishy sounds later, there was a different something playing in the leaning trees. The thing looked up and noticed this something and became instantly fond of it. It was very sad when the thing left him and went over to the something.
Its belly was now saggy as it walked away from them. It walked for almost forty squiggles and saw nothing. It was very shocked and looked turned back around and saw everything. Looking back and forth between the everything and the nothing, it had another discussion with the two spouts. They suggested that it has already seen everything and should find out what nothing was like.
It agreed with the spouts and decided to keep going and find out what nothing was all about. It walked into the nothing and felt like it was both falling and standing still. Like it was running, yet laying down. It realized that nothing was all too much of anything and that everything wasn't much compared to nothing.
After being in nothing for a while, it noticed a different thing and went over to the thing. The thing looked at it and it said "The truth of all this lies within the dark a..."
The boy awoke suddenly and tried as hard as possible to try and fall back asleep into this dream to find out the secret of the truth. After failing to do so multiple times, he decided he was going to find out for himself. He crawled out of his bed, opened his window, peered out into the dark empty night and noticed this looked like nothing
None and No Matter
What we do two by two, we pay for one by one. Brandt kept thinking this as he was running in an empty field with the sun breathing warmth on his face. The breeze was perfect. It wasn’t too hot, nor was it too cold. He was running, but he wasn’t getting tired, or out of breath. There’s no such thing as lactic acid in this world. There was a loud crash as a black, circular object collided with the grassy hillside.
This all happened so suddenly, that Brandt didn’t know what was going on. How could anything like this happen in such a perfect place? He walked over to the now smoking hole and peered, very slowly, into it. There was an old man holding a little baby staring at him with broken eyes.
Brandt kneeled down next to the hole, now breathing heavily after he realized that he was holding his breath for a few minutes while watching the object hit the ground. He reached his hand in the hole after a few moments and tried to help the old man out. The old man didn’t do anything but stare. Brandt became unbalanced and fell into pure nothingness and when he awoke, he remembered what today was.
He felt a rush of happiness take his body captive and totally forgot about the nightmare that had just occurred. He sat up and looked at the clock. It was 9:28 a.m. which was two minutes before his alarm was going to go off. He didn’t feel like waiting for the alarm to tell him to get out of bed, so he got out himself and went over to his dresser. His cell phone was lying on the corner and was blinking red. He flipped it open and seen he had a few missed calls from his best friend, Abdiel.
He looked at the clock, gave a little smirk and said, “Don’t worry buddy, I’m coming.”
His mood was dancing around with happiness and joy. It’s the best he’s felt in almost a year. Today was finally the day he was going to escape. His radio turned on, “Good morning listeners, it’s now 9:30 a.m. The weather for today is sunny with a low chance of rain. It looks like today is going to be wonderful. You should always bring an umbrella, there’s always a chance something unplanned could happen, so keep that in mind as you enjoy sun. Getting back to today’s news…”
Brandt put on his clothes, jammed his pajamas in his overstuffed suitcase and zipped it shut. He had spent almost all the prior evening putting his clothes and whatever he thought was important into the suitcase. He grabbed his phone and put on a sports jacket. The thought of finally leaving this room without coming back was exhilarating. He smiled, grabbed his bags and left the room without looking back.
His white 2008 BMW was the only car in the driveway. He threw his stuff in the back seat and slammed the door closed. He took one final look at the house he never called home, breathed in and out deeply, started the car and left without another thought of ever coming back.
The streets were as empty with cars, as school is empty with students on the weekend. There was not one single car for miles and miles. Brandt thought this was a little strange, seeing as the streets are always crowded, even at 3 a.m. He shrugged his shoulders and kept going. Today was his day and this just seems to fit the perfection of it. The fewer the cars, the better, he thought as he cranked up the radio.
He had been driving for five hours and still hadn’t noticed a car and he decided to get gas. The town, also, had no cars or no people in sight. When he pulled into the gas station, Abdiel called.
“Hello? Brandt, are you there?”
“Yea, what’s the problem? You sound like you’re about to die.”
“No, it’s not me, I’m fine. Hey, look around. Can you see anyone? Anyone at all?”
Abdiel had a very panicked tone as he was talking to Brandt. It seemed as though Abdiel knew that there was no one around Brandt. How would he know? Abdiel was still another four states away. Brandt already knew his answer, but he looked around reassuringly, “No, I don’t. Do you know what’s going on? I haven’t seen a soul since I woke up.”
“Everyone just vanished and I’m not really sure what’s going on.” Abdiel continued, “When I woke up, I didn’t see anyone in the house and there were no notes. I went out to get some coffee and there was no one, anywhere. I called you about four times. I thought you were gone too.”
“Hang on.” Brandt told him as he walked into the gas station. He walked in and looked around, seeing no one.
“Hello? Anyone there?” He called around.
There was no one behind the counter or the shelves. There wasn’t anyone in the bathroom or in the connected restaurant. He yelled out one last time hoping to hear someone answer. Brandt’s world seemed to spin faster than ever and he had no idea what was happening. Was this a dream? He pinched himself and felt the pain. So this wasn’t a dream, it is reality. There was no one but him and his best friend.
“You’re
right Abdiel, there isn’t anyone at all. Have you checked the TV?
Maybe there is something on the news.”
“There isn’t anything
on TV. It’s completely blank on all of my 400 channels.”
“I’m so confused. Well, where are you? We should meet up.”
Abdiel and Brandt talked for a few more minutes and decided to meet in Frankfort Kentucky, as it was equal distance for the both of them. Brandt filled up his tank, grabbed a few drinks and snacks and left. He was now heading towards Kentucky with out knowing what he was going to do. Where did everyone go? This thought kept going through his mind as he was driving on the completely empty freeway.
Brandt had never felt so alone, and yet, so free. There were no cars on the road, which meant no worrying about traffic, and so cruise control was often applied. The absence of cars brought along boredom and left him no choice but to think of what he and his best friend were going to do about the entire country, and maybe even world, being human-free.
He often looked at the billboards and imagined what happened to that particular person in the huge advertisement. He noticed a lot of them had older, smiling, women that were holding just born babies. One of the billboards, somewhere around Asheville, caught his eye.
It had two kids huddled in a make-shift hut in the middle of the night. It appeared that they were lost on an island. There was a small hill above them and atop of the hill, was a ferocious looking lion. At the very bottom of the billboard read, “Every Form of Refuge has its price,” and just below that, in smaller letters, “Home is where you belong.”
This kept him busy thinking for nearly thirty minutes. Then it was back to staring at white line, after white line and occasionally checking the GPS to make sure he was going the right way, even though it was a straight shot to Frankfort. He only needed to hold on for about an hour until he would meet Abdiel.
Brandt finally got to the exit after nearly falling asleep 30 times. He pulled into the truck stop that they agreed upon. There wasn’t anybody there. He took out his phone and looked at the time, which was 11:39 p.m. Abdiel should be there any minute, he thought.
He decided to go inside and look for a snack to eat whilst he waited. The lights were still on. There’s no one to turn them off, and if there’s no one around at all, Brandt thought, while worrying about all the different things that could happen with a vacant world. Once he got into the store, he seen all the snacks and drinks and forgot about his worries. He found a Snickers bar, picked it up and looked at the nutritional facts. Suddenly, he felt sheer throbbing pain through his head, as if a metal rod was being pulled out of his brain. He looked up and seen circular lights piercing through his pupil.
He looked to his left and seen two dark figures. It looked as though they were arguing. The taller one looked at Brandt, move towards him and everything went completely dark. He woke up to Abdiel slapping his face.
“Brandt! Brandt, are you ok?” Abdiel said worryingly.
It took Brandt a few moments to focus in on reality. His vision had felt so real and that scared him more than anything.
“What, what happened?” He asked trying to think of what happened as he lay on the floor.
“I don’t know. When I got here, you were lying on the floor. Your eye’s were still open and you looked like you seen a ghost. Are you ok?”
Brandt looked around and felt the, now smashed, Snickers bar in his had, “Yea, I’m fine. I guess I passed out. It must be because I’m tired.”
“Well, I guess we could find a place to sleep now. It’s not like we know what to do anyway. Let’s just hope we can find a place to stay. I heard today was suppose to be crowded,” said Abdiel with a smirk.
They took Brandt’s car and drove around looking at all the different houses and hotels. No one was here, and they could sleep anywhere they wanted. It took them nearly 45 minutes to choose a mansion right outside the city.
It appeared to be three stories tall, with a balcony spanning across every floor. Most of it was made of brick, but there was some wood and a few metallic parts. The driveway went from the six car garage, down to the locked gate.
They both got of the car, went to the gate, found that it was locked and looked at each other.
“What do you suppose we do?” Abdiel asked while shaking the gate.
“Let’s climb it. I don’t think anyone is going to try and steal the car.” He answered, looking behind them at the motionless city.
They climbed the gate and walked to the garage. All the doors seemed to be unlocked, as if they were suppose to go to this house, like it was planned. They got into the front door and all the lights were turned off. Brandt finally found the light switch after feeling up and down the walls for a few minutes. He flipped it and the lights turned on.
It was the biggest house they had ever been in. There were about 20 different doors, on that floor alone. They both split up to see what was in the house and what room would be the most comfortable to sleep in. Abdiel went to check out the upstairs and Brandt stayed downstairs.
The tenth door that he found had a weird vibe to it. The lights were turned off and when he flipped the switch, nothing happened. He noticed that there was a manual chain on the light and he probably had to pull it for the light to turn on. He walked into the room and had a very strange feeling that someone was in that room, waiting for him. I’m just tired, I must be hallucinating, he thought to himself.
He got further into the room and started to feel like he should turn back. He turned around and watched the door, with a loud bang, slam shut. His heart was beating faster and faster and it felt like it was going to burst right through his chest.
He turned around to face the light and out of the corner of his eye, he seen the faintest outline of something, stand up. The figure stood tall and started to advance forward. It didn’t move fast, but Brandt felt as though it was going to catch him sooner than he wanted.
Brandt grabbed for the light switch and caught the end of it with his hand. He yanked down on it, hoping and praying the light would work. The light burst into the room and the figure seemed to evaporate.
His heart began beating slower and slower as he began to calm down and convince himself that it was just his imagination. This room was definitely not the room to stay in. He cleared his head and began to walk to the door, and that’s when it happened.
The light went out and left him to drown in the complete darkness. He started running to the door, fearing for his life. The figure was back and it tackled Brandt to the floor. Brandt punched and kicked with all his might, but nothing seemed to be hitting the figure.
His head began throbbing with pain, as though his head was about to burst open. Then, more suddenly than the light disappearing, everything stopped. There was no kicking, no fear, no time, no nothing. It was as if the figure froze reality and forced memories into Brandt’s brain and answers began formulating in his head.
The night before this night, there was a strange flashing object in the sky. The object emitted a strange green haze that spread as far as Brandt could see. It crossed over him and he felt a strange feeling, as though tiny, micro-size bugs were crawling through his veins. The green glow had some sort of virus in it that started in the blood, and spread all over the body dissolving it into nothingness. How Brandt knew this, he had no idea.
The reason he wasn’t dissolved was something very spectacular. He was born as the only baby with no blood type anyone has ever had. He had such a high level of white blood cells that he could never get sick. His over immune blood must have killed the virus before it could do any damage. Brandt started thinking it over and came to a very thankful realization.
A few years before that day, Abdiel got in a serious accident and started to lose a major amount of blood. They got to the hospital and the doctors said that if he didn’t get blood transferred soon, he would die. Brandt was the only one there with blood that could possibly be transferred to Abdiel. Brandt started getting deeper in thought and remembered another thing that made his eyes go wide with the most important relief of his life.
He had giving blood before, when he was in high school. His parents and doctors said that his blood was too rare and he shouldn’t donate it to the blood drive, who would throw it away because it wouldn’t, usually be transferable. He ignored them and wrote a different blood type on his papers. This meant that it was possible that other people have some of his blood.
He seemed to be returning to a conscience state and could feel himself lying on the floor of the dark room. He opened his eyes and jumped up without a second thought. He ran out of the room, not because he was scared, but because he was anxious about telling Abdiel what he had just realized. He closed the door and let the uneasy vibe die in the darkness of the room.
Brandt rushed up stairs to tell Abdiel about his new found hope. He spent a few minutes searching the massive floor and got tired of looking in all the rooms. He stopped and put his hands into a cone position around his mouth and yelled, “Abdiel? I got good news buddy!”
Abdiel finally popped out his tired-worn face. He appeared to have been sleeping and gave Brandt a look that suggested, “Why’d you wake me up?”
He ran over to the sleepy face and gave it a little wake up slap. Abdiel grabbed his face and no longer looked sleepy, but a mixture between surprise and anger. He looked at Brandt as if he was about to punch him and said, “What in the hell are you hitting me for?”
“Dude, I know why everyone disappeared. It’s a long story, but I figured out what went down and I found out that there could be more people!”
Abdiel went from being bad tempered, to becoming excited in a split second. He watched Brandt waiting to hear the rest of the story, but was let down when he heard Brandt say, “Lets go! We don’t have time to wait around!”
They gathered up any food and drink that they might need and left the massive house. Abdiel stopped in front of the garage and looked in. There were ten different cars and SUVs. There was a big, shiny Hummer in the middle and both of them raced each other to get into the driver’s seat.
Abdiel raised his fist and slammed it hard against Brandt’s upper thigh. He fell holding the now cramped leg and swore under his breath. He looked up and seen Abdiel laughing, as he got into the driver’s seat. Brandt got off the floor and limped the rest of the way to the Hummer.
They spent the next few hours driving and fighting over the steering wheel, forgetting completely what they set out to do.
They remembered what their goal was when Brandt accidentally bumped the radio button. It turned on and there was no sound, except for a few occasional fuzzy sounds as they went under bridges. They were watching the radio console for a few minutes as if something was going to start playing, but nothing did. Brandt, then, came up with an idea.
He looked at Abdiel with wide eyes, “You want to?”
“Well yea, I don’t think we have anything better to do right now,” Abdiel answered knowing exactly what Brandt was talking about.
Brandt turned on the car’s GPS and keyed in towards the nearest major radio station. It came up and was only thirty miles from where they were.
They got to the studio and Brandt went right into the booth. He recorded the following, “Hello world, my name is Brandt McCarthur and I am still alive. Today is June 2nd, 2008. If there is anyone else out there please call 555-555-3393. My friend and I are the only survivors that I’ve seen in two days. Please call, please.”
Abdiel was in the control room getting this on tape and played it two minutes after it was recorded. It was replayed over and over for nearly three hours. They looked at each other and both had a defeated look in their eyes and decided to leave and look for another possible way to find any other survivors. Then right before they left, the phone started to ring.
Surprise and excitement leapt into their eyes. They started at it for a moment thinking it could have been their minds playing tricks on them. It kept ringing and Brandt rushed over to the phone and snatched it up towards his face.
He didn’t say anything for a moment. He finally spoke by saying very slowly, “Hello?”
No noise or muttering came from the other line, as if copying what Brandt had done.
“Hello? Is your name Brandt? Are you real? Please tell me you are,” came a woman’s voice.
They talked for almost an hour about what each one had experienced. It appeared that the woman also woke up to find no one anywhere. She told him she was in Anchorage Alaska and Brandt told her they were on their way.
They didn’t say anything and knew exactly what the other was thinking. They nodded their heads and got in the Hummer. Brandt logged in Anchorage into the GPS and they took off.
A few hours had gone by and they began to realize how long of a trip it would be. They finally began to speak as the rush had worn off about finding a new person. Brandt looked at the GPS, which read, “Destination: Anchorage, Alaska; Current Position: Jasper, Indiana; Estimated Time of Arrival (TOA): 67 hours, 48 minutes.”
“Looks like we still got about four days until we get there. Let’s stop at a Walmart real quick,” Brandt told Abdiel.
“What for?”
“Well, it’s going to be a long trip, we’ll need something to help make the time pass,” Brandt answered Abdiel with a wide grin on his face.
They stopped at Walmart and broke the glass doors. Brandt went straight for the electronic section. He came back holding an Xbox 360 with all the games that the store had for it. Abdiel laughed and started to playfully punch Brandt.
They spent the remaining four days switching between driving, sleeping, and playing video games. There was about 67 hours, in which they could do any of the three. Brandt would often throw snacks at Abdiel while he was trying to get past a certain level, or when he was sleeping.
They had been driving for so long and they were so engulfed in their daily routine that they weren’t paying attention to how far away they were from Anchorage. The computerized voice of the GPS finally spoke, “Arriving at destination.”
Both of them shook their heads and looked at each other. They were finally there after almost 68 hours on the road. They got out of the car into the semi-cold air and went into the building that they were supposed to meet the woman.
The building was completely empty when they got inside, which wasn’t a big surprise. There was an old lady sitting down on a bench. She turned her head and smiled at them, “So, you made it ok. I was beginning to worry.”
“Sorry,” Brandt began, “the Hummer gets low gas mileage.”
The old woman stared at them for a few moments then turned towards Brandt. She tilted her head a little to the side, in a curious sort of way and began to ask more questions, “Well, you came all the way across the states for me. Would you be willing to do more to find other survivors, if it came to that?”
Brandt stared at her for a moment a little confused and when he could gather his thoughts he answered, “If it came to that, then yea.”
“Very interesting, very interesting indeed. Would you die to save mankind, if it came to that?” She continued with her odd questions, “Yes. I would do anything it took to save mankind, if it came to that. Now can we get on with it?” Brandt stated, getting a little annoyed with her very strange questions.
Abdiel walked over and stood by the old lady and both of them stared at Brandt with almost alien-like eyes. His head started throbbing with pain and his vision started to become dark and he became dizzy. He fell to the floor and as he looked up, he seen the two hover over him.
He looked to his left and seen two slightly different, yet similar figures. This time they weren’t arguing. One of them waved their hand and answers started formulating in Brandt’s head.
Nothing that had just happened was real. People didn’t really dissolve. The green mist didn’t pollute the blood of the humans, it only took him aboard the ship. They have been testing several others to see how they would react in certain situations. He moved his head back up and stared into the light.
Darkness fell upon him completely and he awoke in an empty field on a grassy hillside. He had been here before and knew what was going to happen. The strange black object fell into the ground and he walked over to it.
He reached in to try and help the old man and the little baby out of the hole, but lost his balance and began to fall into nothing. He awoke on his bed and looked at the time, which was 9:28 a.m.
He knew that he had possibly the strangest dream last night, but couldn’t remember what happened. He started to think and remembered what today was. Joy and happiness spread throughout his body and he forgot completely about having any sort of dream.
When he got out of bed, the radio went off, “Good morning listeners, it’s now 9:30 a.m. The weather for today is sunny with almost no chance of rain. It looks like today is going to be wonderful. So don’t bother taking an umbrella, you won’t need it. Now, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite songs.”
Brandt turned and looked at the radio starting to focus a little more on it. Music started to play and only one line of words was spoke, “There will be another song for me, and I will sing it.”
He turned and left his room. He looked outside at the sunny sky. There was a strange feeling as though he should check to see the traffic. He looked down at the streets, which were crowded with walking civilians and cars. He shrugged his shoulders and began to gather his things for departure from the place he never called home.
Why oh Why, Am I Here Alive?
The old man lied on his bed. His body was aching from his long, battering life. The only escape was to close his eyes and wait to fall into a different world, one that pain seems to dissolve into numbness. His only thoughts were the woman he loved nearly sixty-nine years of his life. The woman that left the world with the simple yet complicated bang.
It took nearly four hours, or four-hundred, thirty-seven thousand moans, or three-hundred, forty-four thousand winces, or one-hundred, seventy-three tears. He wanted so desperately to leave the Earth and be back with his love. There was something that was keeping him alive, however, and he wished it would just hurry up.
He woke up after a few hours, or three-hundred and eighty-two minutes, to be exact, of numbness. Soon the pain was back, as well as the feeling that part, or most, of him was gone. The phone rang and the old man was both shocked and puzzled. He hadn't gotten a call on that phone in almost three years. Five years ago was when his Earthly partner had left as well as most, or all, of his friends. There were only two people who would call. His daughter and his son would call almost once a week to see how he was doing. It was always the same answer, "I'm doing fine son." Or, "Hey princess, I'm okay."
It went on for two years and eventually their once a week calls turned into once a month calls. He didn't mind, as he didn't want his kids to worry about him and he knew they were well off with their loving families. They always called near the same times, on the first day of the month, around noon. The old man eventually just told his kids that he would visit them once in a while if they would stop worrying about him.
There was no other reason for a call, once his kids stopped calling. He meant to disconnect the line so he wouldn't have to pay for something he never used, but with the wear and tear of his life, his memory wasn't what it had once been.
He stopped and waited a few rings to make sure his mind wasn't just playing tricks on him. Five rings later, he realized this was an actual phone call. His shaky hand picked up the phone and he held it to his always-growing ear. With a nervous tone he asked, "Hello?"
"Mr. Stelzer, you have been very patient with me and I thank you for that," the deep and stern, yet gentle voice said.
"Who is this?"
The voice had a loud, warm laugh. The kind of laugh that a kid will hear from his father.
"You wouldn't believe if I told you. Instead of spending anymore of your time and keeping you, I'm going to tell you what it is you are waiting for."
The old man was so confused most of these words seemed like they were in a different language.
"What do you mean? Who is this? What is your name?"
"You need to be at the corner of 1st and Emery at exactly 2:32 p.m. Wait there and you'll know what to do after that. Mr. Stelzer, I appreciate you being so patient. Once you are finished, you will have a special place saved for you. Again, thank you."
The other line disconnected before the old man could ask any more pointless questions. He sat there wondering what in the world was going on. Thirty minutes, or thirty dumbfounded minutes went by and he finally decided it was time to do something. He went over to the counter and wrote down the address and time of where the voice told him to go and was surprised when he remembered this with his memory.
He put on a light coat, it was during the spring, and grabbed his keys to lock the house. The old man decided that the phone call was either a hoax, in which case it wouldn't matter, he didn't do much these days anyhow, or it was something serious and he wasn't about to miss out on that. He looked up directions on the map and found that the location wasn't too far from his house and that he was going to walk. He left his house, locked the doors and started his slow and painful walk towards the address.
The old man was almost to the spot where the voice said to go. It took him nearly two and a half hours, or four-thousand, two-hundred and fifty-two slow and painful steps, or sixty-two breaks, or two tears. He sat down on a bench, on the corner 1st and Emery. The pain and the exhaustion almost made him pass out. Sitting and watching he waited for a clear sign to come out at him.
The voice did say that once he arrived he would know what to do. The only thing he knew was he didn't know what he was looking for. Nearly thirty minutes went by and still nothing had been a clear sign. He began to think that the phone call was a prank, after nearly two hours. He stood up and was about to head home, when he started feeling dizzy and his vision became blurry. He stumbled around looking for the bench but couldn't seem to find it.
The pain became too much and he decided he had to sit down on the ground. His vision became clear and he looked up and seeing he was in an alley, he looked around. He saw a dumpster a few boxes and a small clock above one of the doors. The time read exactly 2:32 p.m. There was a loud, human like whine coming from one of the boxes.
The old man summoned some of the strength he had left as he cautiously went over to see what this sound was. In the box was a blanket and something underneath it. He had a good idea of what this sound was and was almost afraid to pull back the cover. He was hoping his old ears were playing a trick on him. They weren't.
He pulled back the cover and in that box, was the face of something new. The new face looked up at the old man and, as if it knew it was saved, it stopped crying and just glared at him. It reached up with its new, little hand and grabbed the tip of his nose.
The old man was too stunned for words as he watched this new body, this new mind squeezing his big, over-grown olfactory organ. This new baby, with its pure, smooth, undeterred, ageless skin was now a part of the old man's responsibilities. He sat down, held the baby in is arms like he did almost twenty-seven years earlier and thought. He called his daughter.
"Princess, I have a really big favor of you. This is something that will change you're life forever and I want you to do it only if you are completely ready and willing," The old man said to her.
"Daddy, are you okay? What's going on?"
"Just listen. I need you to meet me at the coffee shop off of 1st, near Abercott. Can you meet me in twenty minutes?"
"Of course Dad. Is everything okay?"
"Yes, everything is fine. Just be ready for a gift from above."
He got up and headed towards the coffee shop with the new baby in his arms. He looked down at it, as it smiled back up at him. Every step was still painful but the pain went to the very back of his mind. He looked at the new baby and wondered what kind of human could ever do something like this. It could very possibly be for the best.
He sat down at the booth with the baby still in his arms and waited for his daughter. This baby had no cuts, scraps, bruises, or hair. The old man giggled to himself as he thought about how completely opposite they were and the irony in it. His daughter came in and sat down across from the old man and the new baby.
She looked at the baby and back at her Dad and then all around the coffee shop, "Whose is that?"
"This is what I need to talk to you about. This baby, I found it. It was in the alley with no note, or anything else with it. Just the clothes and a blanket the hospital puts on when they are born."
The old man held a damaged, scarred finger at the new baby's nose, as it grabbed it and then started gnawing it. He looked at his daughter with sincere eyes, "I know you have that thing where you'll never be able to get pregnant. You and Mark have been wanting a kid for a few years and I feel like this might be your chance."
She looked around for words, but couldn't find anything to say. Her eyes began to water as a few tears dripped onto the table. She looked at the new baby, saw its good, pure nature and saw that this baby was always meant to be hers and this baby has something special in-store for it.
Even though she was still unable to talk, she nodded her head to say what her mouth could not. She was going to take care and love this new baby and give it the best home possible. The old man gave one last look at the new baby and handed it to his daughter as she kissed it on the forehead and cradled it to sleep.
They talked for a few more hours about everything and she gave him a ride back to his house. He looked at the phone wondering if he was going to get another unexpected call, but nothing happened. He walked out onto his porch to see the rest of the day. He took a few painful, but joyful steps down and walked to his grass.
He knew his daughter was going to be a great mother to her new baby. He decided to lay on the yard as he used to as a young man. It may have seemed strange to a passerby, an old man laying on his back, in the grass, but the old man felt as comfortable as he used to before age got to him. He watched the clouds roll by and drifted off and closed his eyes.
Then the old man felt a strange feeling lay over him. It felt to him like a warm blanket being pulled over his cold achy body. He looked up and noticed that the sky didn't even seem to be moving. Instead, it was dissolving into something more illuminated. Something that was much more beautiful and articulate. He looked down and noticed that the ground seemed to be moving further and further. As he looked up again, he knew something beautiful was happening something he was waiting for. It was as comfortable as he’s ever been. As if he were a child in his father's arms.
He wasn't exactly sure where he was going, but he didn't really care at this point. If he was stuck like this forever, he would be as happy as ever. Once he closed his eyes, the ride somehow felt as though it were over. He opened his eyes back up to see what had changed and noticed he was standing. What he was standing on, was a whole, different story.
It didn't have the feeling of any type of surface he's ever stood on before. Maybe there wasn't even a ground at all, maybe he just was and there was no need for a floor. Suddenly, the voice of something in a loud and gentle way eased its way into the silence and the man shifted his attention to where the sound was coming from, or where he thought it might be coming from.
He looked over in the direction he thought he heard it and saw something wonderful. It wasn't a man or a human at all. It didn't seem to have any body parts of any living creature, yet it had the feeling something powerful was living inside. It moved as though wind was coming from every direction, yet a breeze was non-existent. It was the brightest thing ever created, yet it was the easiest thing to look at.
The man, Mr. Stelzer, was so focused on how beautiful and simplistic it was, that he forgot it spoke at all, until it spoke again, "Hello son. I've missed you. I'm glad you've found your way home."
The voice sounded like a deep man's voice and a lady's voice at the same time. It was like it spoke into his thoughts and out loud. He thought for a minute and could only manage one human word, "Dad?"
"Yes son. It is your father. Not the one you knew on Earth. But the one who gives you life and love and the one who loves you more than anything ever could," replied the shimmer.
"God?" He seemed a little silly for asking that question.
"Yes. Son, I have been very happy with you that day you found the child. You were patient with me and your reward shall soon come."
"What do you mean that day? That was just a few hours ago," His voice trailed off as more of a question as he thought. Time didn't seem to exist since he became painless. After he thought about it for a while, he decided to ask, "Wasn't it?"
The voice, or voices, laughed and it seemed like everything began to rumble with it, "Son, there is no time here. That happened neither a long time, nor a short time ago. It just simply happened. But let me show you something that your last day on Earth happened to do."
The man's attention turned, somehow, to one person on Earth. Though he wasn't there, the new vision was more like a memory, or something that was in his mind. The person was a teenage boy named Landen.
He was sitting down on a floor that was probably his bedroom, writing something in a notebook. He wrote until the very last page was full and set it down on a stack of two or three other notebooks that were just as complete. He picked up a different one and began to write even more. The memory, or event, or moment dissolved into a different one.
This time Landen was older maybe mid-twenties with a full beard. This time he was typing on his laptop. It looked as though the document contained around three or four-hundred pages. The memory faded again.
He was maybe a few years older and was sitting on a chair next to a woman talking towards a camera. In front of them was a book titled, God's Love, Our War. He wasn't nervous one bit. He did seem really excited and enthusiastic, however. The book seemed to give him great joy. The event faded again.
Now he was standing on stage in a stadium filled with thousands and maybe even a million or so people. He was in the center with a microphone in one hand and the same book in the other. Landen would talk for a few moments and then point to a person with their hand raised. They would ask a question and then he would take a minute to answer it and then he'd continue again with his speech. The moment faded once more.
The man opened his eyes and found himself still standing next to the beautiful and majestic presence. "Who was that?" He asked.
"That was the new baby you found when you were still an old man. He became quite the character."
"He looked like he was talking about some book to a lot of people. I'm guessing those times where he was writing was for the book," Mr. Stelzer replied.
"Yes that was his book that he wrote. It was all about how much I love my children and how everyone should love as I love. Instead of creating violence based on different ideas or opinions. It changed a lot of people. When I say a lot, I mean over one million. He has been quite the blessing."
The man felt, or thought he felt, a tear roll down his cheek, "So my daughter did, or is doing, a good job of raising him?"
"The best. Your grandson has done something very special for myself and everyone I've created. I am very proud of him as we all should be."
The man became overjoyed, and probably would’ve started to cry had he still been on earth, at the sound of this. His grandson was amazing beyond compare. "Thank you. Thank you for letting me stay. For that child."
The shimmering wonder didn't say anything for a few moments. It seemed as though it turned to a different direction. Finally God said, "Now son, your reward. It awaits you."