A New Beginning

I'm starting something new and I hope you will take this journey with me. I've teamed with a good friend to write a novel - the first in a series. We're working on getting it published, but until we do, I'm going to drop some ideas here that I'm working through. Some of these posts will be raw, unedited sections of our new book. Others are backstory that won't make the book but serve as the "world" according to Rick (the story's creator). Still others are unique short stories or anecdotes that come to me in my dreams or my prayers. I'd love to hear your thoughts - good, bad or indifferent. Drop me a line and let me know what you think! For now, here's the first one - A New Beginning - a short introduction to a character I'm calling "Gabriel." I hope you enjoy it!

Gabriel didn’t consider himself overly spiritual. He believed in God and was “saved” according to his Christian tradition, but he still suffered from the same list of maladies as any other middle-aged American male. He attended church as regularly as his work would allow and he read his Bible. But other than that, he felt indistinguishable from his “unsaved” neighbor or even his Atheist coworkers. Other than a quiet nagging that he couldn’t identify from deep in his soul, he was comfortable. His current condition didn’t cause much angst, that is, until the visions started.

To be more accurate, Gabriel had always had visions going back as far as he could remember into his childhood. What set the more recent occurrences apart, though, was the frequency and intricate details that marked a change in his attitude toward them. In the past, his visions had come once every few years. They were infrequent enough that Gabriel forgot all about the last one until he had the next one. It was really only then that he remembered his previous interaction with what he came to term as “the spirit realm.”

His visions always seemed real, with sights and sounds, even smells that he could recall long after the vision had passed. But this most recent vision introduced a new aspect that he wasn’t prepared for – emotion. Specifically, Gabriel felt fear. Not to be mistaken. Gabriel wasn’t the scaredy-cat kind. After a decade in the Marines and another five years serving alongside them as a contractor in Afghanistan and Iraq, his tolerance to fearful stimulus was pretty high. But this fear was guttural – almost sentient. It was the kind of fear that reminded him of his status in the cosmos. Gabriel, the human, was a guest on this Earth and was subject to the whims of spirits, both good and bad, who battled amongst us whether we were aware or not. It wasn’t a debilitating fear either, but it shook him to his core. Standing there in his late mother’s empty house, Gabriel recounted the vision over and over – and felt the fear.

Gabriel stood in the spare room, the one his wife had called “the purple room” because of the lavender curtains and grape checkered bedspread. He closed his eyes as he recited the words he had written for his Sunday morning devotional. It was Layman Sunday and as a longstanding member of his local church, his pastor had urged Gabriel to do more. So, he volunteered for this Sunday because it was the middle of vacation season and most of the parishioners would be away. As he spoke the words, “We’re all sinners, but God offers us grace,” he felt the first wave of fear. It was sickening, overpowering, and utterly unexpected. The strength of his emotion surprised Gabriel, but he felt compelled to keep speaking, eyes closed. As the fear grew stronger, his voice grew louder.

“Jesus died once for all, we’re told, in Romans six-ten.” As he spoke the Bible reference, an apparition appeared in the doorway. It was translucent white; like he’d seen in the movies and unlike any other vision he had had in his life. His previous visions came in full color. He could hear sounds, feel movement or a breeze, but this one was devoid of physical stimulus, and it scared him. He was drawn to it, like a moth to a flame, and he couldn’t take his mind’s eye away from it. As the apparition approached, Gabriel could see it was a man and it flowed and rippled like it was under water. It was also silent, as if the barrier of its watery grave absorbed all sound. Despite mouthing something unintelligible, Gabriel could only hear his own voice, reciting his prepared devotion. “Unlike the Old Testament sacrifices mentioned in Hebrews 10…”

The apparition stopped about three feet in front of him and stood still. Behind the man and beyond the door, Gabriel could barely discern wisps of other spirits moving freely through the hallway. Their figures were blurry, but he noticed several glance toward his apparition as if curious. But, like the man before him, Gabriel couldn’t clearly see any of their features as they moved. But with each individual spirit’s casual glance, the feeling of fear grew. At its apex, the man in front of him stepped forward, as if breaking a barrier, and Gabriel could see, for the first time, in living color, his dead father, standing in front of him as clear as day, with a hatchet driven bloodlessly into his forehead. As the ghost of his father opened his mouth to speak, Gabriel opened his eyes.

He was alone in the purple room. The apparition was gone but the fear remained. When he looked around the room, Gabriel saw everything was in its place, although the room and the house felt alien. He tried identifying the fear, categorizing it based on his decades of life experiences. As he thought through the battles in Iraq and Afghanistan, he discarded one idea after another as he failed to define the source and type of fear he felt. He walked length and breadth of the house, checking in rooms and behind doors, but he found no corporeal cause of his fear.

“I’m just distracted.” He told himself as he returned to the Purple Room. “Those sacrifices of old were insufficient…”

When he closed his eyes the ghost of his father was there peering into his soul. Just like the first time, he was compelled to keep his eyes closed. But this time, something deep inside him spoke to the spirit in a voice Gabriel didn’t recognize. 'You don’t belong here. You are not welcome here. Leave now.'

Gabriel opened his eyes to the empty room, but he still felt the spirits’ presence both with him and in the hallway. An uncontrollable anger arose and his normally meek and casual voice was replaced by one he hadn’t heard since his days in the Corps. “I said you are not welcome here. None of you.”

- I'd love to hear your ideas. Stay tuned for more on Gabriel and how he handles his newfound gift!