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By Sawyer Depp
An excerpt from a piece I am currently working on named “Revelations”:
Michael clicked the button again and the environment transformed into a scene that would soon be recognized by most men and women of the western world. Below the men, in a barn fraught with hay, laid a pregnant woman, Mary, and a shepherd, Joseph. Unknowingly, they would soon give birth to the most important child on Earth. Around the family was a donkey, a few cows, and various sheep all feeding on the hay on which the child would soon be laid, all unaware of the importance of the land on which they fed. The gravity of the event gathered the stars, glowing brighter than ever before, close to the couple like a child to a fireplace. At the center of the stars was a gathering of light, a single star, larger than any other, later referred to as The Star of Bethlehem. Surrounded by this star, bathing in its light, was Michael and Albert.
“You bring me to such a scene expecting to change my mind?” asked Albert.
“Do you not remember this place? The child being born? We were here once. We witnessed His birth.”
“I remember, Michael, but he is only another child. Nothing more.”
“Another child? Who are you to speak of the Lord in such a way? This is God. This man has blessed us with our very being. He is here to guide those lost. I wish He were here to guide you. ‘Another child’, “ he paused, looking from Albert to the scene below, “blessed man, how have you lost sight of the truth?”
“You speak of truth, but you know nothing of it. You do not know what I know. You have not been where I’ve been. You have not seen what I’ve seen. The world is a disaster, a burning pile of shit dressed in a nice little pink dress by him to fool you idiots into believing there was some grand design, some grand purpose. You are fools, all of you!” He yelled out to the mass of light surrounding him. For a moment, the light dimmed, appalled at Albert’s words.
“I pity you,” spoke Michael softly, “for you are lost.”
“To be lost implies that there was a path from which to stray from in the first place,” spat Albert.
The world was unmoving below, but Albert sensed an aura of restlessness growing in the glowing orb. Albert quickly glanced at the button dangling around Michael’s wrist. Michael noticed his glance, and turned his shoulders away from the madman. Albert felt the light begin to materialize around him; various hands reached for his shoulders, and hundreds of fingers grasped at his ankles. Attempting to shake off his captors, he reached for the button, but to no avail. His arms were, with incredible force, restrained to his sides. At this moment, Michael took off running, dashing between stars and hurdling oncoming clouds. Albert attempted to call after his deserter, but more hands emerged from the light, clasping his mouth shut.
Voices whispered in his ears, “Love him.”
“He is your creator.”
“He is Lord.”
“Deny not, for he loves thee.”
The voices danced themselves around Albert’s head, filling his mind, and his dark eyes suddenly began to stain white. His mouth gaped wide, and he was momentarily unaware of his surroundings, his senses overtaken by the blinding light. That is, until a cry below, the baby’s, pierced the heart of the star, diverting the attention of his captors and allowing him to regain his senses. When his vision returned, he could just see Michael making his escape. He was a distance away, hundreds of stars in fact, but, Albert knew, due to his youth, he could catch him.
Escaping the Star of Bethlehem, Albert raced after Michael, streaking across the night sky, leaping from star to star. He grew ever closer, appearing very much like a shooting star to those watching below. Michael, feeling his pursuer’s presence at his back, changed direction, dashing into a sulking, saturated cloud. Reluctantly, Albert followed Michael into the fog.
From within the cloud, Albert’s senses grew dull. His hearing grew numb from a constant booming of thunder, and his eyes grew blind, the fog inhibiting even the view of his own hands. Forward he stumbled, searching for Michael, guided by the occasional spark of lightning. This was the world as he knew it: dark, unforgiving, overwhelming of man’s senses. The air, heavy with water, forced Albert to take deep, slow breaths. He toiled on, focusing on his feet. One foot after the other. When he reached the other side, deep burns, carved by lightning, adorned his skin. His eyes, which had appeared weary before, now sunk from his skull. His arms lay limp at his sides, exhausted from his recent struggles.
What Albert did not know, however, was that Michael, ever so crafty, had not run into the cloud himself. No, rather a servant of the Lord, impersonating him, made the journey instead—in fact the servant was never heard from again—while Michael hid himself and the button in the sky.
Albert, puzzled by Michael’s disappearance, stumbled around the midnight sky like a drunken man. In his search, he passed several planets. There was Venus, with its yellow sheen, and there, slightly larger was Jupiter. And just in between, glowing bright red, was Mars.
“Mars,” he thought.
“Mars!”
He sprinted toward the planet, summoning all of the energy left in his body. To his right a flash of light burst in the same direction. Mars was growing ever closer, and, as Albert expected, the button lay beside it, camouflaged by its shine. Albert, exhausted, was now moving nearly at the same speed as Michael. Below, every man watched the scene, as Michael, returning to his true form, left a trail of light like a brush of paint across the night sky. Teeth gritted, hands outstretched, both reached for the button.
“This is the truth,” spoke both men.
The scene transformed below, but above, where both Michael and Albert lingered, remained a portrait of the night sky. This was the final scene, and both knew it. It was Earth, but it lacked the blue oceans and green lands, the various animals and yellow sands.
“No veil of beauty,” thought Albert.
There was a visible layer of green smog surrounding the smoldering Earth. It danced around its surface, slowly, the only movement that either man could perceive. And there was a silence, not a serene silence like that of the hill with the quiet man nor a sacred silence like that of the scene in Bethlehem. No, this was a silence that pervades only in the most low and dark places. It was a silence that could pierce the intellect and infect the soul. Its cool hue entrenched itself within the ears of the men, leaving their hearts empty and minds dull. Even more irking to the men were the craters. Huge holes, punctures from one pole to the other, littered the planet. Into these holes poured Earth’s oceans, cooling it from the inside-out. After seeing this, both men now peered at what land remained, realizing that it was frozen over. With entire continents frozen, Earth had split at its plates. What was left of the land floated toward the sink holes as the planet slowly imploded and died. No man could have survived such an event, but if they were unlucky enough to, they would soon be dead. Albert glanced at Earth but could not maintain his gaze. Michael stared directly into the carnage.
“It is gone,” spoke Albert,” but where is he to lead the charge? Why has he not come? He told of this day, but he has not come to deliver them.”
“In time, my son. In time. You understand not of his ways.”
“Do you not see what is in front of you? This is murder. This is carnage, and he will do nothing, as he always has. How can you stand by?”
“Faith,” replied the angel.
Sawyer Depp is a McConnell Scholar in the class of 2024. He is studying political science, history, and creative writing at the University of Louisville.