Infinite Testament (24 page)

Stephen Pandora was at the fair with Lisa Binsby.
They, along with the enormous stuffed pink dog at his side, were getting
drenched with the water falling from above.

Stephen gazed into Lisa’s green eyes, “You know, I met you
on a roller coaster, so I figured the right place to do this would be… on a
roller coaster.” Lisa shook her head, not understanding what he was
getting at.

Stephen reached into his pocket. “I love you.”

Water dripped down her face. Her long, flowing, brown
hair was soaked. Her clothes grew wetter by the second. The light
in her eyes illuminated the darkness around him.

Stephen pulled a tiny square box out of his pocket.
He got on one knee and snapped it open. A ring sat inside. “Lisa
Binsby, will you marry me?”

Stephen took the advice of Ronnie Russell. If Lisa
accepted, he would marry her and move to Los Angeles.

Lisa’s eyes filled with tears. She put her hand on
her heart to stop it from leaping out of her chest. Her lips pulled back
and revealed her teeth as she
smiled
at him.

Stephen anxiously awaited her answer. Of course she
would marry him. She had never met anyone like Stephen. When she
was around him, she felt lighter. Her insides felt… brighter. She
loved him.

And she was going to marry him.

Lisa smiled and opened her mouth to affirm his offer.

But before she could say anything, petrified screams rang
out in the distance.

Moros was not pleased.
“I’ve been in
the committee a long while. I’ve yet to attend any meetings and I still
have not been permitted to visit Earth.”

Raphael, another member of the committee, all-out laughed
at him. Raphael was an excitable man, and surprisingly, didn’t take much
of anything seriously.

Moros stood stoically amid Raphael’s laughter. “I
don’t see what’s funny.”

Raphael calmed himself. “I’m sorry, Little Moro,
we’ve just been busy.”

“Thanks to me,” Moros shot back. He looked at Elpis,
who sat peacefully on a rock beside a stream that flowed past them. They
were in front of a series of small waterfalls that gracefully dropped water all
around them.

Raphael held out his arms in defense. “We haven’t
interfered with you two, right?”

Moros was annoyed. “I never see my father
anymore…”

“He’s been watching over his grandson, who, you need to
remember…” Raphael whispered, with a flash of seriousness, “…you are not
allowed to interact with.”

Moros replied, “I know. Can we just get this over
with?”

Raphael jiggled a dance, shaking his hips and extending his
arms. Elpis laughed, prompting a disapproving glare from Moros.

“Let’s do this!” Raphael yelled. He rubbed his hands
together.

“The first thing you two need to know is on Earth, people
are not like us. They’re instinctual. Primitive… dangerous.”
Raphael winked at Elpis and she giggled in return. “Externally, the first
thing you’ll notice about them is they age quicker than we do. A hundred
times quicker. In a hundred years on Earth, we will only age the
equivalent of one year. So many people will be surprised to see you stay
the same as they age.

“Internally
, they are only in their infancy.
What you need to understand is people aren’t as advanced as we are. They
aren’t linked with their surroundings. They aren’t even linked with each
other. Spiritually, they are dead. They are too busy dealing with
the realm of the physical and flirting with the darkness to even realize the
importance of the light that’s inside of them. Their light, even at its
brightest, does not compare to ours. Unfortunately, it’s only getting
worse. People aren’t anywhere near where we anticipated they would be.

“Hopefully,
he
can help them with that.
Earth is worth saving. The people can be like us. They just need
some help.”

Moros asked, “What if
he
doesn’t pull it
off?”

Raphael’s exuberance vanished. “Then the committee has
decided Earth will have to be destroyed. We’ll have to start over
somewhere else and learn from our mistakes.”

Raphael looked down in despair. There was no telling
if
he
would pull it off. Raphael noticed the stream gently
flowing beneath his feet. “Water. Earth is covered with it.”

Elpis’s eye grew wide. “Really?”

Raphael once again grew in excitement. Water was his
favorite part of Earth. “Yes! It’s
everywhere
!”

Moros grumbled. “What’s so great about water?”

Raphael slyly responded, “You’ll figure that out someday.”

Moros smirked. Unlikely. Water was water.

Raphael continued, “Because the light inside of us is so
much brighter, because we are directly connect to The Most High, we are able to
do things that are unfathomable by people on Earth. Some of our abilities
are perceived as ‘miracles’. Our closeness with our surroundings, our
relationship with nature, is simply nonexistent with them. That’s why I
need to teach you about Earth. So you don’t go down there, start doing
the unexplainable, and draw the attention of the whole world. When I’m
done with you, you’ll know how to fit in.”

Hours passed. Raphael equipped them with all the
knowledge of Earth they could possibly need. Moros and Elpis learned of
their limitations. They learned of Pythors and Occors, two distinct
methods of transportation. They learned of people: their capacity for
good, and their capacity for evil.

Raphael said, “When you are there to help them, you are to
tell them that you are an angel.”

“Why do we have to do that?” Moros asked.

“That is how they know us. Telling them we are from
another planet would simply confuse them.”

Raphael stood up. He was a bit sore. It had
been hours since he’d been sitting, after all. “Now, if you’ll excuse me,
I need a private word with Elpis.”

Moros was taken aback. “Why?”

Raphael extended his hand to Elpis, who was still sitting
on the same rock beside the stream. She obliged and pulled herself off,
flopping her feet into the water. She walked to Moros and gave him a
comforting kiss on the cheek. Moros looked at her smiling face and
couldn’t help but feel relaxed.

She asserted, “It’s okay, Moros.”

Elpis walked down the stream with Raphael, leaving Moros to
himself.

Raphael said, “There’s something I need to address with
you. The light inside of you is bright. Brighter than any of
us. When you are on Earth, you may discover you have more abilities than
what we discussed.”

Elpis was intrigued, albeit worried. “Like what?”

“There’s one in particular you need to be careful
with. When you kiss someone, as you have just kissed Moros, you open a
door inside of him.”

Elpis looked down at the water she walked on, confused by
Raphael’s statement.

“A kiss will allow someone to interact with the dead, for
as long as the dead’s light stays on Earth. Further, if the one you kiss
touches another person, that ability will temporarily be transferred. And
that person will be able to see the dead for a short time.”

Elpis stopped in her tracks. “So Moros will be able
to talk to the dead now?”

“No.” Raphael reassured, “This is something that only
affects the people on Earth.”

Elpis looked straight ahead, overwhelmed by the abundance
of information bestowed up on her. “How do you know this about me?”

Raphael calmly said, “A lot of what we know comes from our
last attempt. It was long ago. Before you were alive. After
we failed, the committee decided to start over and settled on Earth. I
don’t believe Earth will need to suffer the same fate. The people have
the potential. But they are easily swayed into darkness.”

Elpis asked, “Is that what makes them dangerous?”

Raphael pointed at her. “Exactly. You have to
remember, they haven’t been around anywhere near as long as we have. Sometimes,
you might get frustrated with them. But never, ever,
ever
hurt
them. You can help them, heal them, but if you ever hurt them… well, just
don’t do that.”

Moros wore blue jeans and a t-shirt.
He
fit right in.

The rain blasted down from the sky. Moros lifted his
eyes upwards, allowing the rain to soak his face. He rather enjoyed the
rain. The abundance of water on Earth was something that had always
impressed Elpis.

People scurried around him, panicking at the onslaught of
water that was continually unleashed. A pink blur caught the corner of
his eye. As he affixed on the sight, he saw someone with a large pink dog
over his shoulder running in the opposite direction. Moros smiled, amused
by the scene.

But he still hadn’t found who he was looking for.
Moros scanned the faces of people running by. Through the carousels,
swings, and Tilt-A-Whirl, he wasn’t anywhere to be found.

Then, Moros spotted him. He was running across his
field of vision: Matt, the star quarterback of Michigan State. Moros
lifted his hand and pointed three fingers at Matt’s knees. After Moros
would blow them out, Matt’s grand ideas of playing professional football would
be over. He would be devastated; a man with nothing left. And
that’s
what Moros needed from him.

Moros squinted his eyes at his target, but unexpectedly,
someone running by knocked his arm at the exact second of release. His
fingers were redirected toward a big bulky African man who fell unconscious to
the ground, evidently impaled by his errant shot. A young boy stood over
his father and screamed, perplexed by what had happened.

Moros was stunned at his accidental infliction. But
he had to get Matt. Luckily, Matt stopped to investigate the source of
the screaming. Surprisingly, he came running to the man’s aid.

Heroic.

As he approached the injured man, who was now profusely
bleeding, the target became bigger. And easier to hit.

Moros stuck out three fingers again.

And demolished Matt’s kneecap. Matt fell to the
ground, screaming in agonizing pain. Surely his knee hurt, but the man
Moros accidentally shot would be in much greater pain. Wherever he had
been hit, his internal organs were no doubt destroyed beyond recognition.

The young boy, Mikey, screamed and begged for someone to
help his ailing father. Matt joined in the chorus of screaming.

Stephen knelt on one knee, facing the love of his life,
waiting for her answer.

Lisa smiled and opened her mouth to affirm his offer.

But before she could say anything, petrified screams rang
out in the distance.

Stephen and Lisa simultaneously looked in the direction of
the shouting. Whatever had happened, it was serious. “Help!!” they
heard by a faded voice. Stephen leapt to his feet and gripped eyes with
Lisa. The rain poured down her drenched hair. A sense of urgency
overcame both of them. They knew what had to be done.

Mikey, the black toddler standing over his father was
overcome. He leaned forward and tearfully embraced his father.
There was nothing he could do. The life was slipping away from him.

A group of curious people had formed around Matt and
Mikey’s father. Stephen rushed to the aid of Mikey and his father.
He knelt down, turned the man onto his back, and promptly ripped his shirt open.
“What happened?”

“A man shot him,” Mikey responded.

“You saw it?”

Mikey nodded. “Is he going to be okay?”

Stephen didn’t answer. He didn’t know. The man
was bleeding uncontrollably. Stephen tore off a portion of his own shirt,
wound it into a ball, and applied it to the wound to help control the
bleeding. He grew soaked with blood and water. Stephen looked at
the bystanders, who uselessly stood in the rain like idiots. “Will
someone call 911!? Do something!”

Lisa stood over Matt, who, through his agony, smiled at
her. The rain pelted his face as he looked up. Despite the fact
that she had abruptly dumped him for Stephen, Matt still harbored strong
feelings for her.

He cracked, “It’s nice to see you again, Lisa.”

Lisa forced a smile and knelt down to him. An
emotional war was waged inside of her. She remembered the words Sara
Ixley uttered in the bathroom after her boyfriend asked her to marry her: ‘What
if this is a sign?’ It seemed ridiculous at the time, but Lisa couldn’t
help but wonder the same thing at this exact moment, as she looked into the
eyes of her ex-boyfriend who impossibly reappeared seconds after Stephen asked
her to marry him. What were the odds of that? The insecurities she
had spent months shedding herself of came roaring back. What if Stephen,
a man she unquestionably loved, wasn’t the one she was supposed to be
with? The reality of the commitment that came with being married dawned
on her. A heavy rock formed in her stomach. Doubts grew in her mind
and amidst the chaos, Lisa grew scared.

Lisa stood up and glanced at Stephen, who was busy trying
to comfort Mikey. With the rain pouring down, no one could see the tears
crawling out of her eyes.

“Stephen,” she called. He turned his head, still
applying the shirt to the man. Lisa struggled as she uttered the most
painstaking words she would ever speak, “I… I don’t know if I can do
this.” As the words left her mouth, she inherently forgot what Stephen
meant to her. “I need some time to think about things. I’m sorry.”
With that, she ran off.

Stephen promised to never give up on her. But he
couldn’t chase after her, not with a man dying in his hands. All he could
do was watch as she disappeared into the distance.

Lisa would leave for Los Angeles. She would write him
a letter. And she would never talk to him again.

Stephen stared in the distance as the impact of what just
happened started the never-ending process of sinking in. He would never
get over losing her. A terrible feeling grew in his gut. The light
inside of him went completely out. Lisa was gone.