Verse (21 page)

Chapter 91

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou?

I close the
Bible
and look out the window of my apartment at the scorched and ruined Jerusalem, quiet and peaceful.

I check my phone.

9:01

The interview will already have started.

I walk into the living room and turn on the TV.

Security footage of me throwing the grenade and the men blowing up. Then I walk over to them and shoot one and then another. Then I go around the corner.

Cut to Erwin going down the hallway and around the corner.

Cut to the interviewer talking to me at her desk.

Wow. The heroism on display in that video is just staggering.

I say,

Thank you, but I’m no hero, I just did what I had to do.

She looks deeply moved.

No cameras were present in the prime minister’s room, can you tell us what happened?

I look tearfully distraught.

The prime minister was alive when I entered the room. I can’t tell you how relieved I was. But Sam’ar Yakobson entered not long after and… we struggled. I tried to prevent him from removing the Mr. Ravid’s breathing apparatus. But I… failed. We exchanged gunfire and Sam’ar Yakobson lost his life. I was unable to restore the breathing apparatus before Mr. Ravid lost his life.

She says,

What do you think was going through Sam’ar Yakobson’s mind?

I say,

I’ve asked myself that question again and again. Erwin Yakobson was my oldest friend. I can only say, I think maybe he was bitter about his experience in the army? I just don’t know. I don’t think any of us will ever know.

She says,

Thank you for joining us this evening and sharing this with us. Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been speaking with Immanuel Kadur, who just a few days ago was appointed acting prime minister of Israel by a special emergency cabinet, in an unprecedented turn of events for someone holding no previous political experience. Mr. Kadur, they’ve told me you’re pursuing legislation to reform the State of Israel into a monarchy, one covering the whole of Israel and Palestine. I have to tell you, as an American, I find this highly troubling.

I say,

First let me say that all citizens of Palestine will be given full citizenship under the monarchy. This is a benefit, with increased rights. Second of all, you know I’m an American too. I grew up in democracy and believed in it. But we’ve both seen the corruption that can only be solved by God-chosen leadership.

She says,

One final question, I know we’re short on time. Currently, you are still occupying several nations that participated in the invasion of Israel. At what point in time do you anticipate beginning the process of withdrawal?

I say,

We will not be withdrawing.

She says,

I’m sorry?

I say,

We will be advanc

I turn it off.

I go into the kitchen and grab Iris’s hard drive off the table.

I guess all I need is the
Bible
and the hard drive, I’ll let the movers get everything else.

I leave.

Downstairs my convoy is waiting for me, two Humvees and a limo.

I get into the limo and we drive out into the desert.

Chapter 92

We pull into an army base, Camp Tzrifin, and they drive me to Bahad 7, the science facility.

They escort me inside and down a hall and to a room.

I go in.

It’s cool and filled with the humming of thousands of processors. An entire room, all for one computer.

There are some guys at the main terminal and I go to them.

We say our hellos and I give them the hard drive.

I wander down a row as they transfer the file.

All I can hear is the whirring of fans, the humming of discs, and my footsteps.

“Sir!” one of them calls out.

I go back.

On screen is a page of code that ends in a flashing cursor.

He says, “Press ‘Enter.’”

I do it.

Code scrolls by the screen, stopping on

YOU ARE THE MESSIAH

I say, “Did it work?”

He says, “I can’t say, but it did what she programmed it to do. We’ll upload it now.”

They drive me back to Jerusalem, to the Prime Minister’s residence.

I’m so tired, I go straight to the bedroom and flop down on the bed.

I turn on the television.

Hebrew, I can’t even focus on what the news anchors are saying. Something about the Dead Sea? I think

pillow chokes me, smothers me, can’t breathe, I’m falling through the floor dirt bodies down on top of me—

Wait what? That doesn’t make any— No what was I— My eye, it’s gone, running down the hall where I can’t go through the door out the window I fly through over the grass it feels good under my toes—

What? That doesn’t make any— oh I’m drifting down the river up to my ankles gently floating down on my back over the falls floating through the air pastthrough the cloud

A rumble shakes me and I sit up in bed.

I look out the window and the sky is a dark red.

What—?

What time is—?

11:59

That can’t be—?

I look at the television.

The President of the United States of America, talking at a lectern.

that the nuclear attack against Israel began less than a quarter of an hour ago. Israel has been our closest ally and we have no choice but to retaliate against any nation that would perpetrate such a heinous act against them.

It cuts to another man, his words subtitled.

If they retaliate, we will retaliate a hundred-fold, them and all their allies and

“No.”

I get out of bed, leave my room, walk down the hall, climb the stairs, and go out onto the roof.

I look out at Jerusalem, at the skyline. It gets so much brighter, growing brighter and brighter, till there’s only white li—

Chapter 93

I float into a tunnel of energy, pulled up toward a bright light, like a massive star.

The light shimmers, growing brighter and dimmer and brighter again.

I drift toward it, drawn through the tunnel.

I can’t look away from the light, it burns my eyes, searing into my vision, leaving sunspots around the edges.

It envelops me, all I see is the light, there’s nothing else.

Inside is a figure, made of light, exuding the light.

Am I dead?

YOU ARE THE MESSIAH.

I reach for it and it reaches for me.

We unite.

I can feel them all.

Everyone dead, their bodies destroyed, their memories forgotten, their consciousness lost.

But I can hear them, see them, and they are me. I am the dead, not dead, but alive. Their particles rise and mix with mine and become mine.

I am the dust, the air, the water, and the ground. Everyone who ever lived, the whole of experience, the whole of thought, is mine.

I become light.

I move through the universe, conscious light in every direction.

I am the universe, every particle a piece of me.

I am complete. I am all.

I contract and expand, unform and reform, unmake and remake.

I know why.

Existence is a book and I can see its pages, chapter and verse.

Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way to do it would be to start his own religion.

—L. Ron Hubbard,
Los Angeles Times
, 27 August 1978

Thank you for purchasing and/or reading
Verse
.

I’m a writer and filmmaker from Seattle, Washington. This is my first novel. I also wrote and directed the independent film
Gamer Theory
.

I’d like to thank a few people who helped me with the book. First of all, my family: my father Tom, my mother Nancy, and my sister Corina, all of whom have been supportive of me writing this novel and of my writing in general. Also, my friends Stephen Szal, Tom Santangelo, Sally Bullock, my cousin Kate McKinney, and my professor Charles Evered at Emerson College, all of whom discussed the story with me and helped me develop ideas for it. I also workshopped the story at Emerson College and in Los Angeles and have given other people copies of early versions of the story and I want to thank everyone who gave me feedback.

Because this novel was independently published, I edited it myself, and therefore it’s more prone to contain errors than a professionally published work. If you would like to report mistakes and/or make suggestions for corrections, please send them to [email protected]. You’re also more than welcome to write me for any other reason.