Excerpt:
“Donny. We talked about the soul who spawned me. Amelia.”
“You know when you talk about these things, I don’t understand. And then you always end by saying that it was all just a dream. What do you mean by saying that she spawned you?”
“Souls split. It is called spawning. When it happens they create lesser souls but still the soul that spawns us is part of us and we are part of them.”
“So who is Amelia?”
“She is God. She is the one who created this world, this prison.”
Hearthville Serial: Book 7
Episode 9
Any Truth, Proper Grammar, or Correct Spelling is totally coincidental if not accidental.
All characters are fiction. This story is fiction. This story makes no claims about any real person.
By Charles Peters
Copyright 2021
All Rights Reserved
Chapters / Episodes
Victor stood in his bedroom and looked out his window. He stared up at the sky. He stared at the stars. He touched the glass of the window. And then he saw his own reflection in the window and he saw the tears in his eyes. He touched a tear drop rolling down his pinkish cheek.
Victor’s brother Stewart opened the door to Victor’s bedroom. “I was looking for you.”
“Why?” Victor’s voice sounded distant. He did not turn to look at Stewart.
“Preacher Pat Piaolo is planning on having church tomorrow. He is telling everyone he doesn’t want to see any damned face mask in church. Mayor Hollis and Daniel are talking about arresting him. It was a big deal on the radio today. I know you have influence with Mayor Hollis and Daniel.”
“Daniel hates my fucking guts.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. But I will call Hollis.” Victor turned to pick up his cellphone.
“You are crying? Why are you crying?”
“I went to see Maureen Bingo. I had these ideas. I had these plans.”
“She is married. And she is too old for you. Besides, I thought you were going to pursue things with Tabitha.”
“I guess for a moment I was having horny thoughts about Maureen. But honest. That is not what I wanted with Maureen. Do you remember when we were up in the mountains and the Bingo family was there and Maureen was pregnant with Billy.”
“Not really.”
“Do you remember Barry Whitehead?”
“I heard his name in the news. He died in the car crash. But no. I am pretty sure I never met him.”
“Can I tell you something?”
“Anything.”
“I think I am losing my mind.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I feel myself getting lost between the world of the living and the world of the dead. After I visited Maureen to give her a check I ended up in an after life / before birth community. I talked to Donny Maxtone.”
“Donny? Not Jossette?”
“Donny. We talked about the soul who spawned me. Amelia.”
“You know when you talk about these things, I don’t understand. And then you always end by saying that it was all just a dream. What do you mean by saying that she spawned you?”
“Souls split. It is called spawning. When it happens they create lesser souls but still the soul that spawns us is part of us and we are part of them.”
“So who is Amelia?”
“She is God. She is the one who created this world, this prison.”
“Wait. Are you trying to say that you are the second coming of Christ. That is blasphemy.”
“In the after life, Jesus is my higher brother. He was also spawned by Amelia.”
“What you are telling me all does sound crazy and it doesn’t fit with the bible at all.”
Through his tears Victor smiled. “I guess it all was just a dream.”
“You have some strange dreams.”
“I do. I really do. Now let me call Hollis.”
Victor hit speed dial and called Hollis.
“Hey Hollis, this is Victor. You can’t let Daniel arrest Preacher Pat.”
“Victor. We don’t want to arrest him. But I am getting calls from the fucking White House. Let me repeat: the fucking White House.”
“Let me remind you, I sent Belial to hell.”
“Boy, I know you did. And honest to God I do not want to go against you. I don’t want you sending me to hell, but if the Preacher holds church tomorrow without anyone wearing mask, I have no choice but to have Daniel arrest him. I am sorry. Honest to God I am sorry.”
“I know you are. I will talk to Preacher Pat.”
Stewart said, “Preacher Pat is not going to back down.”
Victor disconnected from Mayor Hollis. Victor vanished from Stewart’s sight.
Stewart screamed, “What the hell. Victor, where did you go?”
Victor called back to Stewart. “Go back to bed Stewart. You are just having a dream.”
“I am just having one of Victor’s dreams.”
****
Victor appeared in Preacher Pat Pialo’s bedroom. Preacher Pat was asleep in his bed. He was wearing pink pajamas that had baby blue bubbles on them and red hearts in the blue bubbles. He tossed and he turned. He kicked at his covers. Every once in a while he screamed, “God! Help me.”
Watching Preacher Pat, Victor shook his head in a saying no fashion. “What am I going to do with you Preacher Pat? Stewart and Jack love you. And I don’t want to see you hurt. How can I protect you?”
Victor stepped into Preacher Pat’s dream. He walked up to Preacher Pat in the dream. He took Preacher Pat’s hand. Preacher Pat looked at him as they stood in a line of people along a narrow sandy road that was climbed up a hill. Then they both turned to look at Jesus carrying a cross up the hill. The scene was not exactly like Victor remembered when his higher brother was crucified but the scene was close. Had Preacher Pat been there or had he seen the scene in a movie?
“In a past life, did you ever see Jesus preach?”
“I don’t believe in reincarnation.”
“So is what you are dreaming from a movie?”
“I guess.”
“Most movies don’t picture the sandals the way they were at the time of Christ. It is something even the souls who were there at the time often get wrong. But your dream’s depiction of the sandals is correct. You were there when Jesus was crucified.”
“Was I among those who called for his crucifixion?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’ve had this dream before but you were never in it.”
“I am here now.”
“If I was there. If this is a memory. Why didn’t I help Jesus? I pray that I was not among those who called for his death. But why in this dream do I just stand and watch? I don’t want to just stand and watch. I want to make a difference. I want to make a difference for good.”
“Allowing yourself to be a made a political prisoner is not going to make a difference. You couldn’t save Jesus. And going to jail because you don’t want the church goers to wear face mask is not going to save America.”
“The face mask is a symbol of fear and tyranny. Every time I put that face mask on to go shopping, I imagine that mask is as heavy as that cross that Jesus is carrying to his own death. We are wearing the mask even as they plot to kill us. It is such a joke to them, like making Jesus carry his own cross. Does anyone think these Pontius Pilate’s give a flying fuck about us? No. They want to own us. They want to control us. They want to make us slaves to some vaccine passport system. We can’t allow that. We must not allow that.”
“I know what you are saying.”
“Do you? If you are in a room where the virus is in the air, the mask actually pulls the air down to your nose and mouth. And when you breathe out, it pushes the air up to make the spread more effective. They are making us wear the mask not because they want to save us but because they want to kill us. They want to infect as many people as possible during their bio-terror attacks. The dime store mask help them do that.”
“I don’t want you to go to jail. They are going to arrest you. Daniel has already been given orders. Hollis does not want it to happen but he has even been received calls from the White House.”
“I should have helped Jesus.”
“He understands. He does not blame you.”
Preacher Pat stared at Victor. There was an anger in his expression. “Who are you to say that Jesus understands and that he does not blame me? Do you see him there? He is angry as hell and in the end he thinks God has forsaken him. He thinks all of us have forsaken him.”
“Jesus could have stopped what was happening more so than you could have. “
“I don’t know why he couldn’t save himself but I don’t believe he could. Just look at him.”
“I see him and I tell you that my brother is a better man than me. I would not have allowed myself to die on any fucking cross. But know that even I, a lesser man than my higher brother, would not hold any grudge against you.”
“I did nothing and I guess the grudge is all mine to own. And now, still, if I do nothing, the grudge will still be all mine to own.”
“Are you sure? In the end will that be how you think. If your congregation can not stop Daniel from arresting you, will you hold a grudge against them.”
“Maybe the grudge I hold is against God. Where is God? In the end, even Jesus wondered. Why isn’t God helping us against the Evil Ones?”
“Our God sleeps. She sleeps. I don’t know fully why, but I know she sleeps.”
“She?”
“Look at the Virgin Mary there. Look at the pain in her face and know her pain was as great as the pain of Jesus. Do you think she did not want to save her son from that pain? Do you think she doesn’t want to save us all from this prison planet? But then she sees the evils. The evils not just of the world, but of us. She sees the betrayals. She sees and there is only so much she can stand to see. And so she sleeps. She sleeps.”
“Victor, you speak so oddly. Your religion is not my religion. And yet I think I understand.”
Victor vanished.
Preacher Pat Pialo woke up. “Somehow we must wake God up.”