Hey all, like I said i'm trying to get back into writing this story i started forever ago. I'm just gonna repost everything here since its been so long, but I am excluding chapter two right now, which is where I want to tell the story through Susan's point of view but realized that i have no clue how to think like a girl, lol, go figure. Anyway, for those of you who have read parts of this before read through again because I've done a lot of editing and changed some parts. I'm also thinking of changing the pastor scene to something else because I am beginning to have a different idea for some of the development of the story, but for now it's going to stay as it is until I think more about this other potential track.
Anyway, here you go.
btw, I really want comments and ideas, it would make my life a lot easier, and good ones, no just good job or interesting.
Darkness. An absolute void where not one ray of light penetrated. A darkness that deprives the mind not only of sight, but also of thought. That’s all there was when I first opened my eyes. At least, I thought I had opened them, but I couldn’t be sure. As I slowly began to think again I noticed the cool, hard, smooth surface plastered to my face. It almost felt like marble, but it was even smoother than it should have been. I slowly slid my hands under my shoulders and tried to push myself up. Before I was even to my hands and knees I fell back down. It felt as if I hadn’t moved in weeks. Slowly reaching outwards I tried to create a mental map of my immediate surroundings. To my right was a wall, to my left, more of the cold hard floor. The wall felt as if it was standard dry wall, painted with really cheap paint.
I tried to get up again but soon gave this up as a fruitless labor. As I lay there panting I soon realized that I had no clue who I was, nor where I was. As you can imagine, this was not a pleasant feeling. I raced through my mind trying to find answers to what my past held in it. Nothing was there. It was as if I was searching for a contact in a room darker than the one I was in. I grew frustrated. “What is going on?!?!” I shouted. Only the echo of my voice answered. I could feel my heart rate quickening and panic setting in. Not a shred of my identity remained. I had no clue how old I was, if I had any family, why I was in this god forsaken place.
“You’ve really got to stop this…” my wife sighed, “every time you go out, you come home with numerous injuries and an excuse that doesn’t fit.”
“I told you, it was just a little mix up at work,” I shot back as I removed the ice from my eye and winced as she began trying to clean the gash on my leg.
“Just a little mix up?! Jesus, Mark! You look as if you just got discharged from World War III. How can you call that a little mix up? And what I really want to know is how does your work cause you to get into fights? You’re a freaking cashier at Walmart. There is absolutely no reason why you should be getting into physical altercations.”
“Look, Susan, I already told you, some guy was trying to steal a camera and I chased him down. He didn’t like that and thus this happened. How was I supposed to know he had a knife?”
“Why didn’t you just call the police?”
“Oh, and I assume that they saw you and said ‘you look ok to me, you can go home now’ because you look just marvelous,” Susan replied. I could sense the doubt in her voice; it was always there, ever since the first incident. I wanted so bad to tell her what really was happening, that I really wasn’t a cashier at Walmart. It hurt me so much to have to lie to her like this, but I couldn’t tell. I never could. It was for her own good. If only she knew…
“I really don’t know how much more I can take of this Mark.”
“Please, just trust me,” I said as I looked into her eyes willing her to understand that I had no choice in the matter. Her eyes were mesmerizing; they could freeze over the Amazon River with their glare and melt the ice caps with their affectionate glances. Those eyes were just the tip of the beauty that was my wife. A beauty she was, the most beautiful person in the world as far as I was concerned. She had long black hair that fell to her shoulders. She had a face that everyone could love and a body that could turn heads.
The physical appearance only scratched the surface though. Susan was the most loving and caring person anyone could find anywhere on this planet. Even when she was upset or angry she still had your best interests at heart. I was so happy that we were together, in fact, I can say with certainty that it is impossible for any man to be happier with his spouse.
She shook her head and began to stand.
“Look, I told you what happened. I’m sorry if you don’t believe me but that’s what happened,” I blurted out. Oh how it pained me to have to lie to her like this. The words of my high school physics teacher briefly flashed through my mind. “Never keep a secret from your spouse. It is not a good idea.” Ack! I agreed so much with this statement, but he had never been in this situation, that much is for sure.
“Humph!” Susan replied as she stood and walked out of the kitchen. Our relationship was on its brink and nothing I could do could save it. The only reason why we were still together was for the children, and even that was beginning to lose its purpose. The children were the love of both our lives. Few people could experience the same joy I could just by hanging out with those kids. There was Joey the cowboy, and the princess Shannon. They were the pride of my life and I would do anything for them.
I decided that sitting around the house wishing things were different wasn’t helping anyone so I hopped in my 2000 Honda CR-V and shot out into the street. I had absolutely no clue where I was going, just that I needed to get out and clear my head a little. I hated it when Susan and I fought and tried to avoid fights at all costs. The times when we did fight, which was becoming more and more frequent, I usually ended up here, behind the wheel of my reliable old CR-V. That car probably shared more moments with me than anything else in my life. It was my place to escape to, my safe house.
I started to reflect back on the last few years. My marriage had taken a turn for the worse shortly after that one fateful night. That one night is where all of this trouble began, where my life changed forever, for the better or worst. That night and that man, that man who first intro….
“HONNNNKKKK!!!!” My thoughts were interrupted by an angry driver behind me. I had been day dreaming at a stop light again. I quickly started through the intersection and turned off into the next driveway I saw as the other car sped around me. I began to look around and tried to figure out just where I had taken myself this time. I quickly came to realize that I was in the neighborhood where my good friend John lived. John also happened to be my pastor. I decided to drop by and see if he was around. It always helped me to talk to him.
John was a very ecstatic and energetic man. He was also very simple. He lived in a small rural house that was quite literally in the middle of nowhere. It had plain white siding and very standard looking windows. The steps leading up to the front door, which was some faded and dirtied color that I think used to be blue but now looked off-white, were made of concrete and had cracks where they met.
“Ding-Dong” the doorbell sounded. It was the most standard sound for a doorbell, and it fit John perfectly.
“Mark!” John exclaimed as he threw wide the door. We embraced and then I was whisked inside. “How have you been? Ohh I see you have been having more adventures, you must tell me everything. We haven’t talked since Sunday, where have you been?” John asked as he ushered me into his giant overstuffed armchair that had was now under stuffed.
John was the kind of person that was impossible to hate. He always had a smile on his face and genuinely cared for people. He also had that kind of air about him that said that it was ok to tell him anything you wanted to.
“You know I can’t tell you that,” I replied as I fiddled with a piece of the now almost nonexistent stuffing I had noticed sticking out of one of the seams.
“Yeah, whatever. All that bologna about ‘it’s top secret’ and ‘No one can know.’ I don’t believe any of it…” John said with a grin and a wink. I forced a half smile in return. “So how’s things between you and God?” John continued as he grabbed a chair from his kitchen table.
“Been watching anything you shouldn’t?”
As John continued through the standard accountability questions I began to dread more and more the last question he would ask. It was always a sore spot in our meetings. Then it arrived.
“Been reading your bible?” John asked with raised eyebrows.
“Ahem… Well… Umm…. No not really,” I conceded.
“Oh really? And why is that?”
“You know why!” This conversation had occurred so many times before that I had lost count. John just sat staring at me waiting for my answer. I sat there and glared back. The tension in the room was beginning to increase rapidly. Finally I gave in.
“I haven’t had time with work,” I grunted.
“So you’ve told me… Is that really a good answer?”
“It is the answer, what can I do to fix it? Nothing!”
“So you are trying to tell me that your job is more important than God?”
“Ohh but it is. You are placing your mysterious job in front of something God wants you to do. You are stating that God is less important than your work.”
“What the heck am I supposed to do? I have a wife and three kids that I need to support. I can’t just quit!”
“Ahh, your wife, that would be why you are really here today, isn’t it. You are not just taking from God; you are taking away from her because you are never around, never tell her anything, and are always storming off.” John had this uncanny ability to know just why people came to him and a sometimes annoying habit of jumping from topic to topic. “I’m worried Mark,” John continued after a pause, “I have a feeling that your world is about to be rocked more than you can imagine. God is going to try and get your attention if you don’t change and you will not like it.”
A break in the conversation occurred. I contemplated what John had just told me. Eventually I decided to play it off as him just worrying about me.
“So will I be seeing you this Sunday morning? Mitchell is leading an awesome worship set,” John started again.
“If everything goes as planned I’ll be there.”
“That’s good, I think you’ll find something in the sermon as well.”
“Oh really? What’s it about?”
“Come on Sunday and you’ll find out.”
“You can be so difficult, you know that?”
John just flashed that smile of his and replied, “I try my best.” At this we both shared a good laugh. “Hey, have you eaten yet? Where are my manners, I have a guest and still haven’t offered him any food,” John suddenly exclaimed.
“Actually, I am pretty hungry. I haven’t eaten since last night, but I really must be going. I think I’ll just pick up something on the way home.”
“Oh nonsense! You will stay and eat with me unless you can provide a real excuse, I’m making pierogis,” John said almost teasingly.
“No fair, you know I can’t resist you’re homemade pierogis,” I laughed out.
“Good, good. Make yourself at home, they’ll be done shortly.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Thanks for dinner John!” I called over my shoulder as I went to start my car.
“Oh, anytime Mark, you know you’re always welcome here.” He called back. “Read your bible, and come to church on Sunday!”
“I’ll do my best,” I shouted back as I began to close the door.
“No more ex…:” was all that I could hear as the door closed. I just smiled and waved and then turned to back out the driveway. When I was on the road I waved once more to John and began to pull away. In the corner of my rearview mirror I watched as John slowly shook his head and returned inside. I knew he was very worried about me but he could never understand fully what I had to do and why I had to do it. Heck, I barely understood most of it. I just knew that if I didn’t “HONKKKK!!!!”
I had been day dreaming at a red light again apparently. I glanced in my rearview and went to wave an apology when I noticed…..
“Already? There can’t be something else already. No, it just can’t be!” was all I could think. “HONKKK!!!!” He was impatient this time, which wasn’t good. Not good at all.
I swung off into the side street hoping that I was mistaken, hoping to God that the black Mercedes behind me was just some especially restless driver who wanted to get going. As soon as he turned into the street I knew that my hope was unfulfilled. He pulled in front of me and opened the door.
“Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock”
Time was counting down and the obscenely loud clock in the otherwise penetrating silence continuously reminded me of this. Suddenly I heard a loud snore coming from the bedroom right above my head and knew it was time to go.
I quickly began to creep up the stairs staying towards the outside so as to keep them from creaking. I had no clue why all my objectives had to be in older houses but it always made things a lot more difficult. At the top of the stairs I quickly slipped around the left corner of the walls into the small blind spot missed by the security camera that was supposedly situated directly above my head right now, or at least so I was told. I stole a quick glance above me to confirm and sure enough there was the camera pointing down the hall.
I reached up a very carefully stuck a small receiver onto the back of the camera. “It’s a go Mingus,” I quietly whispered into the mic tucked onto the collar of my shirt.
“You’re good in three…. two…. You’ve got 30 seconds, go!” crackled in through my ear piece.
I sure hoped this man was right, heck, I didn’t even have a clue where or who Mingus was. Every member of the team was hidden from all others, and the team was always different. No one even knew the overall mission except for whoever was in charge. I had no clue what was going on, though I had a hunch that each and every “objective” I received was just a small part of some overall project. About the only thing I knew was that about one year ago a man came up to me and told me that if I wanted to keep my wife and children from harm, and pay off those debts that I needed to do everything he said.
“What the …. are you doing, …. down to … seconds, get a move on … gonna blow it!“ crackled through my earpiece. Dang it, I had lost focus again. I always had to make things difficult on myself. I quickly moved down the hallway as silently as possible “6 … 4 …” came through again and I broke into a sprint. Silence was no longer the utmost priority. “2 … 1” and I was through the door trying to breathe as quietly as possible. I knew that from this point forward I was on my own, Mingus was probably quickly packing up and getting ready to leave already, his part of the mission was done. All I had to do was grab some small ring that whoever was sleeping in front of me kept on their bed stand. All I was told was that it’s made out of pure gold so it will feel very heavy for its size and could be easily misshapen.
I silently crept towards the table and grabbed the ring which was placed on one of those fake fingers you see in jewelry stores. I then slid over to the window and searched to make sure that there were no security devices. I was in luck, and slowly slid open the window and stuck my head outside. I knew that there should be a camera directly below me and “mew.”
What was that? I quickly scanned the room, saw nothing and figured it was just my imagination playing tricks on me. I returned to canvassing the ground below me. There was another blind spot at the corner directly to my left and then a small area where I could run until I was in bushes and home-free. I leaned out a little farther to look and see if there was anyway to get over to where I needed to but had to quickly stop to wipe my nose on my sleeve. No need to leave DNA. I once again leaned out when I felt something brush against my leg and heard “mew” once again.
I immediately knew I was in deep trouble. I looked down and there was a cat between my legs. I immediately felt a sneeze coming on (I was horribly allergic to cats). Grabbing my nose I frantically began my search trying to use my mind to keep the sneeze at bay. It was no use and I let out a muffled sneeze. The man in the bed rolled over, grunted, and resumed snoring. Praising my good fortunes I quickly reached out and grabbed the hand hold I had seen and began to ease myself out of the window when I again felt something hit my leg, except this time it wasn’t the cat. I turned and watched as the vase that was sitting next to the window began to wobble and finally fell to the floor with a crash.
“Ahh, wha…, who’s there!” exclaimed the man as he hurriedly sat up in the bed rubbing his eyes.
It was go time. I flung myself from the window and aimed for the pool that was two stories below me hoping that it was a very deep one. I landed feet first and plunged under and hit the bottom hard. I felt a sharp pain flare up the side of my leg but still managed to push myself back to the surface. I swam to the edge with the sound of the alarm going off behind me. As I pulled myself I got up and limped as fast as I could towards the bushes directly in front of me. I heard shouts and saw lights sweeping back and forth from behind me. Finally I reached the bushes and jumped up onto the fence and began climbing.
“Hey stop!” I heard followed by a loud boom of a gun-shot. I was in trouble. These people meant business. I hurried up the fence and dropped down on to the other side, collapsing in a heap as I landed on my bad leg. I quickly rolled into the next row of bushes and then crept off on hands and Knees as best as I could manage, having to take cover about every five minutes as they canvassed the area searching for me. Finally after about an hour they stopped searching and I was able to make it to the road where I hopped into the Beemer that had been given to me to use and sped off to the drop off location.
