The Eye of Madness (48 page)

There was a little fear because nobody knew for sure what waited on the other side. Sure, the correct sequence manifested on the EMF meter, but was it really Tesla? What if it were a mere coincidence … an anomaly?

“Do you think Mommy will be there?” Seth asked.

“I don't know son, I sure hope so,” Thomas answered.

The one thing Thomas dreamed about ever since Seth returned was to see his beloved Annabelle again. He received another chance with his son and for that, he was forever grateful. However, he never felt complete, never felt whole. He thought about her every day since her death, both before and after he became an Impal. The one thing he learned from his experience is that love does not die with the physical body; it only grows stronger.

They watched Seth's favorite movie, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, one last time that morning. Seth played with some of his action figures he brought with him, acting out scenes from the movie as they transpired on the screen. Thomas hoped Jar Jar Binks would not be anywhere in eternity. He didn't think he could handle it. Seth's crude, but accurate impersonation was bad enough.

When the movie finished, Seth asked a direct and blunt question. “Is God going to be in the door?”

“Maybe,” Thomas said. “He is in there somewhere.”

“Will he have any Star Wars stuff?”

“I think he will have even better stuff,” Thomas said with a wink. “There will be all kinds of good stuff.”

Seth half smiled and half frowned as he ducked his head.

“I'm kinda scared, Daddy,” he said.

“I am too, buddy … but just a little. Remember we did it before and it didn't hurt.”

“It didn't feel good, either,” Seth said.

What they were most afraid of was
not
going through the Tesla Gate. They knew it wasn't painful and they knew it didn't shred them. What sacred them the most was that they would not be able to find Annabelle.

A little after noon, Burt came by to pick them up. They were to meet Cecil and his family at the base around one o'clock.

Cecil arrived a few minutes late with Barbara, Abbs, and Steff. He resembled a man attending the funeral of his child. In one way, in his limited perception of things, he was. He would say good bye to his daughters, probably for a long time. When he got out of the vehicle and walked towards them; Cecil resembled a man walking through quicksand. Barbara looked the same as she approached with a hand on each girl's back. Burt knew this needed to happen as fast as possible, drawing it out would only make things worse.

“Everyone is inside,” Burt said. “Follow me.”

The world still faced weeks if not months left to send the Impals on their way. Ships arrived daily on the east and west coasts with thousands of troubled souls waiting to move on. The Gates ran almost constantly each day, shutting down only a couple of hours for maintenance and safety checks. Today Burt arranged for an hour of private time. The only people in the hangar were an operator and security officer, who retreated to the rear of the hangar when the party arrived. Today there would be a special exodus with some well-known Impals and several well loved ones.

The group consisted of Lincoln, Einstein, the president, the vice president, Dr. Winder, Thomas, Seth, Abbs, and Steff. The only fleshers present besides the operator and the guard were Cecil and Barbara, along with Burt and Sally. The Tesla Gate shut down ten minutes earlier while the circuits were checked. It now stood silent, a large benign metallic arbor. Cecil saw it as a silent serpent ready to strike. Burt motioned to the operator and he walked back to his station and flicked a few buttons. The Gate began to hum back to life.

The president, vice-president, Dr. Winder, and Einstein ascended the platform.

“We will go first,” the president proclaimed as they turned to face everyone.

The vice-president gave a sheepish smile and nodded. He was a good man, but it was hard to believe that someone with such an introverted personality could have ascended so high in politics.

“Thank you, Cecil and Burt for all you have done,” Dr. Winder said. He then turned and jumped through the blue arcs.

Everyone gasped at this unexpected move.

“Show off,” the president quipped. He and the vice-president both waved and stepped backwards though the blue current. It was as if they were stepping behind a curtain after a campaign speech.

Einstein gave a short statement claiming how right they were to use the Tesla Gates to get to where they belonged. Then he turned and walked through sideways. He giggled as if the electrical currents tickled his translucent body. He was trying to be humorous to ease the tension of the fleshers present, but Einstein was not a comedian. It came across as awkward nervousness. Abbs and Steff gave an uneasy laugh before turning to their parents.

“I love you, Dad, love you Mom,” Abbs said as she stepped forward and hugged them.

Steff was short on words. Her face spoke volumes as she ran to embrace her parents.

The little family did not move for the longest time as Thomas, Seth and Lincoln stood waiting. Barbara wept, but Cecil kept his composure. It was not an easy task holding back his emotions. It took every ounce of resolve to avoid an emotional meltdown. Even his die hard resolve was not enough to prevent a few tears from sliding down his face. Soon, the emotional trance was broken by a small voice.

“It's okay Mr. and Mrs. Garrison, I'll watch out for them,” Seth said.

Cecil wiped a few tears away and motioned for Seth to come over. Seth looked up at his father. Thomas smiled and nodded. Seth half ran and half skipped to them, receiving a loving hug from each.

“It's time,” Lincoln said. He gave Barbara and Cecil a pleasant smile, but neither of them got much pleasure from it.

Abbs and Steff pulled from their parent's embrace and walked toward the Gate. Cecil and Barbara embraced each other as they watched their girls leave. Burt and Sally walked over and placed a supportive hand on their shoulders.

Lincoln, Abbs, Steff, Thomas and Seth all assembled in a straight line in front of the Gate. They turned one last time and gave a final farewell, then they all stepped through together. They held a shared belief that they belonged in what lay on the other side. Their loved ones, their happiness, and their eternal reward waited. They could not have imagined what they found, nor could any of the Impals who went before them. They wished they could turn and go back through, fleeing back to the solid world in terror.

CHAPTER 52

THE DARK DOORS

“Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.”

~Edgar Allan Poe

When Cecil and Barbara watched their girls disappear, they felt as if a part of them had gone with them. Burt and Sally were there to give comfort and support, but it was not enough to fill the vast hole in their hearts.

“Cecil, would you and Barbara join us for dinner tonight?” Burt asked.

Perhaps it was a little early, but Burt wanted to distract them from their pain. The question at first made Cecil angry. Did his friend really think a nice meal would fill his emptiness? Instead of getting mad, he turned and gave Burt a polite smile.

“No,” he said, wiping tears from his eyes. “I think Barbara and I need to be alone tonight.”

“Okay,” Burt said, reaching out and touching Cecil's upper arm. “If you change your mind, let me know. Sally and I are here for you.”

Sally wrapped her arms around Barbara's shoulders and whispered in her ear. “I love you sweetheart. I am here if you need me.”

Barbara couldn't stop sobbing, but she nodded her head against Sally's shoulder.

Burt and Sally turned to leave so their friends could have some privacy. Soon after Burt and Sally disappeared through the hangar door, Cecil gave one last loathsome glance at the machine that had caused so much pain and misery. He then wrapped a shaky arm around Barbara's shoulders and walked to the door.

His expression may not have been so abhorrent if he had any idea that his daughters were right beside him, trying to get his attention. They were just feet away, but they may as well have been a million miles. He could not hear their cries, or the pleas from millions of other Impals. There was no way for them to come back and there was no way to warn the Impals who would begin going through again in the next hour. There was no way to warn them of the horror waiting on the other side.

Abbs and Steff started to go after their parents, but Lincoln restrained them. “It would be fruitless, ladies,” he told them gently. “I can't let you get far, you might not be able to make it back.”

From the Impals perspective. The doorways seemed to begin beyond and to the left of the Gate. The doors stretched to infinity through the back wall and far beyond. The Impals could see each and every one of the infinite doors. The Impals themselves stretched to infinity in the distance. The realm of the doors appeared as another world superimposed over the physical world. They occupied the same space, but were completely separate. The Impals could not only see the infinite doors stretching into the distance, but they could also see the world beyond the back wall of the hangar.

This seemed to be the common arrival place of the next existence because Impals passing through the Arizona Gate kept arriving at regular intervals. The recently deceased arrived in much shorter intervals as they experienced the death of their physical body and moved on. Could the Arizona Impals see the hangar and beyond in Arizona or the one in Virginia? Could the recently deceased see the room, hospital, or accident scene from which they just departed? These questions were never asked because the Impals were faced with a much bigger problem.

They all wanted to go through their door, but they could not. These infinite doors were not open as the Impals had hoped, but were closed tight. Evidence of a bright light on the other side could be seen permeating the thin line around the arched top and sides of the doors, making them resemble a sea of crescent moons. The doors were not only shut, they were blocked as well.

They were blocked by an enormous line of dark souls stretching as far as the infinite doors. They kept the Impals at bay, daring them to try and cross to the doors. The insidious hissing and clicking in this vast expanse of the ethereal plane was maddening.

“How the hell did they get here?” Lincoln asked as one dark soul hissed and flashed his red eyes at him. He could have sworn it was the actor John Wilkes Booth.

“I'm afraid it was because of me,” a familiar voice said.

He turned to see Tesla approaching with a glum expression.

“What do you mean because of you?” Lincoln asked. “How?”

Tesla explained his theory to the best of his understanding, which, in this case, was not vast.

“When I got here, I saw the doors,” Tesla explained. “They were all open and they were the most beautiful sight I have ever seen.” He paused and shook his head,” It was all I could do to keep from going through my door right then and there. Of course, I had to let you know it was okay.”

“Why are they closed now?” Thomas asked.

“Because of the dark souls,” Tesla said. “They slammed shut as soon as they began to arrive. It was a terrible and deafening noise,” he said with a shudder.

Before anyone else could say anything, Tesla continued. He had to raise his voice to be heard over the ever increasing hissing and clicking. “When I was manipulating the energy membrane between realms to signal the EMF meter, something must have happened. Either my actions opened a portal into the dark realm, or …” he said pointing into the vast darkness opposite the doors. It was like looking into outer space with no stars, no moons and no planets. They were in a vast, eternal emptiness. “Or, they were already here in some dark and distant corner and my actions somehow summoned them.”

“What can we do?” Einstein asked.

“I don't know,” Tesla admitted. “Every time I approach, the dark souls mass in front of me to block my path. The threats uttered at me are most disconcerting and I would care not to repeat them in present company,” he said, glancing at Seth and the Garrison girls.

They all stood in dumbstruck terror, staring at the line of evil keeping them from moving on. The maddening sound of the darkness mixed with the shrieks and gasps of the arriving Impals was disturbing beyond words.

Cecil and Barbara arrived home a short time later. In spite of the cold January day, Cecil sat in a lawn chair on the back patio. He was so numb, he did not notice the temperature at all. Barbara went upstairs and lay on the bed with the door closed, lights out, and the curtains drawn. She hoped the eye would return and put her out of her misery.

Both Cecil and Barbara had lost loved ones over the years, but never did either one of them felt such a deep seeded sorrow and despair. Millions around the world now found themselves in the grip of a similar unreasonable and unbearable sorrow. The grief seemed to grow stronger with each passing minute.

Two weeks later, when the last remaining Impal went through, this sorrow around the world had grown to a level of crisis. Many people would not leave their home or even get out of their beds. Society ground to a near standstill. If something did not change soon, the world would be in worse shape than it was when the eye of the storm wreaked havoc.

The Impals sense of time was different in their plane of existence. Typically, time went by much slower there than it did in the physical world. The two weeks since Lincoln, Einstein, Thomas and Seth, and the Garrison girls passed through the Gate would have only seemed like a couple of hours in the physical world. The growing sense of despair rising in each Impal, accompanied by the insidious noise and threats hurled from the dark souls made it seem an eternity. The real fear was that they would indeed be there for eternity, separated from their door forever.