The Story Begins (5 page)

II

3

College

FIRST SEMESTER JUNIOR
YEAR: “What the F, man! This is ridiculous,” complained Jaden. “It could not have been a sane person that came up with this crap. Who the hell would want to be up at 4:30 in the morning to go workout?”

“Don’t know, dude. It sucks but that’s the way it is!” whispered Marcus, leaning against the door frame, waiting for Jaden.

“Yeah, yeah! It is what it is, I know.” Stretching, he continued. “You know, some mornings, like this one, it doesn’t seem to matter how early I get to bed, I wake up feeling as though I had never gone to sleep at all,” he grumbled. “Maybe I should go see a doctor about this. Or maybe not… I mean… it’s kind of weird. I feel like I haven’t slept a wink but at the same time I feel well rested. I don’t know, dude. It’s crazy but nothing new. I’ve felt this way off-and-on ever since I was about twelve years old. Man, this really sucks,” he muttered, looking over to his roommate, hating that Kevin was still fast asleep beneath warm covers while he had to step out into the cold and walk a half mile up Commonwealth Ave. to workout against his will.

“The only thing I don’t like about being on the street this early is that we are always the only ones that walk that route to the old armory building. What if someone jumps us one of these days?” Marcus asked.

“Then we’d be a couple of pretty pathetic wannabe soldiers if we couldn’t defend ourselves,” Jaden quipped.

He made certain to bundle up in all his cold-weather wear then, placing an empty bottle of painkillers in his pocket, he left his room to embark upon the half mile hike to the old armory building on this very wintry Massachusetts morning. This is where they’d congregate with fellow cadets then partake in drills designed to enhance physical endurance. As Marcus entered the elevator, Jaden disposed of the empty bottle in the bin that stood beside the lift then followed Marcus in.

“Why can’t it be like the good old days when all this physical conditioning stuff was more or less optional? It wasn’t really mandatory for people to keep fit back in the day – well, so I’ve heard. I can’t really say with certainty if it’s true or not. If true, though, I mean, we still kicked butt back then so I’m sure we can still kick ass now,” Jaden said as they exited the dormitory.

“What you’re failing to take into consideration, Jaden, is the fact that other armies out there, i.e., the ones that belong to less friendly governments and could potentially pose an actual threat and prove to be formidable adversaries, workout every bit as hard as we do,” Marcus explained. “Who do you think would be the victor if we were face to face with the enemy and engaged in hand-to-hand combat because both sides ran out of ammunition and it came down to physical prowess?”

Jaden looked at him in disbelief. “Dude, are you serious? Get off your military high horse, man, and talk like a normal person not like some uptight cadet with a hard-on for a beret. I just feel like bitching this morning, dude! I know all that crap. The workout I actually don’t mind; it’s the timing I hate. I just really feel like I didn’t get any sleep at all. Shhh,” he said, placing his index finger on his lips, “no need to remind me that I said that somehow I still do feel well rested. It’s complicated and I don’t get it… anyways, back to hand-to-hand combat. That’s an old notion. Not impossible in this day and age, just improbable. With all the weapons stockpiled in our arsenal and the high-tech shit at our disposal, all we need do is send missiles a–flying and simply secure the place after it’s been leveled.”

“Nah, I don’t think so,” objected Marcus. “Those Hiroshima and Nagasaki days are over. You just can’t kill people indiscriminately,” he argued.

“Ever heard of Sodom and Gomorrah?” Jaden asked. “That rain of hell was done by God himself.”

“Yes, I have, and get your facts right.
All
the people, except Lot and his family, were depraved bastards who had it coming. So even that was not indiscriminate,” Marcus corrected him.

“Again, something I already know but just thought I’d throw it out there for the hell of it. It’s not like I even believe in God, let alone accounts of fire and brimstone rained upon people, beings descending out of the heavens, the earth swallowing people, or a disobedient woman morphing into salt. Don’t get me wrong, as much as I go back and forth with my roommate about religion, I do actually respect what others believe in; I guess I’m just not one to believe some of the things others readily believe.” He yawned. “Seriously, though,” he continued, “I know we can’t blow people or shit up willy-nilly and I agree with that. And also,” he said in a tone as though to argue a point, “without turning this into a biblical discussion, because I have enough of those with my roommate, if you really believe that only Lot and his family were saved then the God you believe in must be seriously fucked up because you can’t tell me that after Lot left with his family, only depraved adults had remained. There had to have been children there. And I don’t recall Lot leaving with a whole bunch of kids in addition to his family. I say that just to state that the fruit, man, obviously did not fall far from the tree if God really did kill indiscriminately.”

Jaden hadn’t noticed that after his assertion that people should not be killed indiscriminately, a fleeting expression of evil had flashed across his face: a wicked smirk, a narrowing and squinting of the eyes. It had not gone unnoticed by his fellow cadet. “You’re one to definitely keep an eye on,” Marcus observed rather emphatically.

Jaden smiled. “Jekyll and Hyde, kiddo. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

As they trekked along, not a soul was to be seen, not even fellow cadets. Observing the desolate streets and thinking just how early it was, Jaden wondered aloud, “Why am I doing this?” He then paused in his thoughts before going on. “It’s not like I need the money. I’m already on an academic scholarship. So why the hell am I doing this?”

It seemed like this particular morning Jaden was in a worse mood than other times he had to be up so early. Both Marcus and Jaden were used to each other complaining each morning they had to get up early to go workout. One could have even asserted that a schedule was maintained by the twain as they always seemed to alternate; Jaden, however, was griping a little more than usual this morning.

“Are you all right?” Marcus asked.

“Sorry, dude. I’ll quit my bitching. I’m just really cranky this morning, don’t know why.” He lied, he did know why. His attempt had been unsuccessful again.

“As far as why both you and I are doing this, well… we both know the answer to that one,” Marcus said.

“Oh yeah! And what might that be?” Jaden asked, smiling as he was already aware of the forthcoming answer.

“Why suffer undue stress when it is so not necessary? I mean, why look for a job, facing fierce competition in the civilian sector, when all we need do is graduate college and get commissioned as officers in the army. Too easy, isn’t it? And having to put up with waking up early three days out of the week now, and then five days when we do get in the army, I’d say that’s a minor inconvenience for not having to compete with a thousand other graduates for the same job.”

“Dude, don’t you feel unpatriotic when you say that?” Jaden inquired.

“Dude, please! Let’s get real! Most, if not all, of the other cadets are doing this for the scholarship money, not because they feel any more loyalty to the country or its ideals than does the average person. Besides, haven’t you heard of that asshole senator that’s been in the news lately? The son of a bitch is a multi-millionaire yet he’s doing all that he can to reduce the benefits of service members, notably trying to cut retirement pay to 40 percent once soldiers hit twenty years of active service and can retire. Of course he works tirelessly to give himself huge pay raises, and probably has it set up in a way that he gets a crazy raise more often than is fair – as rich as the fuck is, I can’t believe that he can shamelessly take money from the American people.

“I can’t believe that any of these rich politician fucks can shamelessly take money away from the American people. If they are rich already and sincerely believe in what they are doing then they should be in office for free. Obviously greed is far more important to them. But back to that asshole! What really gets me about the whole thing is the sack of shit has never served a single day in the Armed Forces – not even in the Reserves; his kids go to top-notch private schools and drive around in expensive cars, and he is trying to rob from those who don’t have much to begin with. So yeah! You’re fucking right I have no qualms about milking the government for all that I can get out of it. Sickening greed and selfishness is the American way, right!” Marcus’ tone had turned angry by the end of his tirade.

“Marcus, are
you
okay? I obviously hit a nerve.”

He laughed. “I’m good, sonny. But yeah, that was a sore spot,” he said as they entered the armory.

Once inside, Jaden looked forward to that morning’s routine mainly because there wasn’t any regimented or scripted exercises scheduled. It was Sports’ Friday. They’d all be breaking up into teams and would play whatever sport the majority agreed on, and at the end of the hour they would be dismissed to ready themselves for their respective classes.

The cadets always looked forward to this day as it broke the monotonous routine of push-ups, sit-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, running and then more of the same for an hour on Mondays and Wednesdays.

*

MEANWHILE
while Jaden had slept fitfully, across the globe in Mannheim, Germany, a sweet, twelve-year-old girl, going on thirteen, was busy at play with her not-so-imaginary friend, making the most of her day off from school, which hadn’t opened because of the heavy snowfall overnight.

*

Jaden
was not the only one with an otherworldly friend in his life. Lydia was five years old when Shia, manifesting as an amorphous glowing grayish and silvery entity, first appeared in her room quite suddenly out of nowhere. While she was busy at play, he had simply emerged out of empty space. The grayish silvery mist, seemingly carried on random eddies of air, had hovered formlessly and seemed to be studying her being. It had then begun to assume a semblance similar to that of Lydia’s, initiating the transfiguration by forming piercing turquoise-colored eyes. The rest of him simply materialized slowly until his form was complete. However, though humanoid in appearance, his being was diaphanous and fluid, and also glittered as though he was created of perhaps trillions of tiny diamonds. He had then noticed her dark hair and, deciding he liked it, strands of ebony black hair grew from his head and flowed down to his shoulders. After he had taken on a form to his liking, he had stood slightly taller than she.

Rather than be frightened, Lydia, holding onto one of her dolls, had very much been fascinated by the entity that had simply manifested out of nothing and stood there smiling at her, not saying a word. She had reciprocated the smile and felt that what was happening was somehow quite natural.

Draped around Shia was what appeared to be a robe, though it also seemed it might be a natural part of his being. The raiment constantly changed color and texture to match everything that caught his eye as he looked about her room. Then, resting his eyes on her again, he smiled again. While hovering and gazing upon Lydia, a noise outside distracted him; he had looked sharply in the direction from which it had come and then he had frowned. Hovering in place, he had then slowly made a 360-degree turn, his brow frowning and his eyes narrowing as he had turned about so much that he had squinted. By the time he had come full circle it was very much obvious that the being was infuriated. Then, seeing Lydia again, he seemed to dismiss his fury, once again allowing a smile to soften his expression. He had then floated towards her, took her by the hand and, creating a transparent sphere about them, they had risen up towards the heavens going through the ceiling as though theirs were not physical forms. Lydia followed his lead as though this were all completely normal. At that age, some children do still believe in magic.

During their ascension they had come to an abrupt stop, momentarily hovering high above the earth’s atmosphere before again moving forth. In that moment, the world had nearly come to an end for the god-like entity, not having forgotten all that he had beheld when he had looked across the world while still in Lydia’s room had–all within the blink of an eye–disappeared from within the sphere in which they traveled, manifested right beside it, created a spark and blown it towards the earth, intending to destroy it. As the spark traveled towards the earth, it grew greater in stature; however, when it was but a hair’s breath away from impacting the earth’s atmosphere, an unseen but far greater power interceded, absorbing what had initially been but a tiny spark into a vacuum and thus spared the earth.

Then a sonorous voice had boomed across the heavens, asking, “Shall you destroy all that your beloved holds dear? Shall you not grant her, her loved ones again? Remember her heart always lest you destroy her spirit.” Then the voice was gone. Lydia’s new friend had then bowed his head in acknowledgement and reverence before returning to the sphere.

As they traveled into the deep dark of space, unbeknownst to Lydia then, her new friend had been creating a sun with but a single world with wild natural beauty to revolve around it. When they had arrived to where the new creation lay, they had descended just in time to witness the last blooming flower on that wildly beautiful planet blossom in their presence. For the first time, he spoke to her saying, “A gift for you.” He was referring to the planet as a whole.

Because Lydia had always had a television in her room, when her parents heard her talking and laughing aloud, the assumption was that it must have been because of something she was watching on television.

And just as Rya had done with Jaden, so too did Shia do with Lydia. Initially he had spent a great deal of time with her but his visits grew less frequent as she grew older. Shia, though, had stayed with Lydia a lot longer than Rya had with Jaden, and grew with her as she grew older.