Souls - XXXIV

I wake up to the bus shaking and bouncing. 

It’s moving. 

The window I am under is made of cardboard so I slide over to a more traditional glass window and see the town of Surprise floating by, lit by the purple skyless sky.

Why are we moving?

I stand up and look to Darcy who is sitting near the front, her elbows leaning on her knees. She looks like she’s trying to decide between shock and fear. When she catches my movement out of her periphery she looks to me and shrugs, attempting her best smile. 

It isn’t convincing.

Emily is sitting behind her, coloring on some scrap paper. She looks bored as usual.

“What’s going on?”

Darcy looks to Alan, who is driving with purpose. Both of his hands gripping the steering wheel as he leans forward as if this was helping move the bus down the road.

“He had a vision.”

Alan finally acknowledges us. 

“We’re ready baby, Jesus is calling us.”

I don’t know what to feel about this. I doubt sincerely Jesus is calling anyone, but he is taking me where I need to go.

I look to Emily, still lazily engrossed in her drawing. She doesn’t deserve this.

“Maybe we should pull over and pray about this together?”

Alan shakes his head, “No, he called us. He spoke to me. It’s time.”

I don’t know what else to say, what else to do, so I sit and let the vibrating and rumbling bus sway me from side to side as we race to Jesus. Darcy looks like she might throw up.

We finally pull sharply onto a dusty road, speeding towards a trailer on the horizon. Unlike most trailers, this one isn’t surrounding by a park of other trailers. This one is surrounded by a pretty robust barbed-wire fence. Alan slams on the brakes and the bus slides in the sandy dirty until it stops in front of a gate. It is much like those traditional gated entrances you see at ranches, the ones with a clever name carved up top. This one is metal, and does not look friendly, more like a barrier. When closed it probably resembles something more militaristic than ranch-suave. Today, though, the gate is wide open.

“See? What’d I tell ya?” Alan can barely contain himself. “It’s open!”

Darcy’s shock and fear is dampened a bit by curiosity and maybe a little hope as she stands to look.

“Come on girls, we’re ready. I told ya!” He pulls the handle and the door slides open. He rushes out. Darcy moves to Emily.

“Time to go hun, let’s put the drawing down.”

Emily looks up and complies, putting the drawing down carefully, as if she’ll be write back to work on it in a minute.

My heart is pounding with fear for her.

Darcy takes Emily’s tiny hand and heads to the door, turning for just a moment to look back to me. I almost expect her to turn to sand, looking back at the woman and world that fell apart.

She smiles, her eyes watery with a mixture of fear and anticipation.

“Good luck.”

I nod back to her to indicate I wished her the same. And they were gone. I was alone on the bus listening to their footsteps and voices outside.  Alan is loud enough his voice floats back inside to me.

“I love you baby, let’s go!”

I don’t hear anyone respond to him, but I hear three sets of footsteps approach the gate. I almost want to get up to look, to see what happens. But I can’t, I can’t make myself look. 

That’s when the gunshots erupt.