Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Chapter 21 of Travels to John (Day 18 of NaNoWriMo) by Stacy Duplease of Stories by Stacy, LLC

Chapter 21


BILLY HEARD THE FOOTSTEPS OF what he thought were two people who headed down the stairs from the floor above to the basement where he and Fallon were held captive. It was about time Adora or Caleb came to check on them. Moreover, Billy thought they owed him an explanation at the very least because they were supposed to be a team. He also thought they were friends before, but knew differently now. Friends typically didn’t hold one another hostage, after all.

He looked from the door to Fallon and saw rage come across her face. She quickly calmed herself and her face softened. “Please let me talk to them first, Fallon.” He requested of her and he had his reasons for asking the favor.

She nodded as the door started to swing open. Adora was the first to enter and then was followed by Caleb. “Oh, good. You’re both awake.” She sounded pleased.

“Conscious. Isn’t that what you really mean, Adora?” Billy corrected her and he stared at her with a facial expression of determination.

“I guess you’re correct. It was necessary, however, for us to do what we did.” Adora defended her actions. “You weren’t in a position to talk, either one of you, and Caleb and I wanted to talk with you.”

“What about?” Billy’s tone was cold.

“Don’t be like that, darling.” She tried to sweet talk and flirt with him. “The facts about our finding are what we wanted to discuss with the two of you.” Adora had all the answers.

“What facts?” Fallon couldn’t remain quiet any longer. She tried to, but discovered it was quite difficult.

“Even the people in the Bible times knew Jesus was a hoax and wasn’t the Messiah.” Caleb shared with Billy and Fallon.

Billy recognized what Caleb said was blasphemy. “Prove it.” Billy challenged Caleb and stared at him. He realized what he said could be taken as childish, but as one scientist to another, it had to be proven with concrete evidence.

“I just proved it, Billy. Even people during Christ’s own time doubted he was the Messiah.” Caleb defended his answer and was cocky about it, too.

“Hearsay isn’t a quantifiable piece of irrefutable proof—then or now. It must be measureable.” Billy pointed out to his one time buddy.

“Neither is faith.” Caleb crossed his arms and grinned in a smug fashion.

Billy was the one to smile now. “Did you perhaps see Jesus Christ with your own eyes?”

“I did, but let me clarify. He is not the Messiah.”

“Did you listen to everything He said by chance?”

“Yes.”

“Did you see Him perform miracles?”

“Yes, but even doctors do what you could call miracles.”

“What about how Jesus fulfilled three hundred or so Old Testament prophecies?” Billy confronted Caleb with more intensity now.

“I don’t know about that, so I really cannot say.” Caleb was quick to back-peddle.

“Oh. So, you are one of those who refuses to look at all the facts, but will take hearsay into account? My goodness, Caleb. You aren’t a real scientist at all. You want to make the results of your hypothesis and experiment what you hope them to be rather than what is and what can be measured.” Billy was quite disappointed.

“What makes my approach different than most scientists out there? Everyone manipulates the variables to give themselves a successful experiment. Money rides on us doing so.” Caleb defended his actions.

“That goes against the ethics of the scientific community, Caleb. That’s wrong. If the results aren’t what you anticipate, it’s what you learn from the results and how you apply them that count the most. To do things your way means taking the easy way out where you never grow or learn.” Billy pointed out to him.

Caleb glanced at Adora and said, “Then, maybe we need to part company.”

“I would have to agree.” Billy didn’t hesitate regardless of what that meant exactly. He refused to be part of a cheating group of scientists.

“We’re going to take the BTTM and are leaving the country. You won’t be able to find us. We’ll leave you enough food to last you a couple of days and will then have someone stop by and release you once we are able to get out of country. For now, good luck. We have the BTTM and you don’t. We can accomplish a great deal more now because of it and will be able to do other experiments and make money from it. How about you guys? We’re going to leave you with nothing but your lies. Good luck to the two of you,” Adora commented.

Billy stared at her for a moment before he asked, “How can you even think of it? With all the work we put into the project?”

Adora smiled and said, “Nothing is the way it appears, Billy. Nothing.”

Fallon was the one who spoke next. “What do you mean by that?”

“There is so much more to this story than what you remember. I guess it wouldn’t hurt for me to tell you that this is nothing of what you think it is. We drugged you and scrambled your brains. Nothing is what you think. What you do recall, we put the thoughts in your mind, Erin. I mean Fallon. Both of you really. Or, maybe I should call you Sophie. But, I hope that only confuses you more. Now, make your choice. Are you going to join us or stand against us?”

Billy looked at Fallon and an idea came to him in a flash. “I believe, Fallon. How about you?”

At first, she gave him a confused facial expression. However, she understood a moment later because she said, “If the Bible is a fairy tale, it’s the greatest story ever told. If the Bible is truth, it’s the best, untarnished, and the foremost truth ever told. The Bible is actually both. It’s about miracles which show God is God and all His glory. It’s about truth because God and the Bible are true. Shall we get out of here, Billy?” She made eye contact with him.

“Absolutely. Let’s get out of here, Fal.”

“I have more faith than a mustard seed. Goodbye, Adora and Caleb.” Fallon addressed and both disappeared a moment later. The last thing Billy and Fallon heard were the curses of Adora and Caleb.

THE JOURNEY FROM ONE TIME to the next was an unusual one to travel. Fallon thought it felt like an intense roller coaster ride. She loved roller coasters, so it wasn’t difficult for her to handle. She was thrilled she was finally successful and how she finally had enough faith to make it to the times of John.

The Book of John was far more powerful than she ever realized. It helped her to actually bring someone to believe in Christ and Billy was a clear opponent of belief in Christ even a month ago. Actively participating and seeing what happened in the Book of John was a life changing experience for her.

She realized she would never be the same again nor could she ever see it in the same manner again. Earlier when Daniel and Erin said similar things, she thought they were just being dramatic. Little did she know how much they minimized it. It was far more transformational than she ever would have comprehended if she had not experienced it for herself.


By Stacy Duplease
of Stories by Stacy

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