An Answer to Prayer
“I can’t take this anymore!” Daniel exploded, slamming his hand down upon the table. The loud sound cracked against the wooden surface, causing the small, mousy girl across from him to jump. “I’m so frustrated I could…”
“Daniel!” Sarah barked, cutting him off. She leveled her piercingly clear blue eyes at him, pinning him to his seat with a disapproving glare. “You need to settle down, you’re causing a scene.” Sure enough, heads were beginning to turn in curiosity, and then dipped together in private whisperings. The buzz in the cafeteria around them increased momentarily.
“Do you think I care?” he growled, lowering his voice despite his words to the contrary. “My computer just exploded taking my term paper with it!” Grabbing a carrot from his tray, he bit into it angrily, relishing the crunch between his teeth.
“Don’t you have it backed up somewhere else?” Jamie asked tentatively from across the table. “Whenever I have a large paper or project due, I always make sure to back it up.” She glanced nervously over at Sarah for reassurance.
The blonde girl nodded her head, setting down her cup mid-sip. “Jamie’s right, you should have had it backed up elsewhere. Anything else is just carelessness.” She nodded her head emphatically. “You have no one to blame but yourself.” Unseen by her, Jamie winced, ducked her head slightly and became very fascinated with her pudding.
Groaning, Daniel knocked his tray aside, burrowing his head into folded arms. “God must really hate me.” Remembering all those hours he had spent researching and writing about American expansionism in the early 19th century that had been flushed down the toilet by one freak autumn lightning storm almost brought tears to his eyes. Thinking about how it was going to be due in just a few weeks did.
Jamie’s eyes went wide, glancing around the emptying cafeteria almost fearfully. “Daniel, you can’t really think that. It was just a lightning storm…”
The muffled reply was lost in the noise. “You had better watch what you say, or God really will show you what it’s like to make Him angry.” Sarah said angrily, her voice rising over the chaos.
Daniel made a disgusted grunt, raising his head to study his two friends for a moment. “What I don’t get is why you two take it; how you just sit there and take all that nonsense. Why you both bow and scrape before a cold, unfeeling Being who demands your unquestioning and absolute loyalty without giving anything of substance in return besides unfulfilled promises and empty pipedreams. Really, it doesn’t make sense and it’s almost masochistic, if you want the truth.”
Jamie tucked a long black strand of hair behind her ear, her eyes on Daniel. His outburst hung in the air between them for what seemed to be an eternity, her reply so soft that the busy room almost stole the words out of the air. “Do you really think so?”
Sarah snorted loudly, shooting her friend a dark look. “You’re just confused because you don’t understand what’s going on and you don’t like it. Face it; you’re just a scared little boy, clinging to mommy’s skirts, begging to know what’s going on. Well guess what, you don’t get to know.”
“No!” Daniel exclaimed, his hands flying up and punctuating the air. “I’m just asking questions that any sane, thinking person would ask! You can’t expect people to set aside their brains, Sarah.”
“No, but I can ask them to have faith and besides, it’s not me asking, it’s Him.”
“Fine.” Daniel jumped to his feet, banging his knee on the table in front of him. “I’m through with this. If He’s listening, if He even exists, then He can take it up with me. He can prove that He exists, He shouldn’t need you two.” He lurched out of his chair and then started to stalk away, leaving his tray and unfinished lunch behind him.
“Wait, come back!” Jamie called out.
“No, let him go.” Sarah growled, her eyes narrowing into daggers. “He’ll get what’s coming to him…”
“But, he’s our friend…”
“He was our friend.” Behind them, the air rippled ever so slightly and then all was still once more.
The night air was cold, crisp and still; the frost covered grass crunched noisily beneath Daniel’s feet. Trees stretching above his head barely managed to hold onto their few remaining leaves, skeletal branches strained grasping towards each other. “Who do they think they are?” he muttered to himself furiously. “When does looking for a little sympathy deserve a lecture like that?” Running a hand through his dark brown hair, he glanced up at the trees, frowning slightly.
The woods behind the men’s dorm were only a few acres and Daniel could have sworn that he had walked every path a hundred times. Yet, something about his present location puzzled him, perhaps it was the strange shadows thrown to and fro by the moon’s light, or maybe it was the eerie silence of the wood, not a leaf stirring in the dead air. Whatever the reason, a shudder ran through him causing him to pull his jacket closed a little more.
A stray sound caught his ear, a rustling in the bushes off to his right. Daniel rolled his eyes. Probably an over-enthusiastic couple. Such a thing wasn’t uncommon in the woods, though the fact that they’d venture out into the night and chill said something for their determination and warm bloodedness. Pushing forward, he ignored the sound and chose the path that led away from it. Now, he mused silently, if I could only figure out where the hell I am, I could get back to my dorm, make some hot chocolate, then try and salvage my academic career.
The growl – a low menacing sound that didn’t quite sound like a dog – came from directly behind him. A puff of sudden hot air hit the back of his neck; the stench of rotting meat assaulted his nostrils. Reacting blindly, Daniel jumped forward off the path into a network of crisscrossing branches, struggling to turn around to catch a glimpse of the threat. The moonlight was bright enough to illuminate… nothing. The path was empty behind him, not a branch moving to warn him of recent activity. His heart was pounding hard in his chest as his senses screamed that he was in danger.
Steady, let’s not jump to conclusions, he thought fiercely, crossing his arms to hide his trembling hands from himself. You’re just jumping at shadows. He laughed nervously, his eyes darting to either side of the path warily, searching the shadows for anything abnormal. Nothing. With a strained sigh, he shook his head, disgusted that he was freaking out at the darkness like a six year-old. If Sarah or Jamie could see him now, they’d certainly give him another speech about what being a true man was all about. Well, Sarah would anyway; Jamie would most likely stand there and squirm in silence. He laughed again, relieved to turn his mind away from the moment before.
Later, Daniel wouldn’t be able to place why he looked up towards his right at the moment he did. But, raise his head he did, just in time to be hit full force in the face with a huge blast of hot, moist air. His eyes widened just as his nose tried to close against the retching stench. Hanging before his eyes was a horrific disfigured face; its nose rotted away, its maw stretched open to reveal wickedly curved yellow teeth. It was the eyes, however, that captured his attention; they were giant pits of darkness and flickering malevolent flame. It growled again, the sound penetrating his skin and heading straight to his heart, grasping it in an icy cold hand. Daniel gasped, staggering back away from the vision. Then, he turned and ran into the night, refusing to look back.
Later that evening, Sarah sat on the edge of her bed, impatiently clipping her toenails as she waited for Jamie to get back from the restroom. The girl had been miserable ever since supper, certain that Daniel hated them both. Well, that certainly wasn’t the worst-case scenario. “Let’s be realistic,” she grumbled aloud to her wall. “Daniel was raised by an excellent Christian family; he’s grown up with the truth. For him to be having doubts now… well, that’s just unforgivable.” She stretched out her foot, eyeing the nail lines with a critical eye. “I don’t know where he gets the right to say that God is non-existent. Anyone who has eyes can see that he’s been blessed. Not only with a good Christian family, but with friends and a future as well.”
She remembered the first time Daniel had come to them with his concerns and doubts. He had called them into the college’s chapel and pulled out his cell phone. Without telling them why, he had carefully shown them his list of contacts, people who would answer the phone if he ever called them. “That,” he said emphatically, “is the difference between a true friend and God. True friends answer the phone, but with God you always get the answering machine. Imagine a human who never returned your calls, never talked to you, never showed up for appointments and the only communiqué you ever received was a letter written to your great, great, great grandparents. You wouldn’t be friends with them, would you?” He had trailed off then, hanging his head, no doubt regretting even having such blasphemous thoughts. She had been sure that a few talks and a little time would solve everything, but that had been months ago. Sarah had done her best to be patient, but now she finally was at the end of her long rope.
The dorm room’s door shut quietly, shaking Sarah out of her memories. “Took you long enough” she accused. “I was about to send in a search party for you.” Jamie still stood in the doorway, her face white as a sheet, her body trembling like a leaf. She had a strand of black hair between her fingers and she was twisting it over and over again, the hair coiling up. “What’s wrong with you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Sarah’s voice broke the spell and Jamie gave a strangled cry, ran over and threw herself against Sarah. “It was terrible!” she wailed. “There was something in the bathroom!”
Rolling her eyes to the ceiling, Sarah held her shaking friend. This wasn’t the first time Jamie had a nervous fright and it most likely wouldn’t be the last. “Settle down, Jamie. You’re safe. Just tell me what happened.”
A few shaky breaths later, Jamie managed to calm herself enough to form together sentences. “I went into the bathroom and I swear it was empty. All the stall doors were open so I know that I was the only one in there. But, when I was finished, I saw feet in the stall next to me.” She buried her face in Sarah’s shoulder, tears soaking into the thin shirt.
“You’ve got to be kidding. She probably came in and you just didn’t hear her! Honestly Jamie, you’ve got to stop being so fragile!” Sarah grabbed her friend by the shoulders and held her out at arms length, eyeing her. Jamie’s face was still white, her eyes slightly bloodshot. What had Sarah done to deserve such needy friends?
Jamie’s eyes widened as she shook her head vigorously. “No, you don’t understand. They weren’t normal feet; they were huge and hairy and had claws! I was so scared I could hardly breathe. I pulled my feet up and stayed in the stall until I dared look again. When I saw that they were gone, I ran here as fast as I could. Sarah, what do you think it was?”
Sarah grunted, standing to her feet and walking across the small room to the nightstand. “I think that your nerves are frayed because you’re worried about Daniel and it’s making you see things.” She took out Jamie’s large Bible and brought it over to her friend. “Clearly, you need to be more grounded in the Word. Read this for thirty minutes before sleeping. Now, I’m getting ready for bed and I don’t want to hear any more of this nonsense, understand?” Jamie took the Bible, nodding meekly. Sarah jerked her head. That was more like it. Now, if only Daniel would listen to sense so easily.
The two girls changed for bed quickly, not speaking again, which suited Sarah just fine. Jamie obediently read the Bible that she was given, turning to somewhere in John from the looks of it. Sarah turned her attention to her own readings of the Bible, but her mind wandered from the pages until she finally set the book down, and announced that she was going to bed. The lights went out, casting the room into darkness, Jamie’s breathing and the slow dripping of the sink the only sounds audible. Something crawled on Sarah’s leg, causing her to grunt slightly and scratch, trying to remove the phantom itch. Then, she grabbed her pillow and jammed it underneath her head, squeezing her eyes shut. Daniel’s words, his haughty challenge to the Divine, still rang in her head, denying her sleep.
Why was he being such a fool? She thought angrily. He wasn’t always this way. Back when they first met, he was an eager freshman, confident that he was going to do something great. She smiled slightly, remembering the first day two years ago that they had met. It was his confidence that had impressed her, drawn her to him. He had stood in front of the entire freshman class and announced that he had come to Slavant College to study Theology and he also enjoyed rats, thank-you-very-much, and that hamsters were of the devil and should be avoided like the plague. Sarah had been sitting in her seat and had reached over, gripped Jamie’s hand tightly, feeling a slight thrill shoot through her at his words. There was something about the shape of them, a life and conviction that she felt drawn to like a moth to flame.
So, at lunch, she had dragged Jamie to where he sat alone in the cafeteria. “I heard you speak in assembly,” she had said, feeling uncharacteristically nervous. “This is Jamie and I’m Sarah. We’re new here too. May we sit down?” She could still remember the look of amusement that flashed across his face before he grinned at them, waving his hand as if graciously allowing them the privilege of being near him. Then, without losing a moment, he launched them all into a discussion of the problems facing freshmen, how the college system was unequally balanced in favor of the seniors, and the civil injustices that were being committed.
A sharp sting on her thigh snapped her from the past. Her hand moved down, slapping at the offending spot as she suddenly become aware of something being wrong in the room. Another sting, this time on her ankle. Muttering, Sarah jerked off her sheets, sitting part way up to find the culprit. Large glistening black, spider-like creatures covered her, swarming up and down her pajama legs. Sharp needle-like spines jabbed into her flesh as they crawled underneath her clothing. A scream tore itself out of her throat as she began thrashing, the insects clinging to her skin, their blood-stained fangs biting into her again and again. She slapped and swiped, her own nails tearing at her legs, trying to pull them off of her. The swarm scrambled up her thighs, skittered up over her chest and stomach and then started to claw at her throat and face. Another scream tore itself from her mouth as the creatures began to push into her mouth. Strange warmth filled her body, and distantly, she heard her voice being called.
With a jerk, Sarah sat straight up in bed, her chest heaving. Jamie’s face, eyes wide with fear, greeted her vision. Sarah tumbled out of the bed, thudding onto the thinly carpeted floor, and began to scramble away from her bed. She could still feel their claws on her. Her hand flew to her skin in a vain attempt to reassure herself that she was still in one piece. A thick layer of slimy sweat met her hand, her nose wrinkling as her senses became more aware of her own stench.
Jamie, shocked at her roommate’s behavior, backed away a little bit. “You were screaming and clawing at yourself,” she said, her voice trembling. In all their years of friendship, she had never seen Sarah this… fearful. “Are you okay?”
Sarah struggled to control her breathing, pushing sweat-matted hair up out of her eyes. “Yeah. It was just… it was just a terrible dream.” The memory overwhelmed her, causing a shudder to sweep over her. “It’ll be OK… just need to… calm down a little.” She lasted another moment before she shuddered again. Soft footsteps told of Jamie’s approach and, as soon as she was close enough, Sarah threw herself sobbing into Jamie’s arms.
Daniel burst into his room and slammed the door behind him, leaning back against the solid door with all his weight. He hadn’t stopped running once, not even when pain knifed through his side, threatening to double him over with its intensity. Now, here in the sanctuary of his room, he was finally safe. His heart still threatened to leap out of his throat. Shakily, he pushed himself away from the door and staggered over to his bed, collapsing onto its frame. Leaving the light on, he crawled under the covers, pulling his blanket all the way over his head. Curling up into a ball, he hugged his knees to his chest, his eyes squeezed shut. Eerily, the disfigured face, the memory almost burned into the backs of his eyelids. Swallowing hard, he shook his head rapidly until the image faded. Think about something else!
His thoughts turned to his mother, traveling back to happier days. In his mind, he could see her intensity, her strength, and her vibrancy. Once, he had stumbled home from Middle School. His new clothes had been torn and muddied, his eye blackened, his lip cut. Somehow, she had known he was coming and had met him on the front walk, her arms folded across her chest. Daniel had fallen at her feet, throwing his arms around her legs, tears springing to his eyes. She had bent at the waist – not knelt – and had put her hand on his head. Fingers had run through his hair as her soft voice filled his ears. “Daniel, if you let them push you around today, then you’ve given them permission to push you around forever. Never forget that, sweetie.” Then, she had pulled herself away from him, clicking down the front walk. Later, he had heard that she had gone directly to the bully’s parents, threatening to slap a lawsuit on them if their son ever touched hers again. Then, she had marched herself to the Principle’s office, demanding the bully’s expulsion for violating school policy. A smile tugged at his lips as he fell into sleep. No one messed with his mother…
Something tore him from sleep. Daniel lay curled in a ball, motionless. There it was again, a movement outside his fortress of blankets. A slight creak in the floorboards. A shadow thrown from the overhead light on his top blanket. He swallowed hard. It was nothing, absolutely nothing. Just his imagination, like the time before had been his imagination. It was stress. Daniel nodded to himself. He was stressed out and so his sleep deprived mind was playing tricks on him.
A familiar low growl emanated from the corner of his room. It was here! The thought bounced around in his otherwise empty mind. The growl became louder as the scraping rasp of claws on the bare wood floors of the room grew closer. Daniel held his breath, willing the creature to go away to no avail. A dark, deep shadow blotted out the overhead light, casting the blanket-covered form into darkness. He squeezed his eyes shut, paralyzed by the terrible knowledge that there was nothing he could do to protect himself. Desperately, he groped around for some words to offer up to the heavens in a last ditch attempt at salvation.
Before a proper prayer could form itself in his mind, a new sound pierced the menacing silence: the phone was ringing! In that instant, light hit him again, the room restored to its natural quiet. Not daring to move, he let the phone ring a few more times before he slowly peeled the blankets away from his head, glancing around. Nothing in the room. With a desperate scramble, he freed himself from his blankets, making a grab at the phone. He pressed the headpiece hard against his ear. “Yes?”
“Daniel!” Sarah’s angry voice filled his ears. “Something growled at us from our closet. Growled! What have you done?”
“What have I done?” He licked his dry and cracked lips. “Why would this be my fault?”
“Who else could be to blame? Look, we need to talk. Now.” Her voice quivered for a moment, filling Daniel with unease. “Get dressed. We’ll meet you in the chapel. I have a key.” With that, she was gone. He snorted. Of course she would have a key. Little Miss Righteous helped organize at least five worships alone. She probably had a key to almost every religious building on campus. Daniel pulled on his socks and shoes, grabbed a coat, and ran across campus.
Even from across the large dark campus, Daniel could see the huge college church’s steeple. It stretched up higher than any other building around it, narrowing into a spike that appeared to pierce the heavens themselves. As he grew closer, the structure loomed above him. As a freshman, he had been in continual awe of the building, almost afraid to walk on the same side of the sidewalk. Now, he simply felt that the Church spent too much money trying to impress people with material things such as buildings. This church was no exception. Moonlight glinted off the polished granite walls, dimly reflecting well-manicured lawns. Large heavy oak doors stood denying any late night guests entrance into the church. Daniel shook his head at the extravagance and jogged up the front walk, angling left towards the tall sculpted bushes. The path led him to a small black gate obscured between the foliage. The old gate groaned in protest as he pushed it open and slipped through. He gave it a push to close it behind him, not noticing that it bounced slightly and failed to latch.
Small trees decorated the left side of the walk. The cold winter wind had robbed them of their leaves and springtime flower, leaving them naked and bare. Up ahead, a small old chapel was dwarfed in comparison to the larger church. Its simplicity clashed with the church’s grandeur, a feature that made Daniel like the old building even more. Lights showed through the small narrow windows, alerting him to the girls’ presence even before he stepped inside. Who else would be inside at four in the morning? Warm air greeted him like an old friend, embracing him and chasing away the night’s chill. With a sigh, he spotted the girls at the front of the small room, seated together on the raised floor up front. “Took you long enough,” Sarah said in way of greeting. Jamie glanced up, an apologetic smile curving her lips. “I almost thought you wouldn’t be man enough to show.” Here we go, Daniel thought bitterly as he creaked his way up the threadbare carpet that covered the rickety floor.
“What is your problem?” he groaned, sinking wearily into the front pew that faced the girls.
“My problem is that you’ve brought a curse down upon us, Mr. Unbeliever. Put two and two together. You renounce your saving faith, abandoning it for the world’s wisdom and suddenly all of… all of this starts happening!” She stood, starting to pace back and forth angrily. Jamie opened her mouth, clearly about to object but Sarah silenced her with a look. “I want you to undo it.”
Daniel rolled his eyes, slouching even more in his seat. “Please Sarah. If it’s really because of me, then why involve you two at all? There has to be some logical explanation for everything that’s happened, like rusty heaters or something.”
“I don’t think it was heaters, Daniel.” Jamie glanced up at Sarah before continuing. “I saw something in the bathroom. Feet. They weren’t human. I don’t think it’s you, but…”
“But nothing. We’re not going to fight your demons for you, Daniel. We’re obviously being affected because we’ve formed spiritual ties with you, but unless you make this all go away I am more than prepared to sever those ties. The Bible says that if people fall beyond the point of being willing to see the error of their ways, then we as Christians are suppose to give them over to Satan.” She turned and looked at him then, her cold blue eyes narrowing into slits. “Do you really want that?”
He sighed. As weird as Sarah was acting now, these two were his closest friends at college and he wasn’t sure he was prepared to lose either of them just now. Besides… maybe she had a point. The timing was circumspect and, if it was indeed his fault, then he’d probably need the girls’ combined superior spiritual know-how to figure out how to stop it. “Fine.” He held up his hands palms up in submission. “How do we make whatever this is stop?”
“That’s more like it.” Sarah stooped over and retrieved her large leather-bound Bible. It was dog eared, highlighted and bent from the three years of constant use that it had endured since Daniel had given it to her the first Christmas he had known her. Jamie looked unsure, but grabbed her matching Bible, her name glistening on the front cover in golden letters. After a moment’s hesitation, she stood and came to sit next to him, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “It’ll be OK.” she said, a little too softly to be comforting.
Sarah stood in front of Daniel, holding her Bible in both her hands in front of her like a shield. “First, we’ll pray and ask God to reveal what sin you’ve committed to bring this down upon us. I have a few ideas of what that might be, but receiving Divine guidance is essential.” she said confidently. Without waiting for a response, she began to pray. Daniel had to stifle a laugh as her voice raised the few notes that it always did whenever she prayed. He let his mind wander as her prayer began to weave long, complex sentences of high-sounding language and requests, probably begging forgiveness for his wretchedness, no doubt. Many of the prayers they prayed together were. He grinned despite himself. The ones about God teaching him true manhood were always his favorite; the irony never got old.
