“What’s an appa . . . apparition?”
“A big word that I learned, Wal. It means a vision, supernatural ghost type of thing.” Churchie felt that he was starting to make things hard to understand and wanted to back off.
“And people believe these things?”
“Well, there were three of them, children that is, and the visions are believed by the Catholic Church. Other visions are also recorded. But let’s keep it simple, let me tell you what I believe . . . yep, I believe in hell. I think a vision of a sea of fire under the earth with demons and souls shrieking through groans of pain and despair is a good and frightening description. Although I’m still a bit confused about the difference between souls and spirit, I do believe there’s an afterlife. We will live on forever either in hell or heaven.”
They heard some footsteps coming from the gravel path on the side of the Church. It was one of the ministers from the Church. “Oh, hi Churchie, how are ya?”
“Fine Rev . . . is it okay for us to sit here? We are having a good chat about heaven and hell.”
“Okay . . . no problems. There may be a few people coming out soon. We've just finished a Bible study. Pretty late finish tonight. Lots of questions, particularly about today’s events, so you may need to let them squeeze past you.” He reached out his hand to Wally. “I’m Peter, known as the Rev, and you are?”
“Wally.”
“Nice to meet you, Wally. Listen to Churchie. He has a bit of knowledge there. I’m thinking of getting him up to preach one Sunday. Maybe you can come along and listen to him.” The Rev winked at Wally. “Well, best be off, a few things I need to do.”
Churchie looked at the Rev as he walked off. Since the time the Rev found him huddled up under the bush out at the back of the church, he and the Rev had spent many hours together, the Rev walking him through the Bible, always offering encouragement and telling Churchie how quickly he was picking things up. The Rev said God was doing a bit of work on Churchie.
He stood up. “Must get going now, let’s continue our discussion later. It’s good news that’s coming next.”
Wally stood up and stretched. His knees cracked. “Yeah, I got to shoot down to the shelter on Hope Street and confirm my sleeping arrangements. Maybe catch up with you later.”
Churchie smiled about the name Hope Street. “Okay, see ya.” He watched Wally walk off. The demon seemed to be hanging back a bit now.
<°)))><
Aaron collapsed on his couch in the living room. Wow, what a day and still not finished. He looked for the remote but couldn’t see it. He pushed his hands down the side of the cushions and located the remote. He turned on the TV and was confronted by a news flash.
The body was spotted in a large tree by a bushwalker. Another witness said he heard someone yell and saw something fall out of the sky. It is has been confirmed that the body was one of those that vanished from the city earlier today. A search has commenced for other bodies.
Aaron’s heart rate picked up, his muscles tensed, he sat forward. He hoped that wasn’t Mackenzie or Paul and that there were no other bodies. No other bodies meant there was still hope.
And then it hit him. The body fell out of the sky. Dad must have fallen and hit his head. Why him? Was he in the wrong place at the wrong time?
<°)))><
A police officer man sat on a plastic chair staring at his takeaway coffee cup and the logbook that sat on the card table in front of him. His radio crackled about some severe storms out in the suburbs, some dropping huge hailstones. He looked around and found that hard to believe. He was bored: there hadn’t been an entry in the logbook for some three hours. Everything was quiet and still.
The police officer sensed something and sat up straight. The pages on the logbook started flipping over and the coffee cup blew off the table. There came a humming noise followed by a popping sound. Figures appeared. The police officer was a Star Trek fan. What he saw reminded him of crew members returning to the transporter platform aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise.
They stood there covering their eyes, the strong lights blinding them. They searched out each other.
The police officer, on his feet now, stared at them. One of the people mumbled something about no sleepover, no bus trip, just lies. He spoke into his radio, then bent over and wrote in the log: Entities returned 2300. The sirens and alarms came soon after.
He saw lightening in the distance. Dark storm clouds were coming in from the southeast.
<°)))><
Churchie had Mel and Wally keeping him company. The city streets could be boring at times, but the incident site was out of the norm, so they headed in that direction. They heard sirens and noticed a commotion at the site. Before they knew it, there was a camera and microphone in their face.
“Are you some of the people that vanished?” asked one reporter.
Churchie wondered if reporters had common sense as the three of them were standing behind the blue tape with other observers. “Well, yes and no,” Churchie said.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well yes, we have vanished before, but no, we are not ‘those people’.”
The reporter took another look at the trio and shook his head to the cameraman and they walked off.
<°)))><
Although it was getting late, Aaron wasn’t tired. He had just checked his text messages, subconsciously hoping to see one from Mackenzie. Apparently, they were unable to find the location of the missing people using their mobile phones, as their phones weren’t emitting signals. The authorities believed some jamming device was being used.
Aaron got up from the couch, walked over to the fridge and started searching for something to snack on. The introductory theme for a news flash caught his attention, and he turned his attention to the television.
The screen showed a reporter interviewing some people. But it was the words travelling along the bottom of the screen that caught Aaron’s attention. MISSING PEOPLE FOUND BACK AT ORIGINAL INCIDENT SITE. He looked up at the main part of the screen again and saw the reporter talking to the motley crew that he briefly hung around with earlier. Aaron smiled, as they looked like who they were—street people whom no one would believe. But he was excited because the missing people had returned. He grabbed his keys and sprinted out the door to see Mackenzie.
He passed the church on the way and saw Churchie sitting there. Aaron stopped and looked at him. “Are you okay?”
He turned and looked at Aaron. “Yeah, I’m fine, just came back from the hustle and bustle down there. I assume that’s where you’re going?”
“Yes. I want to see if my friend is okay.”
“They’re saying not everyone made it back.”
Aaron swallowed. “What do you mean?”
