Realize deeply that the present moment
is all you ever have. Elkhart Tolle
Rena stood in front of the twenty-first floor window of her hotel suite and glared outside as thunderstorms raged, the lightning clapped, and hail pounded against the building. It sounded and looked like the world was coming to an end. It was mid-afternoon, but it was almost pitch black outside. Tornado sirens started blaring and Rena turned and stepped away from the window. "Robert, I need you. God, let him get here soon. Please, God," she continually pleaded as she folded her arms and went and laid down on the hotel bed.
She couldn't erase the memories of what she had experienced less than 24 hours ago. Seeing the blood soaked bodies of her parents laying inches in front of her was something she would forever remember. One minute she and her parents were listening to that crazy, evil woman and the next minute they were trying to duck behind the church pew to escape the barrage of bullets sailing through the sanctuary. It proved to be a hopeless situation for her mom and dad.
She looked at her clothes that were on the floor in a corner of the hotel room, the clothes that she had on that awful day, and burst into sobs when she saw all of the blood splatter on her dress, shoes, even her purse. She tried to block out the look on her mother's face. Her mother died with her eyes open and it looked like she was searching for something. Her father's eyes were closed and one arm lay across his chest while the other one was spread across her mother like he was trying to protect her. Rena cried as she got up off the bed and looked at her parents' luggage and various items of clothing they had left sprawled around the room. She couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, couldn't do anything but weep. She needed Robert but his flight wouldn’t be arriving until later that evening. It was like time had stood still and was moving at a snail's pace. So much had happened in so little time that she couldn't focus. The thought of Frankie being dead and her husband, Tim too? It was unfathomable. To think about all the years Frankie had put up such a long, brave fight against her AIDS/HIV, only to succumb to a bullet by some crazy maniacal woman that wanted to exact revenge on Pastor Graham and his dead, wicked wife, Audrey. Rena felt like she was in the middle of a horror movie. People were so full of rage and anger in the world today, and it was hard to comprehend. But to take the lives of her parents, who were always good people that cared about others, was appalling. And maybe Frankie had done her dirt in her time, but she had put all of that behind her and seemed to have a happy relationship with her husband. All of that had been snuffed out in a matter of seconds and Rena felt that the weight of her grief would drown her.
Inside she couldn’t put out the fuel that was beginning to blaze in her heart. She thought about how her life had taken a turn for the very worst ever since the Graham family entered into it. It had been Francesca who introduced her to lesbianism. It was because of Francesca that she walked around to this day with an incurable STD. Audrey Graham despised her and did everything she could at every turn to make her life a living hell. Then there was Stiles, Mr. Self-Righteous Stiles Graham who made her feel like she was less than nothing, who divorced her and threw her aside like last night’s garbage. The whole family, except for Pastor Graham, had been nothing but cruel, evil, and mean towards her. But nothing could trump what had happened this time. This time her parents paid the ultimate price because of the Grahams. This time there would be no turning back, no way to make things better. Her parents were dead and they were dead because of the Grahams. She could never ever forgive them, or herself. She should never have gotten mixed up with them in the first place.
"Robert, please hurry," she cried out. She began to shake as the images played over and over in her mind. "Oh, God, God, I need you, God. I need you now," she continually prayed and wept aloud, rocking back and forth. "How can I find the strength to bury my parents? How will I make it through this?" The traumatizing ache over the people she'd lost felt like a boulder had fallen on her heart. Her FaceTime chimed. She opened it to her sister and brother on the phone. She rarely talked to them, not because she didn’t love her siblings, but because they were so much older. Being a change of life baby, when she was born, they had long left home and moved out of state. Rena grew up feeling like an only child. But now they needed each other. Hopefully, together, maybe they would find some tiny bit of consolation in being family.
‡
Robert Becton stood outside the terminal of Memphis International Airport impatiently waiting on Uber to pick him up and take him to his wife. The heavy rainstorms and dark clouds welcomed him to the murderous city.
He was anxious to get to Rena. He knew she shouldn't have come to Memphis. She had traveled to Memphis several times since moving back to Andover, but there was something about this visit that troubled him. Granted, he didn't exactly explain it to Rena. Instead, she thought he was jealous about the possibility of her seeing Stiles again. That wasn't it at all, not really. Sure, he didn't like the hold that Stiles seemed to still have on Rena, but this time things were different. When she told him that she and her parents were going to Memphis, uneasiness settled over him that even he couldn't explain. Now he understood the reason he felt the way he had.
When he heard Rena’s voice and saw on FaceTime the look of anguish on her face his heart seemed to break in a million tiny pieces. He couldn't fathom what she was going through in Memphis all alone. He only knew that he had to get to her as fast as he possibly could. He couldn't make sense out of what Rena told him; she was way too distraught to be coherent. From what he read online, the pastor's aunt had massacred people for no reason, not that any reason would ever justify what the woman had done.
Her rampage only came to an end after she was shot by one of the armor bearers. Another armor bearer knocked her down, and violently removed the gun from out of her hands. From what he'd read, the woman died later that night from her wounds.
The Uber driver pulled up and Robert hurriedly climbed inside the Toyota Camry. I’m on my way, baby. Just hang on. I’m coming.