| |
A tall, silent man delivered food to Alice and Shiloh at what Alice guessed to be late morning, judging by the brightness of light filtering through their single window. Though she attempted to engage the man he said not a word; simply handed over the two trays of food and left. She considered making a scene but thought twice about drawing attention to herself. Instead she ate — sandwiches filled with a meat product she had never tasted before, equally unfamiliar soup, fruit and drink. Then she lay back down again, closing her eyes so Shiloh would leave her alone.
Despite the troubles at her home back on Earth, being alone and on her own wasn’t something Alice Journee was accustomed to. She filled her life with people constantly.
There was her brother, of course; her protector and biggest supporter at all times. There were her parents — when her father was in a good mood. Otherwise she preferred to stay out of his way. And there were some friends, though few of them were deep friendships or close. She did not trust easily or open up quickly. She also, for some reason, seemed to choose her friendships poorly so that the largest group of people in her life were those who needed her in some way. It was those ones, the ones she was helping that occupied the majority of her time. She justified this when she had to, mostly to Noah who challenged her on it often, by claiming it was her life’s work, her calling in life. It was why she was training to be a nurse; to take care of people in pain.
But as the day wore on, with little else to think of except how alone and afraid she was, a tiny niggling thought surfaced. It was an old friend this thought; the recognition that despite being surrounded by people she actually felt quite alone, quite unhappy. Indeed, if she was completely honest, she was starting to tire of helping people because it seemed so pointless, so thankless. Most of those she tried to help didn’t change and certainly didn’t appear to appreciate what she did for them. Which left her feeling utterly inadequate, and what she did for others, totally pointless.
{
Because everyone needed to eat first, it was another hour before Katerina, Noah, Caleb and their new companion Karim set out. Despite the crisis it felt good to have finally caught up on sleep, and the food Karim provided was filling and delicious. No one talked much, although when Caleb rose to take his food out onto the balcony he was sharply warned not to.
Once they had left the safety of the building, Karim led them at a fast pace through the city streets. They stuck to the more deserted, desolate areas and talked little. Karim explained that although it would make the walk longer, it was safer to avoid the wealthier, more inhabited areas of the city.
As they picked their way through rubble-filled streets, Katerina attempted conversation with Noah several times but his responses were curt. Eventually he stopped to say, “Look, I’m sorry but I just don’t feel like talking. My mind is on Alice.”
“It might help to talk about it?”
For a second she thought he would brush her off again but instead he looked at her long and thoughtfully and replied, “Perhaps, but not right now,” before going on ahead.
She watched him surreptitiously as they continued. After his behavior over the past twenty-four hours she was regretting their kiss. He was starting to seem quite dysfunctional and that was the last thing she wanted in a man after Patrick.
The more she thought about it, the more she concluded she never wanted to be blind-sided again the way she had been by Patrick. As the day wore on, she found herself obsessing about what had happened and how she had been so utterly fooled. But when she began speculating about what he was doing right now — was he seeing Nicole? — she forced herself to shift her focus to other things. She had already decided she would never go back to him, care about anything he did or even see him ever again. That meant she had to stop thinking about him too.
{
When Alice lifted the cover on her lunch plate there was a tiny note tucked in beside it. Thankfully Shiloh was not looking and she was able to twist round on her bed and read it surreptitiously.
“My darling sister do not despair, we have a plan. Everything will be alright. Just do what you have to — and good luck on the ‘other side.’ N.”
The relief that Noah was alright and even knew where she was being held was instantaneous and huge. That relief might even help her cope with the waiting and the hideous unknown; the fear of what she was going to face.
Her relief was short-lived. She had barely finished her lunch before the door opened again and two huge men entered. Fear leapt into her chest instantly, fresh and strong, as they ignored Shiloh and bade her follow them. Although she asked why, no answer was forthcoming, and she had no choice but to obey.
She was led down several corridors with many doors. Everything was eerily silent; no voices, just their footsteps keeping pace. After a few minutes, they passed through a swinging door and into a hospital-like area. There were several, all beautiful women sitting in chairs seemingly waiting for something or lying on low white beds. Each one had two men, clearly guards, positioned nearby and watching them constantly. Her own guards led her to a chair and waved her into it.
She looked around nervously as she waited. There was a cluster of medical staff behind the counter none of whom were looking in her direction...and yet when she studied them closely, she caught one of them glancing at her then quickly looking away. Indeed, she began to suspect that many of them were actually focused on her but pretending not to. There was a strange hush in the room too, as if everyone was waiting for something, or perhaps someone. It increased her anxiety.
Time seemed to be passing very slowly until a door opened somewhere beyond her view. Then they all sprang to attention as a tall, thin woman dressed in dark orange appeared. She crossed to the group behind the counter, exchanged a few words with them, then waved Alice’s guards over. Alice was led to a bed and directed to get onto it.
“What’s happening?” she asked but neither man answered.
The woman in orange explained instead, “Aleisha Blue, you are here to attend the Santtu Ball, however your records are insubstantial (What records? Alice wondered). So you are going to sit the Laria Test.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s nothing to worry about. White scorpion and snake venom. Everyone passes; it’s just a formality to prove you are who you’re claiming to be.”
Alice nodded, forcing her face to remain still, to look unconcerned. Yet she felt certain she was actually grimacing and bloodless with the news she would shortly be given poisonous venom and was surely going to die.
She was led back to the same bed to wait. After a few minutes, she could feel her entire body trembling. Thankfully no one appeared to notice it except her. She could not stop it. It was like there was icy water circulating inside her making her colder than she had ever been before. She was on the verge of full-blown panic, overwhelmed by the huge feeling of fear rising like a wave to engulf her. Her heart felt ready to implode and she could not think straight.
But there was nothing she could do except wait. Nothing! There were too many guards to run. And where would she go anyway?
She was still fighting panic when the thin woman in orange started towards her, carrying what she assumed was the Laria in a small glass beaker, oh-so casually as if it was simply a fruit juice to quench her thirst — not the thing that would kill her. No one appeared to be paying any attention to her now, and she wondered momentarily if she could escape— somehow get out. But her guards, though disinterested, were too close.
‘Am I going to die?’ she agonized. Was she facing death right now? Fear flooded her as she considered it. She had no idea how to hold it back. Fear was the familiar friend she had known for as long as she could remember. Fear of being alone, fear of what her future held, fear of being unloved or loved then rejected, of being tested and found inadequate. The only one who knew her, really knew her, was Noah and he kept right on loving her. Truly there was no one else and it made her so afraid.
But then it occurred to her to pray. So she begged God, ‘Please help me, please get me out of this! Please save me!’ Then she waited, helpless.
And like slow motion, right in front of her, the woman tripped on nothing and the Laria went flying, wasted.
Stunned, Alice stared at the sight and took a deep breath to gather herself together. She knew it was only a temporary reprieve and yet it felt like a sign, like God telling her He was going to save her. But what could He do? And then a scripture dropped into her mind, as clear as crystal, and she instantly knew what she had to do.
It was crazy really, this scripture. Jesus had told His disciples they would be able to “Pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all.” She had wondered when she read it what the disciples had thought. Had any of them gone on out and picked up a snake or drank something poisonous just to see what would happen? Some of them seemed bold enough to, Peter perhaps?
Now God was giving that same promise to her. At least that was what it felt like. Like the promise had just dropped into her mind in her moment of desperation. But how could that happen? Miracles never really occurred in her life or even in the lives of those around her.
And yet, what did she have to lose? If God didn’t do something, she would be dead soon anyway. So when the woman reappeared with a fresh beaker of Laria and proffered it to her, Alice said a silent prayer, ‘I choose to trust You,’ and drank it down.
{
They had been walking for some time when a terrifying thought overtook Noah; the idea that right then, wherever she was, his sister was in terrible danger.
This was not a new experience for him. In their teenage years, with no one else to save Alice from their dad’s temper and their mum’s absence, Noah had willingly taken on that role of her protector. Consequently, over the years he had become almost uncannily aware of when Alice was in trouble, which for such a sweet girl was quite often.
He was only too aware that his sister was a ‘rescuer.’ He’d worked that out during his counseling training. She rescued a continual stream of people, usually men, who took advantage of her unashamedly. She rescued to protect them from the consequences of their own behavior and choices, with the unfortunate result that those she helped never seemed to learn from their mistakes. They didn’t have to because of Alice’s intervention. She was doing for them what they could and should be doing for themselves.
But he was just as bad. He suspected he was a rescuer too, but the only person he ever tried to rescue was Alice. Alice rescued her friends, acquaintances and boyfriends from their slip-ups, mistakes, bad debts and trouble — and Noah rescued her. The frustrating part was that Alice was so bad at choosing who to spend time with, who to get close to. It was like she had a sign on her head offering ‘if you’re constantly in trouble, can’t hold down a job and struggle with drug or alcohol addictions, I’ll help you.’ Then she would fall for their sob-stories, loan them money, run interference for them; do whatever they needed. Noah stepped in when it became too much for her — which was frequently.
Now he was helpless. He could not do anything to rescue her and it was eating him up. He knew he was behaving badly, irrationally. But he couldn’t rest until Alice was safe.
“What is it?” Caleb’s voice broke through his reverie. “You look worried.”
“I think something’s wrong with Alice,” he turned worried eyes on the group.
“I feel it too,” Katerina interjected in surprise. “I feel like something bad is happening. I thought I was imagining it but if you feel it as well...what can we do Karim?”
The big man shrugged, “Pray. There is literally nothing else we can do right now.”
So they did, awkwardly, despite their mutual unfamiliarity with prayer.
And as they started to pray the strangest thing happened. Katerina began to feel as if she was on fire, like her temperature was shooting through the roof.
{
The Laria burned like fire as it passed through Alice’s mouth and slid down her throat. There was no question that this intense heat was not normal. Yet she was determined not to give herself away, to act completely unaffected. But then it felt like her entire chest was burning up and she knew she was in trouble as it started to move like molten lava, down her arms and into her belly.
The words came to her again and she grabbed at them like a mantra. ‘I can drink deadly poison and not be harmed.’ She started repeating it silently over and over putting every ounce of concentration she had into it, feeling like she was fighting for her life, trying to believe that the God she had loved for years would save her.
Then incredibly, the feeling of fire began to change to a soft warmth. It was the kind of delicious warmth you get from lying in the sun during winter; a soothing, reassuring warmth. It spread through her whole body as if she was bathing in it.
Then it was gone — and she was still alive.
{
