On the Edge

by Parker Hudson

  “What? Live audio?” Mark asked from the “911 Live” central control room.

  “There's an open telephone line into this apartment. The police are on the way with video, but we can hear this guy yelling and threatening a woman, over her phone, which is right next to where he's standing.”

  “Fantastic. We'll cut right to you. Get ready.”

  Kevin threw the switch for the internal intercom back to the studio where the TV5 personnel had assembled to watch the show on their large screen. “They're coming to us next. It could be a hot one. Stand by.”

  The crowd quieted in anticipation.

  As the Sullivans watched from their den, the anchor in New York interrupted the apartment fire story and described the unusual circumstance to which they were now switching.

  Suddenly there was a street scene from their city, as the minicam in the police car showed the unit speeding through traffic. As the Park Place apartments came into clear view ahead, the audio was suddenly patched in live.

  “Get up, you slut, so I can slap you again,” the voice yelled.

  “That's awful,” Susan said.

  “Cool,” said Tommy. “I hope the cops get there in time so we can see some of this.”

  * * *

  “No, Richard, don't,” the sobbing woman's voice replied, as the video showed the police car stopping in front of the apartment house.

  Richard grabbed Kristen's wrist to pull her up, and in the turning motion, he noticed the phone handset on the sidetable. “What's that?” He released her wrist to reach across for the phone, and in that instant of rising up, she pushed him and ran back to her bedroom, slamming and locking the door.

  Forgetting the phone, Richard went after her. “Kristen!” he yelled. “I've got a score to settle with you.”

  Janet froze, sitting in her den, watching through the microcam on the policeman's helmet, as the two officers entered the elevator. Richard. Kristen. “Ohhhh…” she moaned, bringing her hands to her lips. Susan and Tommy turned to look at their mother and had never before seen so much pain on any person's face.

  “Come out of there, or I'll knock the door down,” the man's voice yelled, somewhat dimmer because it was further away. But the two children nevertheless recognized it.

  Susan turned to her mother in horror. “Is that Dad on the television?” she gasped.

  Janet, tears streaming down her face, stared at the screen, and could only nod.

  “What's he doing?” Tommy asked, equally scared.

  Continuing to cry, Janet started to emit a low, chilling wail from inside her soul. Hearing their mother, the children were even more afraid.

  “Open this door! “Richard yelled, his anger rising to a new peak because she had run away. He pounded on the door and then began hitting the doorknob with the bolt cutter, trying to break it off.

  Kristen, trapped in the bedroom and scared for her life, looked around and saw her purse where she had tossed it on the bed. She ran to it, opened the catch, and pulled out her Sig Sauer automatic pistol. Releasing the safety, her hands slippery from wiping away her tears, she turned, leveled the gun, and yelled toward the door, “Don't come in here, Richard. I've got my gun.”

  Just as she spoke those words, he struck the doorknob with a heavy blow. The knob broke off, and the door swung open. He pushed it further with his hand, and came through it, intending to yell at her again.

  Kristen saw the door fly open and Richard's form come through, leading with the bolt cutter. She fired.

  The police officers were coming through Kristen's front door as the gun went off. The noise on the nation's television screens was deafening. Janet screamed. Susan shrieked and began crying. Tommy got up and stood behind his mother, wanting somehow to comfort her. The video image blurred as the police officer dove to the floor.

  As the policeman on the floor looked up and the camera recorded what he saw, Richard staggered back into the living room, holding his chest, blood clearly oozing from between his fingers. He looked with wild, uncomprehending eyes toward the police officer, and so his family was looking directly into his face as he slumped to his knees, then fell over on the carpet.

  Someone in the crowd in the TV5 studio yelled, “Hey, isn't that Janet Sullivan's husband, Richard?”

  “No way,” Bill Shaw said. But he looked again and swore loudly. “It is Richard! Where's Janet?”

  Janet was sobbing hysterically in her seat. Susan was crying and shrieking, biting her fingers. Tommy kept repeating, “Dad!…Dad!…Dad!…” as he paced behind the sofa, crying.

  Next to Janet, the telephone began to ring.

  Back in Kristen's apartment, Richard tried to speak, to explain that it was all a mistake, that he had only wanted to scare her, as the policeman rolled him over onto his back, and knelt over him. But no sound came from his mouth. As he stared up into the policeman's face and therefore into the microcamera, everything suddenly went very dark for Richard.

  But only for an instant. The next moment, Richard's soul rose from his body, free to spend eternity without the confines of a human form. His spirit was shocked, looking down on his former body and on the scene around it. Then he was overcome with a paralyzing fear, as he realized that the black forms of Balzor and Nepravel had surrounded him, and he smelled for the first time the sulfurous stench of their hate for him.

  By long tradition, they could not yet speak to him, not until after the Judgment Seat, but he looked at them in his nakedness, knowing exactly who they were and who they represented, and he shook uncontrollably. This can't be real. There aren't supposed to be demons and a devil. I know that for sure. Everyone knows that, he said to himself, in a ‘voice’ he used for the first time. But his eyes and nose told him that they were very real, and both now started to laugh silently, apparently having somehow heard his thoughts.

  In another moment a light started to appear, and Richard noticed that the demons shrank back as the light grew brighter. Richard glanced down and saw Kristen standing over his body along with the police, as an officer took the gun from her hand. Then somehow he knew about “911 Live” and that his family had been watching. “Oh, no,” his new voice recorded in horror, as he turned toward the growing brilliance of the light.

  Richard had never seen such light. The huge angel was descending toward them, his two eagles’ heads constantly moving. Richard was in utter awe as the angel came close, and then they started to move away together. He turned and saw that the larger demon was staying behind, but the other one took up position next to him, on the opposite side from the angel.

  They traveled together for Richard knew not how long. He fixed on the angel, trying to avoid the staring smile and the awful stench of the demon. Soon they neared a source of light even stronger than the angel's, if that were possible. The demon and the angel pulled away from him, and his spirit continued on toward the light, which ultimately revealed itself as a large, brilliant throne room.

  He was propelled into the room, and as he entered, he saw more angels, like the one who had brought him, only these were flying with one set of their wings and covering their faces and feet with the others, screaming, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God of Hosts.” And voices from everywhere were lifting a steady harmony of praise and worship, proclaiming His glory and His righteousness.

  Richard, naked, realized that he had arrived alone at the throne of God.

  The Light appeared as a large human form, seated on a huge throne. Next to Him, at His right hand, was a white Lamb, alive, but with his throat cut, as if the Lamb had been sacrificed. Richard could barely stand the brilliance. He still could not believe that this was happening. A real God, just like in the Bible! How could it be? Why had no one told him?

  In the next moment Richard suddenly began reliving his entire life on earth, from his childhood through school, law school, marriage, children, Kristen, everything. He had no idea how long it took, but the effect was debilitating. In the presence of the perfect God, his own imperfections, lie
s, sins, and rationalizations cried out their difference from what God had expected of him. Halfway through his life, he hung his head and tried to hide from God, but there was no place to go. He was alone with his Creator, who was judging him, as He had always promised that He would. When his family was reviewed, Richard started to wail, the enormity of his betrayal bared for him to see and to feel.

  When his life review was completed, the Light spoke thunderously. “He has sinned and cannot partake of heaven, where there is no sin.” Then the Light addressed the Lamb, and asked, “Is his name written in the Book of Life?”

  The Lamb, also surrounded by brilliant Light, replied, “No, Father. His sins are not atoned for by the Blood of the Lamb. He did not believe.”

  “Then he is to be cast into Darkness,” were the last words that Richard's soul ever heard God speak, for all of eternity.

  He cried out. “There must be a mistake. This can't be! I know I hurt my family, but I didn't kill anyone. I'm no worse than most of the men I know.” His spirit started moving away from the throne, but not by his will. “Please. No one told me it would be like this. Please give me another chance. If I had known it would be like this, I would have done differently. What do you want me to do? I'll do it. Anything! Please…”

  As he left the throne room, he realized that Nepravel was waiting for him. He screamed in terror, but Nepravel laughed a blood-chilling laugh, and Richard heard him for the first time. Now that Richard belonged to him, Nepravel could speak.

  Still laughing, Nepravel answered the question Richard had posed to God. “Oh, but someone did tell you about all of this. We've just been confusing you. And you bought all of it! You could have escaped your future and gone to heaven, where we can't go. But now you're ours, forever!” And his laugh pierced Richard. “Come with me, now, Richard. This is what I live for!” And Richard's soul was led away to an eternity without God.

  If demons could hold a party, then that night's meeting over the city qualified. Balzor was exuberant. They had destroyed a prominent figure in the community, driving another nail of disbelief into the people's general sense of decency in their society.

  And they were well on the way to destroying Richard's family members, and all of their friends and associates, through what had happened to Richard. Who knew what might soon happen to Susan, Tommy, Amy, Brent, Janet, and all the other humans who had been associated with Richard?

  This was truly a great victory for the forces of Darkness. One of several that day. As their meeting broke up, Balzor slowly circled his sector of the city, content that the Light was now almost completely extinguished.

  Book Two

  FOREWORD

  The preceding pages recount what might have happened to Richard Sullivan and his family. Happily, there was actually another outcome. The following pages describe what really happened to them all.

  15

  TEN YEARS EARLIER – Susan and Tommy were asleep in the back seat of the station wagon, dozing after their lunch on the road, as Richard counted down the last few miles to Tarpon Springs, just north of Tampa. Susan was clutching her favorite doll, and Tommy was curled up on his pillow, sucking the two middle fingers of his left hand.

  “It shouldn't be too much farther now,” Janet said, holding on her lap both a map and the directions to the Petersons’ home, which Scott had mailed to Richard the previous week.

  Richard and Janet had not seen Scott or Cindy Peterson since their wedding, right after their college graduation. Scott was Richard's roommate during their senior year, and Janet introduced him to Cindy, who was one of her sorority sisters. Scott was known on campus as a “wild man,” but he visibly calmed under Cindy's influence, as their romance budded and grew. As so often happened in those days, the two of them were married that June, and both Richard and Janet were in the wedding.

  When Richard and Janet were married the following summer, after Richard's first year of law school, Scott was serving in Vietnam, and Cindy was tending to their baby daughter, Lacy, who was born almost nine months to the day after their wedding. So the Petersons were not able to participate in the Sullivans’ wedding. In fact, the two couples had not seen each other for the entire intervening period. They kept up by telephone calls, letters, and Christmas cards. But when Richard and Janet had decided to take Susan and Tommy to Disney World that year, they had called the Petersons, and now they were only a few miles from their home.

  “Hey, sleepy heads, time to wake up,” Janet smiled, as she turned around and shook her children.

  “Are we at Disney World yet?” Tommy asked, rubbing his eyes.

  “No, dear. That will be tomorrow. Now we're almost to our friends’ home, and you'll be able to play with Lacy and Jeff.”

  Janet had convinced Richard that this was the year to visit Disney World, since Susan was only in the first grade, and they could take her out of school for a few days without a problem. And they would miss some of the rush that would hit Orlando during the regular days of spring vacation. Richard had made partner in the law firm two years before, and he was finally feeling he could relax every now and then, even though the work load was still tremendous.

  He and Janet had their eye on a home on Devon Drive, which was supposed to be up for sale that summer. Compared to their small ranch home in the suburbs, the Devon Drive home offered a much larger yard and a wonderful city park nearby. So Richard was working hard to ensure that his income would qualify for the necessary loan. But Janet finally prevailed on the need for a family vacation, and he was frankly glad to be out of the office for a week with his young family.

  They had left Friday morning, spent the night on the road, and now it was Saturday afternoon as they pulled into the Petersons’ driveway in Tarpon Springs. The Petersons bounded out of their front door as soon as the Sullivans’ car was in the driveway, and the four adults embraced and kissed in the front yard. The Petersons’ children were each approximately two years older than Susan and Tommy, but they were soon all playing together in the backyard.

  “You look great, Janet.” Scott held her at arm's length and then gave her another hug. “I can't believe we're finally all back together again after so many years.”

  “And married life seems to agree with you, too, Richard,” Cindy smiled, patting the slight bulge of his stomach.

  “No complaints, no complaints at all,” Richard laughed. “Janet's the best homemaker in the business!”

  Richard and Scott unloaded their overnight bags while Janet and Cindy arranged the kids’ sleeping quarters. Soon the four adults were relaxing on the Petersons’ patio, drinks in hand, watching the children running and jumping together, joined now by several of the neighborhood kids.

  Scott, who had opened an insurance agency with some friends from his army days, had completely adapted to the casual Florida lifestyle. That evening they grilled swordfish steaks for themselves and hamburgers for the kids, while catching up on almost ten years of news.

  “I can't believe how tall Susan is,” Cindy marveled. “It's hard to tell from her pictures. She's almost as tall as Lacy.”

  “Jeff has amazingly nice manners.” Janet returned the compliment. “I hope in two years that Tommy is behaving as nicely as Jeff is tonight.”

  After dinner, while Janet and Cindy worked on bedding down the excited children, Richard and Scott nursed another round and continued to catch up with each other.

  “Remembering you hanging off the balcony at our dorm,” Richard smiled at Scott, “it's hard to picture you married and settled down. You were always the wilder of us, Scott, and I imagined you would be a pilot or something equally challenging.”

  “Eyes, Richard. I couldn't ever pass the eye test. So I wound up on the ground instead, in-country Vietnam, and that's where my life really changed.”

  “I bet,” Richard said. He had not served in the armed forces because of a high draft lottery number.

  “No, Richard, I mean really changed. Cindy and I have a strong faith now, which began fo
r me with an experience I had in those days.”

  “What happened?” Richard asked.

  “Well, as you may recall, I received a grazing wound in the right thigh.” Scott patted his leg as he spoke. “There's still a chunk missing. It really wasn't that bad, but it got me medivac'd out to a field hospital.

  “After my operation, there were six of us in this particular ward. I was the only one from our unit, but the three guys across from me were the only survivors from a patrol the VC had ambushed. In the bed on one end was a white guy who had his right thigh and right hand completely bandaged. On the left end was a black guy whose legs had been shot up much worse than mine. The doctors said he would never walk again. But in the middle bed was another white guy, their buddy, who had his midsection badly torn up and was in a coma. On my second day there, one of the nurses told me that the middle guy—his name was Reese—wasn't expected to live another twenty-four hours.

  “Now you knew me in school, Richard. Like you, I don't think I ever darkened the door of a church while we were in college, and I certainly could not boast about my faith then. But it turned out that these three guys were all from the same town—they had played football on the same high school varsity team, and had been active in the Campus Crusade for Christ. And they had all enlisted together.

  “Richard, I lay there day after day, night after night, and I watched the white guy and the black guy pray for Reese incessantly. The white guy would kneel on one side and whisper his prayers in Reese's ear. The black guy, who couldn't get out of bed, would reach over and hold on to Reese's arm, and together he and the first guy would pray. The other three of us in the ward started out as skeptical as we could be, and at first we even asked them to keep their prayers quiet, so we could read or sleep. But those two guys never flinched. They told us about the power of prayer and about how the Holy Spirit had already worked miracles in their lives, both back home and in-country.