The Twelve

by D A Walmsley

  John wakes up with a jolt, in the living room! He must have fallen asleep. Around him lie several empty beer cans.

  “Sorry, did I wake you?” says Andrew.

  John rubs his eyes and looks at his watch; it shows 8:30 am.

  “It’s fine.”

  “You hungry? I’m cooking some fish.”

  John thinks for a moment, trying to remember the last time he ate. His stomach makes a growling noise.

  “Yeah, that would be great, thanks.”

  “How are you today?” asks Andrew.

  “Numb and a bit hungover. When did you and Peter get in? I don’t remember seeing you last night.”

  “Got back an hour ago, we drank too much to drive back so we crashed down in the bus.”

  John nods.

  Andrew cooks enough fish for the whole team, in case any of the others get up. Peter is the only one to smell the food and come down stairs, having showered; the three eat the lot.

  “Thanks for the text,” says Peter.

  “We didn’t get it ‘till we were back on land, but thanks anyway. We kinda guessed when he died, owing to the darkness and the earthquake,” says Andrew.

  “Thanks for looking after Jesus’ mum,” says Peter.

  “It’s fine, she’s a mess, but then again aren’t we all.”

  One by one, throughout the day the lads appear, until they are all together. By mid afternoon they start to talk about yesterday’s events. They wonder if the darkness was a sign, then try to make out that the ‘quake didn’t frighten them. They apprehensively talk about the future, what next, where to go, what to do?

  “I guess it’s back to fishing,” says James.

  Peter, Andrew and John all look at each other.

  “It’s okay for you lot, just go back to your old life. What am I to do? It shouldn’t be like this, something is not right. The boss was never wrong about anything, yet now it’s as if nothing happened,” says Matthew beginning to get angry.

  “Hey, it’s not our fault, Peter has a wife and family to think of,” says James.

  “Yeah well, maybe he should have been thinking about them instead of denying he ever knew the boss,” says Simon.

  “That’s it, rub it in, don’t you think he feels bad enough. You’re just asking for a beating,” says James.

  “Who from, your mummy, she’s not here to fight for you now.”

  “I can take you any time Zealot boy, bring it on.”

  They stand up and are in each others face. Peter pulls them apart.

  “Look, stop this now!” His voice trembles, “everyone knows I made a mistake, alright? If you lot want to keep reminding me, fine. I have to deal with the fact that the boss was there just at the very moment I fell. I saw the look in his eyes. So what any of you say is nothing, nothing compared to how I felt at that moment. How I’ll feel for the rest of my life.”

  “Didn’t we start like this? Fighting,” says Thaddy.

  “Makes sense, we’ve just come full circle,” says Philip.

  “No! we haven’t” says John. “We are not the same, Jesus taught us different.”

  “Yeah but John, everything he taught us didn’t point to this did it?” says Nathaniel.

  Thaddy flicks on the TV.

  “Oh, come on, Thaddy, you watched that all day yesterday,” says James. “Give it a rest.”

  “Better than arguing.”

  Peter, not wanting to watch it, leaves the room. The news is showing highlights of the crucifixion. The others try not to look, but they are drawn to it.

  “This is stupid, at least put on a movie, something other than this.” says Matthew.

  They watch Jesus’ body being taken away. There is a close-up of Jesus’ mother, John and the others.

  “Hey John there’s you,” points Thaddy, adding, “Is it me or does Mary Mag look good in black.”

  “It’s you,” says Simon.

  “What do you think about her? If you squint she looks quite hot,” says James, leaning forward for a better look.

  “You know she used to be a model,” says Simon.

  Thaddy mutes the TV. “No! Go on.”

  “She did all the men’s magazines. If I remember, she was once voted Playbunny of the year.”

  “How come no-one told me this? It’s something I should have known,” says James a little annoyed.

  “So what happened? Looking at her now you would never have guessed,” asks Thaddy.

  Simon gestures with his hand. “Drink and drugs. She ended up stripping at the Angels. I used to see her sitting alone, only she wasn’t; she had too many demons for that. She never told you her story?”

  They all shake their heads.

  Simon is hesitant, almost not wanting to relive the past. John suspects it’s because of his mate, the one he never talks about.

  “The boss came in the bar one time. Me and…” he stops, glancing away. “Well a couple of us had invited Jesus to the Angels, you know, to see what he was all about. Well, you know the boss, first he healed everyone that asked.”

  “including Mary,” says Alphie.

  Simon nods, “including Mary.”

  “I thought she looked vaguely familiar. Wonder if I still have one of them mags she was in. I might ask her if she remembers which ones.”

  “James you’d better not,” shouts Peter from another room.

  Thaddy turns the TV sound back on as James’ attention has now turned to Matthew’s ex, Rebecca.

  “What I really can’t understand Matt, is why you didn’t keep seeing Rebecca. I would have done anything to keep her. Even sold one of Johns’ kidneys.”

  Matthew smiles. “Haven’t thought about Rebecca in a while.”

  “You don’t know if she’s still single do ya Matt? I mean if you’re not seeing her, maybe she would prefer a real man,” says James.

  “You couldn’t afford her, she prefers her men to have money.”

  John thinks about Jude’s girlfriend. “Jude’s girl, now she was fine.”

  “Sarah, yes, very nice, ” says Andrew.

  John looks at James. “When we first met her you told me her name was Sonia.”

  James laughs. “Ha! Did I?”

  “Yeah. I kept calling her Sonia all that night!”

  “Sonia, Sarah, whatever, she was way too good for Jude,” says James getting up and leaving the room.

  “Can we not talk about that bastard,” says Simon.

  James comes back in with a beer in his hand. He sits down and slurps the froth from the top of the can. They all stare at him.

  “Where did you get that from?” says Simon.

  “From the fridge!” James looks at Simon like he’s an idiot.

  “There isn’t any beer in the fridge.”

  “There is now! I opened a new case, it’s a bit warm though.”

  “I thought we’d run out,” says John.

  “We had!”

  “So where did it come from?” they all ask.

  James still looks at them like they are imbeciles. “Oh, right, you weren’t here. By the way lads, the guy from the upper room came by. He heard about the boss, so he brought us the booze we never drank. Plus, out of condolences, he’s thrown in some extras.”

  “Thanks for telling us,” says John.

  “I’m telling you now, what’s the big deal.”

  “I’m thirsty, that’s the big deal.”

  When they go to investigate it seems that Mr Marith has been very generous, for not only has he left the beer and wine they never finished, he’s given some extras, including two bottles of Israeli whisky.

  Andrew and Peter open a bottle of wine, the rest raid the fridge. Beer is beer, even when it’s warm.

  Chapter 42

  “Wake up, Wake up. Everyone, wake up.”

  John bursts into one of the bedrooms and is confronted by Matthew, his gun pointing straight at him.

  “Don’t shoot.”

  “What the…?” says Matthew lowering the gun.
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  John is too excited to explain. He points and waves.

  “It’s…It…”

  From another room, Simon appears, he too is holding his gun.

  “What’s happening”

  “It’s Jesus, his body is gone! Mary Mag says the boss is alive!”

  “Oh,” he sighs, “So they’ve stolen the body, they’d better not blame us,” Simon lowers his gun.

  “No, you don’t understand. Mary Mag’s seen the boss alive,” says John.

  “Yeah, right,” says Simon, slamming his door shut.

  “Look John, just admit it, the boss is dead.” Matthew too goes back to bed.

  If they don’t believe it, tough, he’s off back downstairs, where Peter is scrambling about trying to put on his boots, a piece of toast in his mouth.

  “Who else is coming…?” John is already out the door as he shouts.

  Standing on the step of the house are Mary, Jesus’ mother, Mary Mag and Joanna. They came straight away to tell them the tomb is empty and Mary Mag saw and spoke to Jesus. John rushes passed them yelling, “Thank you, thank you, I knew it, I knew it.”

  John is in the bus and has started the engine by the time Peter jumps in. With a screech of tyres and crunching of gears John sets off.

  “So, why were they at the tomb this morning exactly?” asks Peter holding on to the door as John takes a corner a little fast.

  “Finishing off the embalming, it was late Friday, so they had to wait until today.”

  “And you know where you’re going?”

  “Sort of.”

  John, desperately trying to remember where to go, doesn’t slow down at a set of lights, this is gonna be close…

  “Slow down, you’re going to kill us,” shouts Peter.

  “It was fine,” you wanna get there quick don’t you?”

  “Yes, but, where are you going? You need to turn right, RIGHT!”

  John stamps on the brakes and turns hard right. The bus jerks and skids, only just making the entrance to the burial grounds; it screeches to a halt, stopping in the middle of the car park. John flings open his door and jumps out.

  “This way,” he shouts back at Peter.

  Realising he’s left the engine running and keys in the ignition he hesitates, oh, it will be fine, won’t it? Yeah. Now which tomb is it? Hoping he’s going in the right direction, he recognises a statue. Yes it’s just round the hill. When he sees it he points it out to Peter, who is struggling to catch up. At the tomb the big steel door is wide open. John stops, they were right. Hesitantly he peers inside. He can see a pile of linen wrapped and neatly placed on the stone slab. Wow, what has happened?

  Peter, gasping for air, finally catches up. He pushes John out of the way and enters the dark tomb. John follows him. Peter stands on the spices that have fallen to the floor and points at the neatly folded linen.

  “What do you think?” asks John.

  “If you stole a body, you wouldn’t unwrap it first would you!”

  “So does that mean it’s true, he’s alive?”

  Chapter 43

  The veil, a high curtain separating the Most Holy place from the rest of the temple, has been torn in two from top to bottom.

  “I know what I saw.”

  “Coincidence is the only explanation.”

  “I agree, shocking as it is, but people are starting to ask questions.”

  The earthquake not only shook Jerusalem, it has shaken the hearts of the people. The veil in the Temple, a curtain that separated the holy of holies from them, was ripped in two from top to bottom. News has quickly spread that the most holy place in Israel is on show and many people have rushed to see it for themselves. The queue stretches all the way through the Temple and out around the whole building. To make matters worse Annas has now something more pressing to deal with.

  In Annas’ office are four guards, standing in a line facing his desk. They are wearing body armour and are carrying rifles and handguns. Annas himself is looking out of the window.

  Caiaphas enters, having come straight from his Temple duties and is still wearing his robe, the bells on the hem ringing as he walks in. An assistant follows behind. The guards turn round.

  “Please, heads forward,” says the assistant, who now helps Caiaphas de-robe.

  Annas turns and offers his chair to Caiaphas.

  “Right, tell me exactly what happened,” says Caiaphas sitting down.

  The guards are reluctant to speak. Annas points to one of the men, indicating he should speak first.

  “Sir, it was supernatural, there was nothing we could do.”

  “There was this bright light. Then the whole place started shaking. We saw a figure dressed in pure white, glowing,” says another.

  “There was nothing we could do, sir,” says the third. “The next thing we knew, everything was normal, except the tomb door was open and the body had gone.”

  “We couldn’t fire our weapons, move or anything, sir.”

  Caiaphas addresses the fourth guard. “What about you, have you anything to add?”

  “No, sir. It was just as they described, if it had been Jesus’ team we would have fired, sir.”

  A priest knocks on the door, and enters with Benjamin and Theo.

  “Hand over your weapons to these men,” says Annas to the guards.

  “Yes sir.” they reply.

  Annas and Caiaphas leave the office to go and talk to some of the chief priests.

  “Is it true?” asks one priest.

  “It appears so,” says Caiaphas.

  “This has to stay between us, if this gets out that Jesus is…”

  “And if it gets out?”

  “We will tell the truth, that his team came while the guards were sleeping and stole the body,” says Annas.

  “Excellent idea,” says Caiaphas.

  “What shall we do with the guards?” asks one of the priests.

  “No more killing, surely we’ve had enough of that,” says another.

  “What about money? Could they be bought?” asks one.

  “Everybody can be bought, especially when they are expecting punishment,” says Caiaphas.

  Annas and Caiaphas go back into the office.

  “I should hand you over to Pilate to be crucified!” says Annas entering his office. “I can’t even look you in the eyes. You’re an embarrassment to God and to the Temple. Your very presence in my office makes it unclean.” He walks up and down behind the men. “We may need you later but if it wasn’t for that, I would have no trouble sending you to your deaths, understand?”

  The men nod their heads, “yes sir.”

  “Your High Priest will give you your orders. If you disobey them I will find you. And I won’t be so accommodating next time.”

  Annas steps aside and once again goes over to the window and looks out, watching the crowds swarm all round the side of the Temple.

  Caiaphas sits back down in Annas’ chair. His assistant follows and hands him some papers.

  “Right gentleman, this is the statement we require you to sign. It states that you were negligent, that you were asleep on the job, and that Jesus’ team came and stole the body. This is the official version of events. If the press find out the body is missing, you will recite this statement. This is what the Governor will be told, if necessary. Memorise it, make sure you know it by heart. Failure will not be tolerated.”

  He takes a pen from the desk, handing it to the first guard.

  “Oh, to help your conscience, if you have any, there will be a little, lets say, signing bonus.”

  Caiaphas’ assistant hands him four thick brown envelopes. The men all look at each other and smile.

  Caiaphas opens an envelope, it is crammed with hundreds of ten Euro notes. The men can’t sign fast enough.

  Chapter 44

  “We’ve been set up.”

  “They didn’t have anything on us before, so they hid the body and say we stole it, giving them enough reason to arrest us.”
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br />   “Oh, stop it Simon, he’s alive. I can feel it. Mary Mag says she’s even seen him.”

  “Oh great John, that’s the defence at your trial. Mary Mag saw Jesus alive, but he looked different and no one else has seen him since.”

  “Shhh Thaddy, what was that, did you hear something?” says Alphie, sneaking a look out of the window.

  “We’re safe in here, everything’s locked up and tighter than Jude’s wallet,” says Nathaniel. “What? Too soon to make fun of the traitor?”

  “No, but it’s probably Thomas anyway, he shouldn’t be much longer. I thought he was only going out for some bread?”

  “He’d better remember to park the bus away from the house,” says James.

  “They always come in the dark - should we fight?” suggests Thaddy.

  “I am, they aren’t arresting me,” says Simon, patting his gun.

  “We should get more weapons, remember what the boss asked in the garden car park? He asked how many guns we had. Maybe it was for now,” says Thaddy.

  “I have a spare upstairs in my bag. Alphie, you got yours today?” asks Matthew.

  “No, sorry.”

  “You lot are so negative, the boss is alive,” says John.

  “Yeah, Yeah, if he’s really come back from the dead, don’t you think he’d have shown himself to us by now?” says Philip.

  “That’s what you would assume, isn’t it Philip?” says Jesus.

  Standing right in the middle of the living room is Jesus. The lads are terrified. They can see the boss, he’s here. No one dare speak, they are so frightened. Can their eyes be deceiving them?

  “Relax, everything is alright.”

  “Boss, is it you, really you?” asks Andrew.

  “It’s a ghost, do you think it can hear us?” whispers James.

  “You think I’m a ghost. Oh James, do ghosts have real bodies like mine?”

  “But…you died. You’re dead!” says Nathaniel.

  “You’re alive, I knew it! I knew you were alive,” says John. He turns to Matthew, “See, Mary was right.”

  They all gather round Jesus. He shows them his hands and feet. They prod him, touch the scars where the nails went through. He shows them the point where the spear entered his side.