After the Rain

by Vanessa Miller

  “The earth has been given to Satan. He that will be saved, let him come to the Lord.”

  Truth took him into an area of hell that housed prison cells. It looked just like the cell Isaac was locked in every night. Same concrete floor, same iron bars, same filthy cot.

  Truth told him, “These prison cells are readily available for those that served Satan, rather than the Lord, when they walked the face of the earth.”

  “Why are we here? I could have stayed where I was if all you wanted me to see was some prison cells.”

  “There is much you need to see here.”

  A man tightly gripped the bars of his cell and started screaming, “Help! Help me, please. Come on, Isaac. I know you hear me.”

  Isaac fixed his eyes toward the noise and saw a man in one of the cells. There was something familiar about the man. And that voice… Isaac stepped closer to the cell. “Leonard?”

  “Help me, man. Get me out of here. I can’t take it anymore.”

  Isaac smirked. “Why they got you in a cell? What’d you do, rob somebody down here too?” Leonard and Isaac had been boys. They had once done everything together, until Isaac got tired of Leonard smoking up their profits and stealing from him. That was the one and only day that Isaac took the life of a man he had once called friend.

  Leonard’s eyes rolled back in his head. He lifted his hand to his hair and pulled at it as gut-wrenching screams bellowed from his mouth. But it wasn’t Leonard’s mouth anymore. Leonard was transforming into a deformed animal right in front of Isaac.

  The creature reached out. “H-help me!”

  Isaac jumped back. This was too Poltergeist for him. “What’s happening?”

  Truth touched Isaac’s shoulder. “The drugs he sold while on earth caused people to become things they were never meant to be. As punishment, his body now changes form frequently. It will continue for eternity.” He sadly shook His head and moved Isaac away from the cells. “We have more to see.”

  Isaac was horrified. He had no wish to see more of this place and he told Truth so. Truth kept walking.

  “Where are we going?” Isaac inquired.

  “To the Fun Room.” Truth informed him.

  Yeah right, Isaac thought. There’s about as much fun as a bullet to the head to be had in this place.

  The Fun Room had also been created for those who once enjoyed the pleasures of sin and all its trappings. Isaac held his nose as they walked into the room. A stank bomb must have exploded in this mug, Isaac thought.

  In this room, demons watched as tortured souls tried to recreate the fun they partook in on earth. Crap games were going on. Con artists recited their street hustle over and over again. Former CEOs and executives discussed business ventures.

  They were permitted to do anything they wanted in the Fun Room, anything but leave. And that was the rub, because there were also demons in the Fun Room. These demons taunted and tortured the souls. Every hour on the hour a bell would ring. The inhabitants of the Fun Room would tremble with fear and cry out for someone to save them. Isaac wondered why these people had such a problem with a bell ringing—their bodies didn’t change form or anything horrifying like that. Then the demons grabbed a few unfortunate souls and brought them to the center of the room.

  Isaac recognized Ray-Ray immediately. Six demons marched around him like he was fresh meat. They hissed and cackled, spit and laughed. Ray-Ray looked real scared.

  Initially, Isaac wanted to cheer on the demons. But then they started poking Ray-Ray with the long spears they carried. They pulled at his flesh. Ray-Ray let out a god-awful scream of agony that tore at Isaac’s heart.

  Isaac turned to Truth. “They’re going to pull him apart.”

  “They often do.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Truth pointed to a pile of discarded limbs. “The demons enjoy mutilating these people. They will pick them apart until there is nothing left.”

  Isaac looked back to the center of the room. Ray-Ray was crawling away from the demons. His left leg had been violently pulled from his body, but there was no blood. Isaac watched as the demons brought another group to the center of the room.

  He closed his eyes to avoid the pain. His brother Donavan was in this group. He looked at Truth. “Why are you doing this to me?”

  He didn’t answer.

  One of the demons put his spear in Donavan’s flesh. Isaac heard his little brother scream and beg for mercy.

  Isaac ran to the center screaming, “Noooo! Not my brother!”

  The demon lifted his spear again, positioning it for Donavan’s chest cavity. Isaac grabbed the spear and tried to yank it out of the demon’s hand, but its grip was much stronger than anything Isaac had ever known. The demon swatted Isaac to the ground. Venomous fluids oozed from his mouth as he hissed. His beady eyes centered on Isaac. With his lip curled and fangs fully exposed, he lunged.

  Isaac was dead. He knew it would only be a matter of seconds. As soon as those fangs cut at his flesh, he was a goner.

  Truth held up his hand. “Halt. You cannot have him.”

  The demon hissed as he looked at Truth, but he obeyed.

  Isaac was forced to witness every painful moment of Donavan’s torture. Two demons grabbed Donavan’s arms and stretched him out crucifixion style. “Donavan, run!” Isaac called out to his brother as another demon lifted his spear. The spear pierced Donavan’s left shoulder.

  “Aaarrhhh!”

  “Nooo!” Isaac yelled as the demon pulled the spear from Donavan and lifted it to impel him again. Isaac was no punk, and he wasn’t about to take this mess lying down. He pulled himself off the ground and ran full speed toward the offending demon. He jumped on its back and tried to pull the spear from his hand.

  The demon hissed and cackled as he shook Isaac off his back. He picked Isaac up like he was a Raggedy Andy doll and threw him across the room. Isaac hit the wall—whoosh—his breath exited his body as he slid down the wall and landed on a heap of limbs. Dazed, Isaac shook his head.

  The nine-foot tall demon turned jaundiced eyes in Isaac’s direction and pointed at him. “Stay there.”

  Isaac climbed down from the pile of limbs and ran back to the demon.

  Jaundiced eyes was waiting for him. He put his spear down. Isaac advanced, the demon spat green slime on the ground. He picked Isaac up by the collar and pimp smacked him.

  Isaac wanted to retaliate, but he couldn’t make out which one of the three moving faces was the one that hit him. As soon as he could get the room to stop spinning and make out one head rather than three, he would smack that demon back. Before he could reconcile his vision, he was thrown against another wall.

  Isaac didn’t get up.

  Donavan looked at him. His eyes were full of pain. “Don’t come here,” he told Isaac as another spear penetrated him.

  “Why won’t he run?” Isaac yelled at Truth. “Why don’t you let these people defend themselves?”

  “They made their choice,” Truth told him. His voice was sad, but resigned. “Come.”

  “I can’t leave Donavan.”

  “You can’t do anything for him,” Truth told him. “Come, I have more to show you.”

  “Oh, God, no! Just leave me alone.”

  Truth walked out of the Fun Room and headed toward a dark tunnel. Isaac quickly ran to catch up with Truth. As they walked, Isaac could hear more howling and cackling, and the cries of the lost souls. He came to a dead stop, mouth gaped open, as he pointed at a man crumpled and shaking in a corner. “He can’t be here.”

  “For more than a century now.”

  “But he was a great man. The history books are full of his exploits.”

  “Even great men must serve the Lord.”

  Isaac remembered the story Nina recited years ago, about the rich man in hell. Great men must be no different from rich men, thugs or thieves. We all have to pay the piper, Isaac mournfully thought.

  He looked at Truth. There was fear in his eyes. “Where
are you taking me? Please tell me I’m not going to see my mother, am I?”

  Truth turned to Isaac. “Your mother worshiped and served the Lord…”

  “Lot of good that did her.”

  “Your mother lives in peace,” Truth continued. “For eternity, she will only know goodness and joy. We’re here.”

  The tunnel ended and the blackness of the great abyss gave way to pits of fire. Within those pits were souls. “These people once served the Lord, but they turned back to sin like a dog turns to his vomit.”

  “No!” Isaac screamed and turned his head away from the unbearable sight before him.

  “She served me until she was sixteen-years old. But one man after another turned her away,” Truth said.

  Isaac walked up to the pit that held the frame of Valerie. Her shrilling cries of agony penetrated his heart. Years of unshed tears gushed from his eyes as the flames from the fire licked at Valerie’s skeletal form. Decayed flesh hung by shreds from her bones. It burned and fell into the bottom of the pit. She had no hair left. It had long been burned from her skeletal frame. Her face was as a hollow mass without eyes, just empty, neglected sockets.

  When the flames died down, Isaac could see the worms crawling through the bones of her skeleton. “Why do you torture her like this? Why can’t you just forgive her? She was good people.” Isaac cried.

  “She never asked me to forgive her. She died before she could be restored back to the Lord.”

  The flesh crawled back onto her skeletal frame and the fire started at her feet again. Small flames at first, but they grew, and climbed up her body. Heavy tears flowed down Isaac’s face as he said, “I’m sorry, Valerie. I should have loved you.”

  When the flames subsided and the worms were crawling up her body again, she looked at Isaac. “Even if you had loved me, you still wouldn’t have been worth this.”

  “I know,” Isaac sobbed. “Oh, God. I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry. God, do You hear me? I’m sorry.”

  Chapter Seven

  Isaac’s body and mind were worn and weary from the re-telling of the most horrible thing he’d ever experienced in life. But he would journey through hell a hundred more times, even with all the pain the knowledge of that place had inflicted on him, if he could stop his son from going, or sending anyone to that god-forsaken place.

  By the time he walked back into the house, all he wanted to do was lay down and rest his mind. But Nina was wearing out the carpet in their bedroom as she paced up and down, back and forth. “I just don’t know, Isaac. I’m trying to trust you, but you left my baby at an extended stay hotel in the hood.” She started biting her nails as she kept pacing the floor. “And why would they even let Ikee stay there? He’s not even sixteen yet.”

  “The boy is so tall and stocky that he looks about twenty-one. And the manager of that particular extended stay is a member of our church. He promised to look out for Ikee, and I trust that he will.”

  “I don’t believe you did this. I can’t even call to check on him because you took his cell phone.” She shook her head while putting a hand on her hip. “I’m so angry right now, I’m about ready to have you pack a bag and go stay down at that hotel with our son, since you think it’s so fine.”

  Lifting a hand he told her, “I did relent on the cell phone. I knew you’d feel better if you could contact your son, so I gave it back to him. Plus, we have tracking on his phone.”

  “That’s right.” Forgetting about her anger for a moment, Nina grabbed her laptop and logged into the Find My iPhone app. Once in she was able to pinpoint Ikee’s location.

  “See,” Isaac told her. “He’s right where I left him. And when he gets on the move, my contact at the hotel will notify me and you’ll be able to see where he’s at by using the app.”

  “What if he tries to go somewhere tonight? Are you going to have someone follow him?”

  Isaac sat down on the bed and pulled his wife onto his lap. “Stop worrying, Nina. Ikee’s not going anywhere tonight. He’s too shell shocked to even think about getting into trouble tonight, trust me on that.”

  Nina narrowed her eyes as she said, “Isaac Walker, what else did you do to my son?”

  “He’s my son too, Nina. And all I did was answer his question. He wanted to know why I left the dope business since I was like a kingpin. So, I told him all about my trip to hell.” Isaac held on to his stomach as he fell back onto the bed, laughing so hard that Nina fell off his lap. Although nothing was funny about the experience of going to hell, the look on Ikee’s face had been priceless.

  Nina picked herself off the floor. “I don’t see what’s so funny.”

  “Sorry for dropping you, honey.” Isaac stood up as he stopped laughing. “By the time I finished telling him about my experience, I could see how terrified he was. I guarantee you that boy isn’t going anywhere tonight. The knowledge that my brother had been a little younger than him when he died, but still opened his eyes in hell because of the life he chose to live, shook him up more than anything else. He’s probably lying in bed thinking real hard about that.”

  “But how’s he going to get to school? Should I pick him up from the hotel in the morning and drop him off?”

  Isaac wished he didn’t have to snap his wife into reality, but it would be better for everyone concerned if she faced facts now. He gently put a hand on his wife’s shoulder as he said, “Your son is a thug, Nina. Even if you take him to school, he’s just going to skip out or worse yet, sell all those private school kids some of the drugs he’s holding.”

  “You didn’t take those drugs away from him?” Nina’s eyes widened in horror.

  “For what? If Ikee wants this kingpin lifestyle that he thinks is so wonderful, he would have just gone out and purchased some more drugs… No, our son will have to get this taste out of his mouth on his own.”

  Nina shook her head. “Not on his own… with the help of God.” She took her husband’s hands in hers. “Let’s pray for our son.”

  Nodding, Isaac agreed. “Now, that we can do.”

  ~~~~

  The Lord God Almighty was seated on His throne. The twenty-four elders surrounded Him, also seated on thrones, and clothed in white radiant robes. They wore crowns of gold on their heads.

  Seven lamps of fire were burning and a sea of crystal lay at the Master’s feet. In the midst of the throne and around it, were four living creatures with eyes covering their entire bodies. The first living creature was like a lion, the second a calf, the third, a man, and the fourth, a flying eagle. Each of the creatures had six wings. They do not rest day or night, as their massive wings enabled them to soar high above the thrones. Generating cool winds throughout heaven, they bellow continuous alms to their King crying, “Holy, holy, holy. Lord, God Almighty. Who was and is and is to come!”

  The twenty-four elders fell down before Him and worshipped saying, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.” They threw their crowns before the throne in adoration.

  Then thunder and lightning sparkled from the throne of Grace. Michael’s glorious nine-foot form stood. His colorful wings glistened as they flapped in the air. “Yes, my Lord,” he said, as he took the scrolls from the Omnipotent hand that held them.

  Taking his marching orders, Michael left the throne room to confer with Aaron, the captain of the host. As he walked through the heavens, Michael couldn’t help but take in the beauty of it all. There were unnumbered mansions in the inner court, room enough for everyone. But, the beauty and splendor of heaven would only be enjoyed by the few that served God. As he passed by the room of tears, he glanced in and shook his head in wonderment. It still amazed him that God would find the tears of humans so precious that He would bottle and preserve them in such a bright white and glorious room.

  The tree of life stood bold and beautiful in the middle of the outer court. Its leaves were a heavenly green, and its fruit was succulent and e
njoyed by all. Sweet blissful music could be heard throughout the great expanse of heaven. It was the harp, but it was better than any harp on earth; it was the guitar, but it was better than any guitar on earth.

  There were thousands upon thousands of saints moving through the joys of heaven, clothed in glistening white robes, and bare feet. Many had crowns on their heads with various types of jewels embedded in them. Those jewels were earned because of the lives they helped bring to Christ while on earth.

  On the opposite side of the outer court stood a great multitude of warrior angels. Their appearance was that of beauty and majesty. They wore white radiant garments with gold edged trim that embellished the front of the garment. At their waists, hung a huge golden sword, and large white wings flapped from behind. The outer court was like a waiting room. The saints were waiting to be admitted into the inner court and some, the Holy of Holies. The warrior angels waited for their next assignments. Right now, a great commotion was going on amongst the angels. They were anxious, something big was about to happen, they just knew it. Some asked if Michael would greet them today. To this day, the angels in heaven remained in awe of the one angel that was able to meet Lucifer in battle and come out victorious every time. Even Gabriel had needed Michael’s help when Lucifer had attacked him. They all greatly admired their general and longed for a glimpse of him.

  Captain Aaron lifted a hand, silencing the angels. “Brothers, calm yourselves. Evil is running rampant on the earth, so our general is very busy putting out many fires. We do not know when he will call upon this host again, but we will be ready when he does.”

  The angels lifted their swords and shouted, “We will be ready!” Their job was to fight and to destroy the works of the enemy as God gave them leave to do so. This host of angels had won many battles and had aided numerous humans in bringing souls to the Lord. They were the humble elite… they got the job done.

  Which was the reason that Michael met with their captain and provided as many assignments as he could to their group. He was back today with a family they were familiar with. Michael smiled as he approached the group. “Did my ears hear the sound of angels ready to do battle?”