Xander’s eyelids were so
heavy that he could hardly bear to open them.
“Xander,” the voice said
again.
After several tries, he
forced his eyes open, blinked a few times, and then waited for his eyes to get
used to the light in the room. How could it be morning already? The smell of
rain invaded his nostrils as his eyes came into focus. He sprang up, hitting
his head on his headboard.
The strange man that he
had twice encountered was sitting on his dresser!
“Do not be afraid,” the man
calmly advised.
“Get out!” Xander bellowed,
reaching for the baseball bat he kept under his bed.
“Are you looking for
this?” the strange man asked, holding up a bat.
Xander looked up at him
and then at his bat, and the man read his mind and knew that Xander was
thinking of what to do next.
"You have no need to
fear; I will not harm you, but there are those that move about that will
try."
Xander ran for the door,
only the door shut before he could reach it. As he grasped the handle, he could
not open it and swore in frustration, turning to see the man still sitting on
his dresser, as if he was waiting for something.
Xander hurried across the
room and grabbed the heavy lamp that stood on his night stand, only to find
that it was stuck in its place as well.
“Who are you?” Xander
asked finally—not prepared to ask instead, ‘what
are you?’
“Sit down,” the stranger
ordered. When Xander did not move to sit, the stranger repeated himself—his
voice commanding this time. “Sit down!”
Xander sat down on his
bed, slowly. “Did you…do something to my parents?”
"Your parents are
unharmed. Please be calm; I must speak to you."
"Oh yeah—I know—I'm
called right?" he spat derisively. "Well, something tells me that
whatever you've called me for is not for me, so unless you have a fat college
scholarship that’s farther away than the other side of the planet, then I don't
want any part of it! So you can just cross me off of your list and call someone
else for the job, all right!”
“I’m afraid it’s not that
simple.”
“I don’t care how simple
it is or isn’t—you can exit the way you came!"
When the man did not move,
Xander tried again, “I said…”
“Silence!” the stranger raged.
Xander’s body suddenly
went rigid as though it had been turned to stone, causing him to fall back onto
his bed in a statue-like manner. His eyes and his mind were the only things he
had any control of.
The man hopped down from
the dresser and walked over to where Xander was lying. He put one foot up onto
the bed beside him, and leaned down to stare Xander intensely in the eye.
"I have no patience for your foolishness, human! You have had every chance
to receive His word, yet you still reject Him! Choosing instead to go your own
selfish way and walk in your weak and irrational flesh! Wake up! He has loved
you your entire, ungrateful life! With every luxury at your whim that you
unwisely think are treasures! Open your eyes and see! Open your ears and hear!
You are lucky it is not up to me, or I would take this cup from you—for you do
not deserve it!"
Xander looked up at the
wild-eyed stranger, fearful in a way that he’d never felt in his life, and he
was suddenly grateful he was not in control of his bowels at that moment.
The stranger backed away,
finally, and turned and walked across the room, standing with his back to Xander.
He spoke calmly again. “My name is Griff. I am sent to guide and guard you.
Your kind would call me a guardian angel. You are called, however, you may refuse the call if that is your wish.”
The stranger turned to
look at Xander again. “I hear your thoughts, cold human. You will not be
permitted to make your choice until you have heard the truth. If, after you have heard the truth, your
choice is to refuse the call, you will be placed back onto the path which you
previously chose for yourself. If, however, you accept the call, then you will
walk His path from now on.”
Xander’s thoughts ran
wild.
“One last thing for now:
For the truth, find Greer McLean. Then be silent and listen.” He looked at
Xander fixedly. “If you do not—I’ll come back and we can do this again.”
Xander could only blink.
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