A Chat with GOD

As I stand there mesmerized by Autumn's sheer beauty, Kat, Ernesto's wife, walks out of the church. 

"Hey, Nesto, I've been calling you, pick up your phone, service is about to start and you need to get on the dru--" Kat suddenly stops mid-sentence as her eyes wander towards me. "Oh my God, Aspen! What happened to you? Are you alright?" She asks as she starts walking towards us, Autumn quietly following behind her.

"Hey Kat," I reach out to hug her but she stops me and starts inspecting my forehead. "Yes, I'm alright, just a minor incident I had this morning. I stopped by the ER, doctor said everything would be alright. Gave me some Tylenol and Advil and sent me on my merry way."

"Jesus, how did that happen?" Kat asks.

"I'll explain it after the service," I say. I then turn to Autumn and my composure starts to waver. "Uh Autumn, uh, hi, uh, how are you?"

She smiles shyly, looks down, and pushes one of her hair strands behind her ear. "I've been doing fine, thanks for asking. How about you…" she trails off as she looks up and our eyes meet. God, she's just perfect.

I quickly look up to the sky and then back down at her and point at my forehead, "Seen better days," I say jokingly which gets a chuckle out of her. "Um, you look beautiful, by the way, I really like the, uh, dress," I added awkwardly.

"Thanks. We appear to be matching too," she says as she smiles softly and points at her hair ribbon.

"Right minds think alike, I guess," I say with a slight chuckle.

"That they do," she replies her smile growing a bit wider as the morning sun hits her face perfectly making her beautiful brown eyes appear golden and just making her look divine.

We hadn't noticed but Ernesto and Kat had already made their way to the church and were at the door, "Hey lovebirds, service is about to start, get your butts in here." Ernesto calls out with a smile on his face.

"We should probably-" I start only for Autumn to say "Yeah."

We made our way inside and I asked Autumn if she could find us some seats while I go around saying hi to the other members of the church I knew. I got the same questions over and over from everyone, "What happened? Are you alright? How did it happen?" I answered them all as vaguely and briefly as possible.

Service started and we went straight to worshiping God. During the worship I just felt at peace the entire time, I kept on sneaking glances at Autumn who was standing next to me worshiping as well with her eyes closed. And then in the middle of the worship, I felt the world go quiet. I opened my eyes and looked around, noticing that everyone was still singing, the instruments were still being played, but no sound could reach my ears. I then felt an overwhelming pressure on me, like I was worthless, meaningless, a speck of dust ruining the shine of a diamond castle.

And then I felt peace, peace like I had never felt followed by a warmth in my heart and head that made me feel like I was burning alive. I found myself on my knees not knowing what had happened and tears just rolling out of my eyes. I realized that something I had been wishing to happen to me for years was finally happening. 

"Father, God, is this your presence? Your love that I'm feeling?" I questioned as I looked around me only to realize I was no longer at church, but in a void with many shining dots as far as the eye could see. I could only imagine them to be stars. And then I heard a voice, sweet like honey, rough like concrete, loving and at the same time wrathful.

"My son," the voice says, followed by 4 beautiful voices that sang out "Holy Holy Holy."

"You are my beloved son, you don't know just how much it breaks my heart to see you away from my presence," The voice says.

I look up and see the figure of a man made of blinding light surrounded by 4 other figures behind Him which I can only assume to be angels. I try to speak but sound refuses to leave my mouth.

"There's no need to speak, I know your heart, I know every single one of your thoughts before you think them and every single word you will say before it leaves your mouth."

I stand there, in pure awe, wonder, and feeling unworthy.

"I know that you truly love me and wish to devote yourself to me, but you just don't know how to leave your old life behind and find it impossible to follow my path."

"But I know your heart and feel your yearning for me. It's burning just like your desire for my precious daughter, Autumn."

When he mentions Autumn I feel weightless. What does my attraction to her have to do with this?

"A lot, my child, a lot. Way more than you could ever imagine." God pauses for a second and then motions his hands outward. "All of this you see and what you don't see was created by me. The stars, the earth, animals, insects, the air you breathe, humanity itself."

"And of all these things I made," He pauses for a second before continuing, "Humanity has been amongst my most precious creation."

He then points his finger towards me and says, "You…" I then see a projection of Autumn appear to my left, as beautiful as ever, "and Autumn are the last creations I ever made with my very own hands."

'Like Adam and Eve,' I think.

"Precisely. That is why you have to be a man worthy of her because she already is a woman worthy of many things, she is my daughter after all, and has already dedicated herself to me and walks the path I have carved for her."

I stand there, thinking to myself 'But what about me? How can I become a man worthy of her?'

"In due time you will. You may not understand right now but I have great plans for you, my child. Much greater than you can ever imagine."

"Those dreams, visions, nightmares you've been having recently aren't just that."

What does He mean by that?

"They aren't just mere creations of your imaginations…..They are memories… Your memories…"

What does He mean by that? How can they be my memories? I've never left the western hemisphere let alone seen a mech in anything other than anime.

"It's not time yet, but you'll understand soon enough… Enjoy today to its fullest, your time with Autumn as much as possible, because come 12:00 am, you will undergo trials you never imagined. And if you are able to overcome them and do what I will task you with doing, you will live a life full of success, much more than you currently have, and love in health with Autumn and your children."

'Wait Lord, what do you mean by that?' I find my mind racing, my thoughts scrambling trying to piece together what God has just told me.

"You'll understand soon enough…"

'Wait Father what do you mean by that?' I scream in my head. I then feel everything start to swirl around me and then *poof* I find myself back at church, still on my knees with tears rolling uncontrollably from my eyes. I notice a white cloth covering me from the back and a small hand rubbing against my back. I look around, tears blurring my vision, and can barely make out that I'm surrounded by a handful of people.

Someone passes me a cloth and I wipe my tears which had rolled down my cheeks but somehow not onto my clothes.

"Hey Aspen, man are you alright?" I hear Ernesto ask me.

"Yeah… I'm- I'm fine…" I find myself saying, my voice sounding rough and much more mature. Almost older.

"You've been on your knees sobbing since we were worshipping young man," another voice I recognize said.

"Pastor Cristian," I stand up and shake his hand. "And what do you mean, aren't we still worshi…" my voice trails off as look around and notice the church is completely empty. "Where did everyone go?"

"It's 2:26, service ended an hour and a half ago," a soft voice accompanied by a continued rubbing of my back replies behind me. 

I turn around to face the voice, "Autumn," I say as I hug her for a while. I stand there in silence hugging her and then I feel her skinny arms wrap around me and reciprocate the hug. We stand there for about a minute in silence before I finally break the hug. I look around at the Pastor, my friends Ernesto, Kat, and Autumn, and the pastor's wife, Margarita.

"I had an encounter with God," I say. I can see their eyes widen and the pastor smiles.

"Want to talk about it?" He asks.

"Yes. It was so overwhelming, I didn't even feel that time pass. It was like I was somewhere else entirely. I spoke to Him, no, I couldn't even make a peep, He spoke to me and I just thought things which He responded to. There were angels behind Him singing 'Holy Holy Holy,' it was just, God, I don't know how to describe it--"

"Peaceful? You felt weightless and unworthy?" Autumn added to what I was saying, putting down the words I was looking for.

"Yes-- how do you know?" I ask.

"I went through something similar when I finally came to God, or better said, when he dragged me out of where I was." She says and I notice her stare off into the void, a smile on her face.

"Well, it seems like God has touched you deeply. He definitely has a great purpose for you in his plans." Pastor Cristian tells me. "Well it's about time we all leave, I have to close up the church and I also want to get home."

"Yeah, let's go," said Ernesto.

We all made our way out and into the parking lot. 

"So, where do you want to go?" I ask Autumn as we walk towards my Durango.

"I don't know, how about you surprise me?" she responds. I smile and go to open the passenger door for her to get in.

"Hey, wait up, you still have to tell us what happened to your head," I hear Ernesto call from behind us. We stopped and turned around, Kat was standing right next to him.

"Alright. I'll just give you a brief rundown," I say.

"Well, get on with it, what happened to you? How did you hurt your head?" Kat impatiently asks while smiling.

"Well, these past few days I've been having some very, very, very vivid dreams, well nightmares." I stop for dramatic effects, "and well, this morning while I was brushing my teeth I saw something from that dream in the mirror, that scared the hell out of me. I reached out to touch it and I got a splitting headache."

"I then felt my legs go weak and I reached for the sink to try and stabilize myself so I don't come crashing down to the floor, right?" I pause for a few seconds and replicate the action of me reaching for the sink. "But since it was wet, my hand just slipped on it and forward I went. By the time I got to the ER the cut I got had coagulated, the doctor told me it'll likely leave a scar, gave me a gauze pad so it wouldn't get infected, gave me some pills and I was on my way here."

"Then when I was about 5 minutes or so from here, after taking the exit from the highway, I got pulled over by the cops because I was speeding. Then a drive-by happened right in front of us, the cop let me go and followed. I don't know if this morning has been lucky or unlucky, but it for sure has been eventful."

"Wow, it's like something out of a movie," Ernesto said.

"Tell me about it," I say.

"Well then, drive safe," Ernesto said as we gave each other a handshake turned hug, and then hugged Kat goodbye. I then went around my SUV and opened the passenger door for Autumn.

"Thank you," she said as she hopped in. I close the door for her and then walk around and get in the driver's seat.

"Well, where to now?" I ask.

"I don't know, how about we go to eat some lunch and then go for a walk around Central Park or something?" Autumn suggests.

"Sounds like a plan," I say as I start my Durango and wait for a minute before driving off to a restaurant I have in mind.

Word Count: 2181 Shortie🙂