Jehoel

A Chapter by Shaan Ahmed

Anna finds herself in more trouble as she is approached by a man named Jehoel.

Chapter 2: Jehoel

“ Your laughter began to send chills through my spine, it seemed as if you had transformed into something... Different. And then you looked up, right into my eyes. My bones locked. I couldn’t move even if I wanted to. And in that singular moment it felt as if I was standing on a strand of hair because everything around me was shrouded in darkness and if I moved a single muscle I would plunge down into space. The world looked so still... I couldn’t hear a single thing... Nothing... but the sound of my beating heart that grew louder and louder each second until....”

Brendan’s voice trailed off. It seemed as if he was struggling, gasping for air. ‘Brendan... Are you okay?’ I asked looking confused, his hands flung into the air almost as if he were trying to grab something... Or someone, and just then, Pause.

Everything stopped. Not even the glass of water that had been knocked over during the struggle flowed. The clock had stopped ticking and even the air around me seemed to have come to a complete break, almost as if God had hit the pause button on his favorite game.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Nothing moved at all, everything had just completely frozen over except for myself. I stood up from where I was seated and started to observe everything around me. I was finally convinced it was all a dream, I mean how could any of this happen. Maybe it was coma, what else could it be? That’s it! It’s all in my head, I’m just dreaming. I began to smile completely convinced now then burst out into laughter for having believed in such a ridiculous reality, I laughed so hard that my saliva has began to pour down my lips and my lower body began to feel as if I had done a hundred sit ups. I held down my stomach and calmed down. Seeming to have run out laughing gas I began to think of a way to wake up. What better way than the classical American way? I pinched myself hoping to get some result. Nothing. I did it again, this time harder than last time. Nothing. Frustrated, I gave myself one last hard pinch that my hands started to bleed and then, suddenly, a beam of white light barred my vision. ‘This is it!” I thought, ‘ I’m starting to wake up!’. The white light beamed even brighter, my eyes started to burn almost as if it were about to reduce into nothing but dusty dark ashes.

When I opened my eyes, I hadn’t woken up. I was still there except there stood a man before me, he looked rather intimidating from a distance, dressed in a black sweater and a white scarf around him. The first thought that popped into my mind wasn’t the thought of who or what was this strange man but more of why he would be wearing a sweater in the middle of summer. He began to walk towards me as his face became clearer and the white glow he was bathed in began to disappear. He had light blue eyes and dark brown hair, he looked rather young, in his 20’s I presumed. ‘Anna Rivera?’ He said in a soothing voice, ‘You are to come with me’ he added. I was confused, how did he know my name and why did he want me to come with him? ‘Um mister’ I began to speak ‘I’m not even sure who you are and you want me to come with you?’ I asked chuckling. ‘Did you want to invite me to a tea party so we could become besties and I could invite you over?’ he asked sarcastically showing no emotion whatsoever. ‘This is just a dream...’ I told him, ‘If you’re so convinced it’s all just a dream what’s the harm of coming with me?’ he interrupted staring right into my eyes almost as if he was just going to carry me to wherever he wants to if I said no. I mean how did he even get in?

He was right, this is all just a dream so what’s the harm of exploring it a bit? ‘Okay.....Mister....? I dragged on waiting for him to respond

‘None of your business he replied turning away

‘Look I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what your name is, so you might as well give up’

‘Jehoel’ he finally said turning back to me

‘See? That wasn’t so hard was it?’

He began to walk up-to me and offered me his hands, ‘Oh I didn’t know you were the hand holding type Jehoel’ I joked. Not that he laughed or even smiled for that matter but I guess a little sense of humor calmed me down. I held his hand for what reason I didn’t even know at that point. ‘Close your eyes..’ he advised. As soon as I was about to raise a question as to why, my brain exploded, or so I thought.

It felt almost as if I had been hit by a truck, my head throbbed so hard that I could almost hear it, I thought it was about to about to burst open any second. After a few seconds of struggling and possibly being erased from existence I slowly began to open my eyes, but before I could see anything I felt the cool, brisky air brush up against my skin but unlike any wind it seemed different, unusual. It didn’t make me shiver but instead it made me feel whole and suddenly all the pain that had built up inside of me dissapeared, almost as if it healed me completely. I managed to open my eyes soon after that, and Jehoel stood next to me staring into blank space, ‘I told you to close your eyes’ he said with his eyes still busy fixated on nothing but thin air. ‘Well warn me next time bef...’ I began to say and that’s when I noticed the environment around me had completely changed. My legs were resting upon a beautiful garden filled with the most exotic flowers that the human race were yet to discover, the grass that my feet touched looked so beautiful than standing on them made me feel like a traitor to our own mother nature, and the best part was that it was interminable. The garden reached for miles and miles past even the reach of my eyes. ‘This place... It’s so heavenly’ I said fascinated. The trees were completely out of this world and I couldn’t even recognize the fruits it bore. ‘Where are we....’ I asked Jehoel still surprised to see such an amazing sight. ‘Welcome to heavenly heaven’ he exclaimed turning to me after taking a break from his intense staring into God knows what. ‘Heaven?’ I asked giggling to myself and the whole fact that this was all a dream rushed into my head, ‘yeah sure mister, we’re in heaven’ I added, ‘You can believe this is a dream, you can believe it’s all a lie because at the end of the day you aren’t going to wake up’ he said beginning to pick on the grass below us, ‘I can assure you this is no dream, this is your own personal nightmare, and I’m your guide’ he added.

After picking on the grass he pulled some out as it reduced to ashes. ‘There’s something wrong...’ he said with his breath growing louder each second, ‘He’s onto us,we need to find a safer place’. He grabbed my hand without warning and I died for a second again. We had zapped to another place. Even though my head still felt like it was about to crack open it felt better than last time almost as if I’m already getting used to it. We were in a living room this time, most probably a mansion, the stunningly shiny golden wall was beautifully decorated with art painted by the most famous of artists that of which some I was familiar with. ‘WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT!! I TOLD YOU TO WARN ME’ I screamed grabbing his collar, I tried to push him, I was pushed back by my own force as I fell on the floor and he stood there like a steady rock. Even though he never showed he was probably laughing on the inside. ‘I didn’t have enough time to let you get cozy, I’m sorry’ he said still being an emotionless dick.

I picked myself up off the floor as Jehoel just stood there patiently. I couldn’t quite salvage the situation anymore, I was completely confused whether it was reality but I decided not to question it and be reckless, ‘better safe than sorry’ I thought to myself as I saw Jehoel had suddenly started to walk back and forth, preoccupied with pacing around the room possibly thinking of what had just happened. ‘You said that he was onto us, who?’ I began to ask as he motioned his hand and went ‘shh shh, I’m trying to think here’. ‘Don’t shush me!’ I shot back furiously, I was pushed to my limit, I mean if this was all reality I was with a complete stranger on a supposed heaven with no way of escaping. ‘I want to go home’. The words just rattled out my mouth without a second thought, I had already begun to miss Brendan, for some reason spending these few minutes with this complete dick had already made me homesick.

Hours went by as I watched Jehoel breaking his head for I had no idea what. I had no clue how to measure time in this place as it would suddenly gain and lose light whenever it wanted to, almost as if an eclipse would dawn upon us almost every hour. Jehoel had left the house to the courtyard just outside. He sat around a bonfire poking a stick at it and sighing every few seconds. I sat down right beside him and stared at his face, he looked quite good which was probably the only thing stopping me from jabbing his face right now, he looked back at me for a moment then went back to staring at the bonfire, ‘what?’ he asked still poking the stick into the fire that never seemed to dull. ‘I have no idea why you’re trying so hard to be a dick’ I said, and at the moment he flashed a dazzling smile which I thought just a few moments before was impossible. ‘If this is heaven you must be an...’ I began to say as he interrupted ‘An angel’. ‘Look Jehoel I need to get back to earth, I need to see Brendan!’ I began to say as he raised his eyebrows and blinked dissaprovingly. ‘I can’t let you do that Anna’ he said looking at me sternly. I felt the rage building up inside me as my frustration had begun to cross the limit ‘WHY NOT’ I asked, screaming.

Jehoel gave one last final sigh looking right into my eyes he said: ‘Brendan... He’s not who you think he is anymore....’

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