When the apple fell at my feet, I was a little lost for words. I was in the very center of town square, with no trees and no clouds to disguise a bird or even a person. But I had watched it, fall straight from the moonlit sky as if God dropped it himself. I reached down to grab it, but the very moment before my fingertips touched its smooth, shining red skin Mother Lee screamed for me to stop. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Mother Lee ran in her long black dress, her eyes wild and bloodshot. She nearly shoved me to the ground and knelt beside the fallen apple. She studied it for the longest time while everybody in the town watched unquestioningly. Finally, she scooped it up with nimble hands and looked me straight in the eye. “Come with me,” she said, and her hand gripped my arm so hard I almost cried out. “Come now.” This is how it starts. This place, right here in the middle of town square, is where it will end. Mother Lee kept me hard in her clutches and dragged me to the church. She had tucked the apple carefully into her dress pocket. She swung open the door- and through my tears of pain from her grip on my arm I noticed that there was a strange sign written in thick black ink on the door. I could just make it out from the dim light on the porch. I wondered vaguely if the mark was new, since I had lived in this town and gone to this church my entire life. “Sit,” Mother Lee instructed harshly, swinging me towards the pews. I nearly sighed aloud with relief as she released me. I could already see the bruising on my forearm. I threw myself on the blue pews and Mother Lee looked at me reproachfully, but she didn’t reprimand me. Perhaps she thought that she had done enough by dragging me to the church like a mad woman because I had found an apple. Mother Lee whistled-it wasn’t loud and really only sounded as if she were breathing out weirdly, but apparently it had a purpose. The other Elder church women emerged from doors and even from outside as if they were in some sort of trance, their eyes wide and somewhere between curious and crazed. I felt a shiver run up my spine and avoided the women’s glances. They all settled on the pews before Mother Lee, staring at her expectantly. Mother Lee’s face was grave. “There has been a Sign,” she said, her voice barely keeping steady. She spoke sign with significance, like it was something unimaginably important. A collective gasp shook the other twelve-I had counted-Elder women. “What is it?” a familiar looking woman asked in a shaky whisper. Mother Tatum, Mother Tatum, that was her name. Slowly, Mother Lee pulled the apple from her dress. She held it out at her fingertips for everyone to see. “It fell from the sky. As if the Lord had dropped it from his own hand,” I saw her eyes well with tears. Then, her neck snapped towards me startlingly. “And that girl was who it fell before.” All of the eyes fell on me. I flushed and shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “But what does it mean, Sister?” Mother Tatum asked, her gray hair straying in front of her face. Mother Lee sighed and the smallest, tightest of smiles came across her face. “You know what it means, Sister Tatum. It means that it is time.”
Comments
Thank you! Yeah, I wrote this
Thank you! Yeah, I wrote this in about ten minutes or so, so it's extremely unfinished. I'll certainly be going back over and editing/extending later!
"You were not meant to fit into a shallow box built by someone else." -J. Raymond
LOL!
Very cute!
I love how everyone is acting as if its a really big and dramatic thing! I willl be waiting at the edge of my chair for more!
Well done!
Write on!
"Here's looking at you, Kid"
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Write On!
Interesting...
I'm looking forward to see what you'll end up doing with this apple from heaven!
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"The idea that we should approach science without a philosophy is itself a philosophy... and a bad one, because it is self-refuting." -- Dr. Jason Lisle
Time for what? Oh, come
Time for what? Oh, come on! Time for what?! It's like saying, "Silence will fall when the question is asked." "What question?" "The oldest question in the universe." "But what's the question?!" "...I dunno."
I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right. --The Book Thief
Hehe, I posted this exactly a
Hehe, I posted this exactly a year ago today. I don't know why that's funny, but it is. :P
"You were not meant to fit into a shallow box built by someone else." -J. Raymond
Review
Very interesting. It needs more work from the techinical standpoint, but it's still amazingly attractive.
Formerly Kestrel