E-Quest

Chapter One

Emily was sitting at his computer again talking to God. This was a common occurrence over the last several years. Emily talked to God at any site he thought God might frequent. Today, God answered.

"Emily?"

"God? That you?"

"I'm sending you a link to a url. Go there. There you will find a family of souls trapped in a pond. Let them out."

"Just one quick question on the meaning of a couple things..."

"OUT!"

****.

Emily opened the link. He found himself standing at the edge of a small pond. Inside the pond he could see feet and hands and hair of several people. He felt sick in his stomach. To gather his bearings he looked left and saw beautiful mountains. To his right, across the pond, was a bubbling spring. He could feel the seismic activity of the tectonic plates underneath. He thought for a moment. He walked forward a step or two. He looked at the mountains, the pond, and the spring. They were all in a straight line.

Emily felt a sense of understanding. He turned to his left and took two paces. There he found what he expected. It was a small round hole just big enough for a man to climb into. It was shaped like a washtub. He took two steps backwards and began to jump up and down. He didn't know why he was doing this. He just felt it was right.

The Earth began to stir. There were quakes. Emily kept to his disciplined rhythm. His feet hit the Earth and he was projected through time and space back to his seat behind the monitor.

"God's friggin' weird." He said.


Chapter 2

Emily avoided the computer the following day. Then he heard the familiar prang of the yahoo IM box. He sat down to answer. It was another link from God.

"Try again."

"I have no idea what to do. What's the point?"

"Now."

He clicked on the link and found himself once again on a hill, overlooking a pond. Beyond the pond are cat-o-nine tails. He remembers the rest. Beyond the cat-o-nine tails is a spring. Behind him, the mountains. What to do.

He sits cross-legged. He reaches down and pats the ground with his hand. It is hollow. This may be important. He begins to bang on it like it was sheetrock and he was looking for a stud. Nothing but dead sounding thuds. He sat and drummed his fingers on the ground. They made a most full and amazing noise. He began beating the ground like a bongo. The sound was exquisite.

As he played, he could hear other rhythms that were playing against his. They came from everywhere, the pond, the spring, the mountains... everywhere. Without warning the ground shook and pond water drenched Emily completely. He opened his eyes to find himself in his room sitting at his computer, covered in stale water. He ran to the shower thinking he didn't necessarily succeed at anything, but he had fun.


Chapter 3

The entire workday went by like a splitting headache, though Emily felt no such pain. He just felt every heartbeat with a seeming immeasurable length in between. He bided his time waiting to go home and be transported again. He nearly ran over two skateboarders on his hurried drive home. At least they were skateboarders, no great loss.

He turned on his computer to see these words in big black type:

*BE MORE CAREFUL WITH MY CREATIONS, ASSHOLE!*

He didn't even type anything or look at the screen. He just hit enter and closed his eyes.

Once again he was on the clearing by the pond. This time, he wasn't afraid of the water anymore. He went to the edge, and after gazing into it for a few minutes, he finally waded in. Towards the middle of the pond he could again see the mass of body parts. He kept walking. The pond was not deep. The water was not cold. Emily reached his hand out and grabbed what looked like a child's hand. He pulled the child away from the mass. As he did so many, many faces turned to look at him. They seemed to assess him for a minute, then they all closed in on the child and pulled her back to the center. At first he was going to go with her, then he chickened out. The child looked after him as she was once again engulfed. It was not a reproachful look. It was a matter of fact, "I belong here", look.

Emily buried his face in his hands and began to cry. Before this, he never concerned himself with any interest in the mass of souls. Now she smote him. He had a reason to follow God's orders and save the souls. God would be happy with him. He looked at his monitor expecting to see some words of encouragement. All he saw was:

Smooth, real smooth.


Chapter 4

The alarm clock had not even rung. Emily lay in bed wide-awake. What am I supposed to do? He threw off the covers, put his foot on the floor and found himself standing once again on the familiar plain next to the pond in his pajamas. He raised his arms. He thought to himself, "OK, God. Tell me what you want me to do. I'm listening."

At that, his legs gave a mighty jump. He went up into the air seemingly twenty feet. He looked below and spotted the small hole he had seen on a previous visit. He drew his knees up and cannonballed for the hole.

In another part of the world a woman sat bolt upright in bed, a feeling of being kicked resonating in her stomach. It was like something magical had just crawled into her through her navel. She got up, got a glass of water, and began having visions and impressions in wave after wave. She felt vertigo and had to lie down. She felt nauseous. Something inside her was different. She concentrated on not being afraid and drifted off to sleep.


Chapter 5

Emily awoke in his bed, with the covers wrapped so tightly that he couldn't breathe. He fumbled with them for a few moments, and then forcefully shoved them off of him. He ran across the room to his computer and stared at the monitor. He went to site after site looking for God's words. None came. He looked for any sign of his quest on any of the sites he visited. There were none. Did he dream it all? After an exhausting search, he realized what he had to do. He went back to bed. The answer was there.