Sailing aboard the Pneuma (Part Seven II)

I awoke to the sound of trundling trolley wheels and the clatter of plates and cutlery. Evidently, it was breakfast time. There was much chatter and the clinking of china. The entire ward was abuzz. Predictably, Shekinah was in the epicentre of the activities. He was serving food, giving hugs and high-fives, all the while conducting a conversation with the tall woman who had appeared the night before.

Suddenly, I became self-consciously aware that I was still in bed. As I got up to spare myself being thought lazy the waterfall voice laughed across the room, “See, I told you there was such a thing as resurrection”. Laughter rippled around the room and even the tall woman was smiling in my direction. Finally she spoke, saving me further embarrassment, “Go out the door, and turn left, and then go through the second door on the right”.

Once safely in the bathroom I could consider the events of the past twenty-four hours. That place was in the thick fog that I had seen on the horizon. I deduced. For the first time since waking, I looked for a window to spy out the day. To my dismay, the foggy darkness of the night before was still very much in evidence. Had I woken so early that the sun was yet to rise? I bathed and the rest then made my way towards the ward.

Shekinah intercepted me in the corridor. “It is time for us to be on our way. Go and say your goodbyes. I’ll be waiting outside.” I could not work out if our sudden departure was a sign good things or not. He did not seem to be troubled; in fact, His demeanour was very matter of fact. I walked into the ward and the faces of the patients and their turned towards me. “I have to say goodbye, I would really have liked to have got to know you all better. Farewell friends.”

A small voice reached out from the bed furthest from me, “Thank you for sleeping here with us, it was good that you felt comfortable here. Can we pray for you before you go?” “Of course.” I responded, somewhat shamefully, as I had not proposed the idea myself. Suddenly the beds emptied and the patients of various ages and conditions gathered around me. Many hands reached out followed by the offered prayer. I did not understand the language but the tone of the voices was joyful, hopeful, and even confident.

Once outside, I found my companion sitting on a low wall dividing the hospital property from the road. Above him was a rather dim streetlight. As he sat there, he could have been anybody. He was looking down the street towards the docks and his long hair was gently moving in the wind. “Are you done?” he asked without looking in my direction. “Ok, now for one final task before we ...” He did not finish the sentence.

He rose from the wall as if propelled by an unseen force and was three or four paces ahead before I took a step. His brisk strides took him away from the docks; I followed wondering what the hurry was. We walked up the road for two blocks then took two right turns and arrived at a property that was surely directly behind the hospital. Questions arose in my mind, but I felt that was no time for questions.

The street was dark, no lights whatsoever. The vague outline of a squat building brooding in the inky night appeared. For the first time on this adventure, I felt real fear arising within. My stomach knotted and my mouth dried. Shekinah approached the front door with a determined gait. I felt that waiting for him outside was not an option. As I got next to my companion, he looked me in the eye, smiled, and said, “Well done, this we will now do together”. The idea that I was to be directly involved in whatever lay inside did not fill me with anything approaching confidence.

The door swung open as if responding to our presence. The air within was stale and heavy with menace.

The interior was very old but not lived in by anything human. A whiney wind blew around the empty foyer and down the corridors that went left and right. A scurrying noise, like that made by rodents, was discernable among the shadows. Shekinah stood motionless in the centre of the floor. I hovered, none too bravely, by the still open door. He gestured for me to come to his side. I moved reluctantly to him and had to suppress the desire to grasp his hand. The door, as if freed from my presence, closed with a creak and a thump.

We stood in that heavy silence with just the whine of an unearthly wind and that wretched scurrying sound.

I wanted to speak, I even opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I looked at Shekinah, he had a determined look, and his jaw seemed set like stone. Even in that musty darkness, his eyes shone as if subtly lit from within.

A sound of movement came from the left hand corridor. It was a darker shadow than those among which it moved. It had life, it moved independently of anything else. It moved with purpose, yet it had no visually discernable shape. Shekinah’s frame tensed, mine wilted. I am sure he shifted his feet as if to brace himself against some onslaught. My heart accelerated and thundered like the great steam trains as they rocketed through the countryside.

The darkness rushed at us like a lion upon helpless prey. Its gale force breath threatened to blow us over, its deathly stench to asphyxiate us. Shekinah spoke, “Stop”. He did not shout his voice was as it always was - royal, rich, rushing water. Our adversary halted, the wind died instantaneously. What appeared to be its face, I say this only because there were three holes like eyes and a mouth, stared down at us, swaying like a snake charmer’s cobra. The atmosphere hummed with restrained power.

“Your time here is over. The people have called upon Him who is beyond the seas, He has answered, and I am His decree. Now go, you are on private property, you are a trespasser, and your presence is unlawful, go!”

From the shadow came a scream, such as I never wish to hear again. It was a fusion of fear and fury. The building shook as one dislodged from its very foundations and light invaded the foyer. Bright, pure light. It was all too much, I sprinted for the door, which opened, again, of its own accord and bolted for the outside. The brown black mist lifted away from the ground in spiralling columns. The house seemed to empty itself of darkness as the shrieks of torment continued.

Then silence and bright, reassuring light flooded the street and then the entire town.

Shekinah appeared in the doorway. He brushed himself off as if to free himself of the dust of combat. He ran his hands through his hair and sat down on a small bench just to the right of the door. He took a deep breath, looked up at me, and said nonchalantly, “Shall we get some breakfast?”