THE SIXTH GUEST: Chapter Six - Part Seven

For the length of time it took them to make their way down the hallway to the lounge door, the darkness and near-despair of the evening fell back and they were Selina and Travis again: cocky, bolshy, in control; a cut above all the other bastards. This situation that Clare had come up with was so absurd it had to be a practical joke but Travis had managed to set aside the malaise that had come down on him since the events in town and Selina was along for the ride as she always was.

“Come on then God!” he bellowed. “Let’s take a look at ya!”

He kicked back the door to the lounge and led them in, Selina beside him and Joey in back. Clare and Mike were somewhere behind in the kitchen. The three of them stopped in a line inside. The man Selina had described was standing there in the bay window, arms behind his back, regarding them calmly. He made no significant reaction to their entrance. Henry was on the armchair inside the door to the right. He was completely still, head to the side, eyes closed; sleeping. Clare had made no mention of his presence and it startled Selina.

“So you’re God,” said Travis. “I have to say it’s a pleasure to meet you. I never thought I’d get the chance. I thought I was well on my way to meeting the devil instead!” He laughed. “And he’s not bad looking, eh Selina? I thought God was meant to be an old man with a white beard. This guy looks like he’s my age.”

It was true, and he was good looking, but aloof; too snooty by far for her.

“Not talking?” asked Travis. “I would have thought you’d be updating us on the next ten commandments by now; or telling us to repent before it’s too late. Isn’t that what you do?”

The man said nothing.

“Or is this one of your mysterious ways?” said Travis. “We’re supposed to guess what you want, is that right?”

No answer.

“Or maybe we should be praying on our knees to you. Begging forgiveness for what we’ve done. Is that what you’re expecting?” The man gave no response. Travis chuckled. “Because I ain’t done nothing wrong if that’s what you think.”

“You raped your girlfriend,” said the man. “Do you not classify that as wrong?”

The wind went completely from Travis’s sails. “The fuck you say?” he stammered.

The man looked directly into Selina’s eyes. “She fantasises about it. She wants you to do it again.”

Travis looked at her, his mouth hanging open like a spas. Then his brow furrowed and he glared back at the intruder. “Who the fuck are you? For real?”

“I am your God.”

“No, fuck that shit! How did you know about that? Who are you really?”

“You were there for my arrival. Did you not recognise that your God had come?”

Selina tried to make eye contact with Travis but he was staring at the man, obviously fluctuating between anger and shock. She was getting an awful feeling, maybe the worst feeling she’d ever felt: one so real, physically, that it made her queasy and cold. It made her want to run from there. But Travis had to come with her and he wouldn’t. She knew he wouldn’t. He would never walk away from this.

“Your... arrival?”

“You were in the woods. You were speaking. The lightning came and the thunder. And the fire. And I arrived. You witnessed this. You know then who I am.”

Selina gaped in horror at the being before her, picturing again the lightning; the flames; the burning bodies; their friend Eddie torn apart but still screaming, his cauterised wounds sizzling audibly. “You... You did that?”

“I did.”

“At the church,” said Travis. “You reckon that was you? What, was it a bomb, or...”

“Travis...” said Selina, wrapping the fingers from both hands round his forearm. She remembered the burning footprints leading away into the undergrowth.

“She recognises the truth,” said the man. “Why don’t you?”

Joey had backed up to the wall, tight in beside Henry’s armchair, a rabbit in the headlights.

“You caused that?” said Travis. “You caused that explosion?”

“When I landed. When I took shape.”

“You killed Eddie?” said Selina.

The man gazed blandly into her face. “He had murder in his heart for you. He would have killed you both had I not come. I chose that place to manifest so I could prevent this.”

“Are you saying... This is bullshit! Are you saying that you did that on purpose? You caused the fire and the explosion to— You... What the fuck are you saying?”

“That the fire and the lightning would have accompanied my arrival wherever I landed. I chose that place because I saw the anger in your friend’s heart. I knew that he meant to murder you.”

“You killed all those people. You killed dozens and dozens of our friends!”

“This did not concern me. Only your survival concerned me.”

“But all the others died too. They died screaming!”

“Irrelevant. All humans die. They were incidental. My purpose was threefold and these things I accomplished: to maintain your life, to manifest myself in this form...” He paused. “And I wished to walk through this town; to see it with physical eyes.”

“But they were my friends!”

 “As I told you,” said the man. “All humans die; but I had further need of you.”

“I don’t give a shit what need you have!” roared Travis. “And I don’t know who you really are! But you had better fucking get ready for a beat down because you are going to—”

“Wait!” said Clare, stepping in from out of view and grabbing his arm. “Travis hold on. Just calm down for a second.”

“Get off me!” he snapped his arm free.

“No. Listen. Just wait. Wait for a minute. Please.” She fixed him in her glare, not giving a fraction of an inch. “Just calm down.”

“No, fuck that! Someone has to do something about this bastard! He can’t come in here and start spouting all this crap!”

“You wept,” said the man. They all turned back to look at him but he was looking only at Travis. “Your mother had her suitcase with her. She was going to leave. You were eleven years old. Your father was unconscious on the kitchen floor because of the drink. You were on your knees, begging her to stay. A little boy on his knees, crying and begging his mother to stay with him. But she didn’t stay. She closed the door behind her and you wept. You wept until you couldn’t stay awake anymore.”

A total silence fell across the room. Finally Travis raised his head, looked at the intruder and said, “Who the fuck are you... really?”

“I told you,” said the man. “I am your God.”