The Last Handful of Clover - Book 3: The Stone in the Stream

3.60 The Last Stars

June 17 - 18

In the end, there were very few ghosts who did not cross over when their passageways appeared.

When Richard peered into the yellow haze of the Hereafter, he saw that only a handful of stars remained, and with the corrupting presence of the Wanderer now gone, all the stars were now turquoise. The end of the world as they knew it was a great equalizer in the land of the dead. And now all souls, blessed or damned, longed for the same peace.

Even though Richard was able to locate the lost and lonely ghosts that remained, it was Billy that led them from one to another. It was Billy who felt driven to help those who remained to find their way, and Richard was in awe of the boy's compassion.

Their first stop was the abandoned baby that had so disturbed Richard when Billy showed it to him on the floor of the hospital. The crying child was still there, and still in the same room as its passageway. Billy and Richard found that together, they could now pick up the wailing child. The demise of the Wanderer had granted all ghosts the Third Gift. Gently and carefully, the two ghosts bent down and picked up the child, which instantly quieted as they drew near to the shimmering pool in the otherwise empty hospital room. As if they were tossing a log into a fire, Billy and Richard gently tossed the baby into the golden circle, which hungrily swallowed the child, before winking out of existence.

Richard turned his gaze inward and saw that one more star had disappeared from the yellow expanse of the Hereafter.

Next was the blind boy, who had known that a portal was nearby, but unable to see it, had been wandering helplessly since it opened. Richard and Billy took him by the arms and guided him home. He smiled as he reached out his hands and walked into his destiny.

All that day they worked, methodically moving outward from the city center, finding the weak, the sad, the lost, and the maimed—any who, for one reason or another, could not cross over on their own.

The work was holy to Billy, and despite Richard's despair, it soon felt sacred to him as well. Each time they helped another soul on its way, Richard would close his eyes, and watch as another star winked out in the yellow firmament of the Hereafter.

Slowly, through almost two days of this sacred work, Richard felt his soul healing. It was not as if hope was returning. He still felt lost and forlorn—helpless in the face of the vast, unfeeling cruelty of the universe. But a small seed of acceptance had found its way into his soul, and it gave him the strength he needed to continue their work.

Billy, too, gave him strength. The boy's focus and commitment made Richard feel ashamed of his own weakness. Billy was suffused with a holiness that Richard could only observe, and strive to be worthy of it. Billy shone with a spiritual awareness that he knew would be forever beyond his grasp.

My soul is too wounded, and too damaged, to ever find my way to that kind of peace, Richard thought.

Billy asked that they go to Mattie last. Her star, glowing down in Round Valley, was flickering, as if she had been toying with the portal, but not quite finding the courage to step through it. Richard knew Billy wanted to help her, but that he was also hoping she would find her way through on her own. Perhaps it was because Billy dreaded seeing her again, or perhaps the boy was afraid of what seeing him would do to her already fragile and broken soul. Richard did not know, and he respected Billy too much to ask.

On the late afternoon of June 18th, there were only three stars left in the Hereafter: Richard, Billy and Mattie. And so together, the two ghosts began the trip to Round Valley.

By this time, signs of life had begun to appear throughout Salt Lake City. The survivors had mostly emerged from their bunkers, and the military was arriving en masse, convinced that the danger—whatever it had been—had finally passed. Refugee centers were still being set up, not only at the university, but throughout the city, and thousands of volunteers were banding together to house, feed, and comfort the survivors. Morgues were set up in tents around the city, and the grim task of gathering and identifying the dead had begun.