The Last Messenger

Chapter 5 - The Generation of Messengers

Inside her room, Eleta stared blankly at the TV in front of her as the new BHE finalists were displayed. Her clammy hands gripped tighter on the remote in her hand when she didn't see her name displayed. She felt mixed emotions flooding in her. Did she not do as well as she thought she had? Eleta pondered. She continued to stare at the screen in anticipation hoping there would be a quick change in the list at the end.

She knew she had achieved the emotions that her music teacher had mentioned during the audition...even the director praised her and thought she had potential. Those weren't even empty words she thought again, replaying Maxwell's exact words through her mind.

Walking off the stage, he was even writing her name down. The TV went back to the daily news. Eleta sighed switching off the TV and collapsing on her bed.

"I probably wasn't meant to be a singer...maybe I was never good at it from the start." She stated to herself.

Grabbing her pillow, she hugged it tightly as she felt useless and lonely. There was no way she was about to tell her grandmother that she had just failed her auditions. Then her parents popped her mind. She just failed to make them proud. They're probably disappointed in me, she swallowed back the lump forming in her throat while tears brimmed to the surface of her eyes.

Even God might be disappointed. She shut her eyes tightly holding back the feeling of failure engulfing her. She wanted to make her parents proud of the songs that have inspired her all her life. These words weren't merrily just lyrics she wrote but every emotion that she felt when she thought of her grandmother, her parents, and even God.

"Count your many blessings."

Her grandmother's words rang through her ears from this morning. Sitting up, she slapped both her palms on cheeks shaking her head. This might not be God's will that's all. Glancing over at her desk, her Bible sat there with worn pages and a bent brown cover. She pulled her Bible towards her flipping through the frayed pages before stopping on Hebrews 13:5. Pressing her index finger against the ending of the verse, she read it.

...For He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Eleta read the verse over and over again before tears began to fall.

"Why does it feel like you aren't here though, Lord?"

Curling up in a ball on her bed, she let the tears flow as she fell into a deep sleep.

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A cool breeze blew against Eleta's feet. She scrunched her toes up and let her hand roam for the bed sheets. Fluttering her eyes open, Eleta saw everything around her was white and foggy. Was she dreaming?

Picking her head up she glazed her eyes across the vast amounts of white around her. Her eyes widened.

"Am I dead?"

She looked around frantically and couldn't see anyone. She studied the ground and noticed it was soft as if it were made of clouds. She ran her fingers and toes through them as she relaxed a little and tried to remember what she did a few moments ago.

Eleta had only gone to sleep while reading the Bible so, she must be dreaming! She began giggling at the thought of her dreams in such an odd place. Picking herself up, she felt light and airy as she made her first steps across this weird surface.

"Eleta."

Eleta's head shot up and turned to where the voice was coming from.

"Eleta!"

A figure appeared in the mist and was approaching Eleta. A young woman clothed in white garments had appeared from the fog and was radiating with light. Her hair was braided and a crown was placed on her head. In her hands held a book Eleta didn't know how but for some reason she knew who this person was.

"Are you...Queen Esther?"

The woman nodded her head as she came face to face with Eleta. Eleta was confused. This was the same Esther from the Bible, but how could she possibly know that this was the same Queen? She didn't even live at the same time as her yet she knew for sure it was the same Esther that was mentioned from those Biblical stories. Esther read her mind and smiled.

"You know me, because you're in heaven right now, Eleta. All those who have entered heaven can recognize everyone around them and can tell who they are without having to have met them physically on Earth."

Eleta gasped. "How can I be in heaven? I was on my bed just a few moments ago sleeping. Am I dead?"

Esther laughed.

"No, you're very much alive, but your spirit is in heaven only for a few moments before the spirit has to go back to your body."

Eleta looked down at herself. She wasn't in her pajamas but in the white apparel that Esther was wearing. Touching her garments, her mouth opened but nothing came out. She was too astonished to speak. There was too much to grasp. Why was she even here? Eleta wanted to ask this but couldn't as her mouth refused to let her. Esther understanding her predicament laughed harmoniously and answered her.

"You're here because God has requested of you to be here."

Finding her words, Eleta interrupted Esther and questioned.

"You can hear what I'm thinking?"

"Yes, I can and we have a message to give to you, Eleta Alon."

"We?"

Eleta's eyes roamed to the three shadows appearing from the fog. They all looked young and wore the same white garments as Esther with golden crowns attached to their heads. The jewels beaded on their crowns glimmered. All of them gathered around Eleta with a holy book in their hands.

One of them was the prophet named Moses, who lead the Israelites from Egypt. His beard trickled down from his chin and with down-turned eyes, his face illuminated while carrying the same gold book in Esther's hands. He opened it as he spoke.

"We bring you good news, Eleta. You've been elected by God to bring back the lost souls of the world."

"Lost souls?"

"The souls that have rejected God," Esther responded opening her holy book.

"Humans that have turned to the evil of this world and follow the sins that Satan has placed are set for doom very soon." Eve, the first woman of the world, said showing Eleta her book.

Eleta's eyes wandered to the crisp pages and dilated. The images in the book showed the current world at war with each other; robbers stealing from families; people being assaulted; victims killed by bombs and murderers. Tears began to form in her eyes as each image shown presented different forms of evil. Slowly her sadness became anger.

"Why isn't God stopping these people from doing such evil continuously?"

"This is the job He assigned the generation of Messengers to do," Esther responded pushing both covers in her hand together.

"You're a descendant of this chosen generation. Your mother was also a Messenger of God."

Eleta's eyes glistened at the sound of her mother's name that was mentioned.

"She was? How come I can't remember?"

Moses sighed with his eyes sorrowful gesturing her to sit. A white cloud formed in front of them as it molded on its own to replicate a chair. In awe at the formation, Eleta followed Moses to the clouded chair and sat as Moses and the others stood around her for a while in silence before Esther spoke up. Her eyes were distant as if she was looking back in time. Eleta's eyes saw images of her parents appear before her and the fate they had faced that cold night.