Sample of "Trapped in Salem" Chapters 01

The Revelation

Chapter 01

In the beginning there was only the Lord. The Lord was happy but as time past the Lord became lonely. So he created a vast void of emptiness, in the emptiness he created the heavens and the earth: The Lord took his hand and swept it over the sky. As he swept his hand over the sky the stars of the night and the sun of the day were set in to play.

With the creation of the heavens, our Lord created us. We are the Lord's servants. We were created in the beginning as a part of God's plan. Mankind calls us Angels, and from this point on, our rule in His history is pretty well known. You have heard of me, I am a credited with driving the fallen out of heaven and down to earth. But these were our brothers, and this is a civil war. We fight brother against brother, to protect the souls of Mankind.

Theologians try to teach any one who is willing to listen, “the victory is won, with the death of the Son of Man.” However, the truth is, salvation is only found through the individuals personal acceptance of the Son of God. Further, man only concerns himself with knowledge of the events that were recorded after my brothers' fall from grace. But I think it it time that I, Michael of the Angels, tell you about what Lucifer was like before his pride corrupted him.

Lucifer was the most beautiful of all of us. He was my friend and mentor; a fact which even today I am proud to state. The lord called him “The Light Bringer" because his job was to bring "The Light" to a dark and baron wasteland. But that job changed on the day the word spread throughout the heavens that the Lord had said, "Let us create man in our image." This angered Lucifer. For he was the Lord's right hand.

Lucifer could not stomach the idea of losing his position. You see, most theologians teach that Jesus was already in the picture. They teach that the plural in the line, "Let us ...” is talking about the father, son, and the Holy Spirit. On the contrary, the line is truly talking about Jehovah (The Father) and Sophia (The Holy Spirit) procreating: creating the Son of Man. The bible talks about man being formed from "clay". But what is clay? Truly clay was referring to the primordial soup which is called the baron waste in the first chapter of Genesis.

In short the whole war is nothing more than a power struggle between Jesus and the first angel who was created by God. If Lucifer and his Dark Resistance can turn enough of God's prototypes away from God's will, then Jesus would have no followers and Jerusalem will fall. But I guess that is why we are here--to protect the mortals from getting caught in the cross fire as Job did.

The Lord has promised that this war will come to an end. But until then I, Michaelangelo, and the members of my flight will be there to even the odds for mankind.

As mankind's defender, I have been watching over a human soul for the past eighty of his years. His name is John Edward Putnam and Azreal tells me that Father Putnam's time is nearing. So, Sophia, who is the Holy Spirit, inspired John to write about his life. John has been one of Jehovah's greatest soldiers and it has been an honor for me to pull him out of more than a few scrapes. John has spent the past four of what mankind calls weeks, in the hospital. The doctors can稚 figure out what is wrong, however, they do know that he is progressively getting worse. As a result, Azreal, the angel of death, has taken her post at his bedside. She is waiting for our Lord to give her the order, and I am standing behind her remembering all that has happened to lead up to this point in John's, and mankind's history.

The first thing that comes to mind is the first time that John and I squared off against Lucifer. Jehovah sent me to defend his wife; while she gave birth to the one who would save mankind from his Self. I could only watch as she 'wailed aloud in pain while she labored to give birth' (NAB Rev 12:02). It was not long after the birth of her child, that my onetime friend came to harm the child, who would come to be known as “The Son of Man.” Lucifer appeared as a, “huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems [or crowns]”(NAB, Rev, 12:03).

Anyway, Sophia and her son were placed in danger and my Lord called all of his angels who were still loyal to him to come to her aid. I stood man against man with Lucifer but I took no pleasure in doing so. In drawing my sword I asked my friend, 塗ow can you do this? However, before the Light Bearer could answer, I realized my charge was standing at my side. The dragon snapped his razor sharp teeth at my wings forcing me to take flight. As I did John wrapped his arms around me and we took to the sky. My fighting force would not arrive at my location for another hour (in earth's time). So, I was on my own with what help the soul of an eight year old boy could give. The dragon scoffed at us saying, Do you not realize that once those glorified mud balls are created the boss won't need us any more? John took offense at the implication that he is no greater than a sculpted ball of mud. 敵od would have never needed to create us if you had not been so prideful!, screamed the young mortal, who was clinging onto my back.

At that point, one of Lucifer's heads snapped at John, as I flew over the dragon to dive into him with my sword. His seven heads were doing all that they could to try to get hold of us. “Come now Lucifer, don’t you want to fight me in your true form?” I taunted him over and over again to get him to take his angelic form. It took a human child's laughter, but finally he did land on earth.

“The earth was without form” (NAB, Genesis, 1:2),. The earth did not take shape until Lucifer brought conflict upon it. For it is conflict that drives the currents of the sea, and makes the wind blow. Finally my reinforcements caught up with us. With their help, and with John as my wittiness, God's forces pushed back Lucifer's Dark Resistance. From that day on, 鍍he earth was void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep�(NAB , Genesis, 1:2).

Lucifer, my former teacher, took on his angelic form; but as we fought he became more and more deformed. We drew our swords at the field that would become known as Hakeldama (the field of blood). We exchanged blow for blow as my flight was seen on the horizon, head to head with Lucifer's fallen. “[W]hen war broke out in [the] heavens; [my flight and I] battled against the dragon. But the dragon and [his] angels fought back,”(NAB Rev 12:07). By God’s grace, I managed to give a devastating blow to Lucifer’s right wing. The blow was so hard that my sword shattered into three pieces. Lucifer and his 船ark Resistance�fought and fought hard, but they would not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven [or on Earth] (NAB Rev 12:08).

My flight and I pushed even harder when I broke my sword over my teacher's wing. We found that Lucifer and his followers have lost ground. Then Raphael came face to face with a beast that came out of the sea. Without thinking he took his sword and put it through one of its heads. But, that did not slow the beast down at all. For the wound healed as soon as he removed his sword (NAB Rev 13:3). “My God! I thought to myself, our sins have killed your son.”

As we fought, “the huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who [would] deceive the world, was imprisoned down on earth, and his angels were to come with him”(NAB Rev 12:09).

The earth was still a void," for from its creation it was built on a foundation of evil". God had not yet created man nor any concept of time. These are purely a creation of man's limited understanding. Therefore, when I broke my sword and the fragments fell to earth they would be lost in a timeline that was still being formed. One of the fragments that was not accounted for manifested in the souls of the men who would lead Christ's church on earth. With each generation the fragment is passed.

The year, in human terms, is 2053 and I am sitting in a hospital room in Vatican City. For the Shard of Justice is held by the man I have watched over for the past eighty years. This is his story,so I will let him tell it. For it is in John's heart to put the events of his life to paper for the generations to come. As he writes, I cannot help but read over his shoulder and this is what he has to say:

. . .

My name isFather John Putnam. I have served the church as an ordained priest for the past sixty years. However, as I look back on my life, I feel it necessary to let it be known that although I am a priest I am not , nor have I ever been a saint. Many times in my life I have found my Self in the depths of despair and have turned my back on God. The first time I turned away from God was in 1985. I was in West Berlin with my family. My father was in the U.S. Army and as a result we spent a lot of time in many regions of the world.

Well, as you may recall, 1985 was near the end of the Cold War. A mad man, named 徹mar Qaddafi�had threatened to bomb any public place that Americans frequented. You must forgive me, but I was only eight years old at the time, therefore, I really did not know, nor did I even care about the politics behind Qaddafi's threats. All that I knew was that he would make good on his threat, and that a bombing would change the lives of my family and I forever.

I remember my father breaking down in the street as my mother lay beneath the rubble. It did not hit me that mom was never coming back to us until the day of the funeral, a week later. My father was always the strongest man in my life but after my mother’s death he grew distant. My older sister Sarah, and my older twin brothers, Ben and Mike, seemed to take my father’s place, as he dove into his work and spent increasingly less time with us.

My father was involved in some kind of covert operations, and that is all that we ever knew about his work. He never spoke of it. My siblings did, however, find out through friends that he was volunteering for seemingly dangerous missions. The guys in his unit had voiced concerns about Dad having a death wish. My family heard about his willingness to be put under fire: He would have preferred it if he was the one crushed under the rock. We had not even put my mother in the ground and here he was trying to get killed himself.

I was only eight years old at the time, but I remember thinking, “how selfish can you get?”. I mean, the man had four beautiful children, if I say so myself, but he gave no thought of our well-being. Instead of putting in his time and being there to watch us grow up he would rather claim to take a round for his country", when in fact his only concern was joining his wife again on the other side of the River Styx.

The longest week of my life was coming to an end and my father was not going to put the love of his life on the ground on foreign soil. So, we went to my father's hometown of Salem, Massachusetts for my mother's funeral. I had never seen the United States before we got off the MAC (Military Air Command) flight in Boston. On the other hand, both my twin brothers and my sister had been born in Salem.

When we got off the C-130 my Uncle John was waiting in the terminal with a big sign that read, “Welcome home, Henry Putnam and family.” My father put his hand on my shoulder and bent down and said to me, “that is my brother, your uncle. He is the man your were named after.” At first I was shy, but when Sarah ran to the man with her arms spread to give him a hug, I figured that he had to be all right.

My brothers were just as excited to see him. They attacked Uncle John with all kinds of questions. John answered some of them, then he knelt down to my eye level, and said, “All of this is a lot for a little guy like you to take in all at once.” Then my uncle picked me up and said, “let's go get something to eat.” John felt that it would be easier for me to get to know him in more familiar surroundings. This resulted in the six of us going to McDonald's. This is one restaurant chain that I know has restaurants in Germany., my uncle laughed. “I figure this way John can play while your father and I talk,” Uncle John told Sarah and Ben as we walked into the restaurant.

Mike nudged Ben and pointed to two girls sitting in the corner. “Dad, Uncle John, will you excuse us? We would like to go play too.” My dad agreed, and sent the boys on their way. Dad, and Uncle John smiled: my father said to his brother, 'remember when we were that age?' By that time, Sarah took it upon herself to keep an eye on me. The truth be told, I think she realized that Dad and John wanted to talk alone.

As the three of us kept ourselves occupied my father told John that he would not be able to take care of me and my siblings while he was tending to his new orders. John did not like the idea of my father leaving me with a virtual stranger. However, Dad did not ask John to take us in yet. On the other hand, John knew that his brother would ask him to take us soon.

It was not until the day of my mother’s funeral that my father explained why he could not take us back to Berlin with him. My uncle took us back to the hotel and we retrieved our bags to head back to the family home. The Putnam House had been in our family ever since 1698, and Uncle John was proud to be its caretaker. The house looked like a museum, decorated with period pieces from the Puritan era. Once we arrived at Uncle John’s home we took our bags up to the rooms in which we thought we would spend the rest of our childhood. If I had only known what was to come. Still, at that time we did not believe we would not see our father again.

After dinner I went up to the room that uncle John had given me. I looked out the window and stared up at the sky, remembering how all of this had started;

The day started as any day does for a child in the summertime. I was bored, so my father and mother took me shopping. We stopped at a pretzel vendor on the street to buy some food. By this time my father realized that he had run out of Deutsche Marks and the vendor did not want to take the American dollar. This resulted in my mother going across the street to the bank so she could exchange some money. It is all right Clara, we can eat latter,�my father said, trying to get the vendor to change his mind.

My mother gave Dad a quick kiss and said, “I’ll be right back.” Then she swung her purse over her shoulder and ran across the street. She did not even get across the street before the bank blew up. As the bank fell into the street my father and I both yelled out, “Clara!, Mom!” my father hid my face trying to keep me from seeing what had happened; but it was too late.

My father broke down in the street. It took a long time for me to accept that my parents' death was not my fault. My older siblings took my father's place as he drove into his work. I never told anyone this, but I always felt like my father blamed me for my mother's death. That feeling was reinforced by my father on the day he told us that we would not be going back to Germany with him. For we had not been on good terms already but now we would be worlds apart. From the stand point of an almost nine year old boy, it seemed like he was just trying to drop his children of on his brother's doorstep.

The General, sat down with the four of us and told us that he loved us but his orders put him deep into East Berlin. My older siblings understood. On the other hand, I could not reason out why my father was leaving us too. The General gave us all a hug and told Ben and Mike to be good. I guess he figured that Sarah and I would be good by default, or he just did not care. As my father got in the cab his brother and all of his children waved goodbye--I got an eerie feeling that we would not be seeing my father alive again. Still I kept quiet about my fears because I did not wish to be mocked by my brothers or worry my sister.

The summer came and went and Uncle John became a good friend, he never lost sight of his responsibilities to raise us as best he could. However, I hated the fact that he had not forgotten about the most dreaded day of a child’s life, school registration day. It fell on a Monday, which made the day all the creepier. For nothing good ever happens on a Monday. My school was first. Uncle John took me across the Street to 34^th street Elementary School; it took about an hour of waiting in line and filling out paper work. Nevertheless, the nightmare was not over. I still had to meet my teacher, who could give any child a nightmare.

Her name was Miss Craft, she had a beanpole figure, a long pointed nose and a constant scowl that made you want to leave the room. I could tell that she did not like kids. I think the most telling sign was the way she always referred to the kids in her class, as her “Little Maggots.” I remember thinking that Sarah and the twins had to be doing better at the high school. Uncle John let them register on their own. otherwise my siblings would have been too embarrassed to go at all. Teenagers are funny that way.

Well, school started and soon my favorite time of year would creep up. But this year was different-- my father was not here to spend it with me. Upon my revelation that my parents would not be here to celebrate the harvest with me, I sought comfort in the arms of my Lord Jesus. I had my bedroom door opened and my sister Sarah came into the room as I was praying.

“Oh Father”, I said as Sarah knelt down beside me, “Why did you rip my family apart?”

Sarah glanced over at me, and I could see that she was concerned. Still I paid no attention to her for I was consumed by my own fury toward God and what I saw as an assault against my family. In retrospect, I am glad that I said what was in my heart. Later on I found that my nightly rages turned to communication with God. and that my words of rage would also become answered prayers. But alas, I am getting ahead of myself. That night I went on to say:

“You took my Mother forever! My dad is on the other side of the world, my sister and brothers are acting like nothing happened. Father, I just want my family back!”

Sarah probably thought that I needed privacy, because she quietly stood and left, but not before she kissed me on the head. The next morning after eating breakfast we walked to school and talking fondly about mom. My brothers and sister apologized for pushing my need aside.

Mike said, “You know, Johnny, we are all grieving in our own way. What we had forgotten is that we're all in this together. We didn't mean to seem unfeeling about what has happened. It just seemed easier not to care. Do you forgive us?�None of us could have known it at the time, but we would never again have a chance to take each other for granted.

The four of us never arrived at school that day. We decided instead to spend the day together as a family. Our tight little group went to the carnival that had pulled into town the day before. All of our money disappeared into a daze of laughter and entertainment. It seemed so long ago when last our father took us to the Oktoberfest back in Germany. We had not had as much fun and excitement since Germany. I remember it well, because it was the first and last time my father told me that he loved me. My mother was killed two weeks before, in front of the bank, in the bombing. That was before dad had left us and before we were abandoned to live with Uncle John.

We hadn't known our uncle before all of this had happened. After the day we had skipped school Sarah appointed herself as my surrogate mother. She meant well--my sister was an excellent sister, an even better friend, but alas, she was unable to fill our mother's shoes.

But let us talk of happier times. Ben and Mike became the big brothers that anyone would be proud to have. Now don’t get me wrong, I never said that I was no longer the victim of the twin’s pranks. After all I was the youngest of the Putnam children. As an example, one day uncle John went to work at the Salem Witch Museum early and the boys took advantage of his absence. As the unwitting victim in just another one of their sick gags, I had been getting ready for school in the bathroom when I heard the door slam. I thought that I had locked it but a locked door never stopped Ben from pulling a prank. I was in the shower when the boys ripped open the shower door, and poured a bucket of powdered gelatin over my head. The steam from the shower created a sticky mess. As a result, that day, I was an hour late to school. I had to spend the day in detention.

On the other hand, when I got home from school my revenge on my resourceful brothers would be sweet. I waited for them to come home; subsequently I pretended that the earlier joke did not bother me in the least. Although suspicious, my brothers soon began to relax around me, never suspecting my true intent. Once they got comfortable I offered them some hot chocolate. The boys were both surprised, saying, “We were expecting you to be mad about this morning”. The three of us laughed about their little gag. Then suddenly I became quiet.

“What is it?,” Ben asked me.

Then I started to laugh and exclaimed joyously, “The joke is on you now!”

“Why do you say that?” Mike asked, as he took a drink of his hot chocolate. Then I pulled out the box of chocolate-flavored Ex-lax. Ben and Mike both looked at each other, then at their hot chocolate and I just smiled and walked away.

“Don’t mess with me.” Ben and Mike were up all night, running to the bathroom. I almost felt sorry for my brothers, almost....

The year turned into 1986. The boys had not pulled a prank on me for a whole year. It had also been as long since we had heard from our father. My Uncle John had given up on any hope of ever seeing his brother again. However, he always encouraged us to pray for our father’s safe return. I was now nine years old, and found myself missing my father more and more every day. As Halloween approached I became even more detached. My father had always taken me trick-or-treating without Sarah or the twins.

It was not that my brothers would not have enjoyed the time with our father, but this was our time--just my dad and me. Sarah asked about going last year but my father told her that I deserved to have some time alone with him. Looking back on it I think my father did not think that he would be around to see me grow up, which makes me wish I would have gotten to know him better.

No matter how much I pulled away, or maybe on account of my distancing myself, Sarah picked up on my depression. At school that day Ben asked, “would you like to go trick or treating with me, Mike and Sarah tonight?” I smiled and gave him a big hug. He laughed saying, “l'll take that as a Yes!” I would have never thought that my siblings would have thought of anyone other than themselves, and I was right.

By that time Mike strolled up to the bench where we were sitting and interrupted us saying, “I am sorry Johnny, but Ben and I need to talk.” Then, Ben got up and told Johnny that he would be right back.

Ben and Mike disappeared around a nearby corner, probably so they could talk about me. Being the youngest of four children, I got used to being talked about. I must admit, however, that it is better than just being ignored, which is what they usually did. When my siblings were not trying to play a joke on me it always seemed as if I was in their way. However, it was the constant pranks that made Mike’s behavior put me on guard.

About five minutes latter, my brothers came back and we walked home together. I did not find out what was said until much later that night. As a result, I would learn one of the most important lessons of my life. By the time my brothers and I got home, Sarah was all ready. However, I would learn that she had had no plans to go out with us. When Ben saw his big sister dressed in the same dress that she had worn to last year's Prom, He must have assumed that whatever Mike had told him was true.

Ben took his sister into her room and slammed the door. This had been a common occurrence in the Putnam house ever sense my sister started dating last year. Ben started laying into her, “What are you thinking?" You know how much Johnny has been missing dad. We have been planning this for months. So today you decide to go out with some maggot instead, think of how Johnny would feel if he knew!

I did feel bad as I stood there in the hall with my brother, Mike, and heard the whole thing. I felt bad, not because Sarah did not want to go trick or treating with us, I mean, she never had before. No, I felt bad because for the past year I had been feeling sorry for myself when I should have been more concerned about my family's well-being. I stood in the hallway feeling like such a self-centered jerk. I had spent so much time thinking about my feelings and how much I missed my M.I.A. Father that I thought of no one else痴 wants or needs. I stood there staring at the floor wondering whether if I prayed hard enough, God would open up the floor and allow me to fall through.

Twas about that time Sarah loudly summed up what was going through my mind at that moment. I heard her tell Ben:

“Why is it always about that little boy? We are always putting our feelings aside to make this transition easier on him. I have never gone out on Halloween, why would I treat this day any different? Dad will be back for next Halloween, and then he can take the kid. Sooner or later he will have to grow up and realize other people have wants and needs too!

I then heard the door open, followed by Ben telling Mike to “come in and bring John with you.” As we entered the room, Ben pulled a letter out of his pocket from the Department of Defense. He ordered us all to sit down and despair crossed all of faces as we made motions to find a seat. It had to be the letter that we all dreaded, yet in our hearts we had been waiting for this news for some time. I felt it in my bones that Sarah had been wrong, Dad would never again take me out on Halloween. He would not be there for any of our graduations, or to help any of us with our homework. The truth was Dad was never coming home again.

This time no one held back the tears. Sarah had been strong for all of us through my mother’s death. This time, however, was just too much. She was the first to let go of her tears and nothing could have held them back. Ben stood before us describing how he had been the one to answer the door when the two officers came to the door with the news. I felt dazed and distant from myself., Ben told us that he had tried for a week to figure out how he would tell us. Finding us all together, Ben could no longer bear the load of knowing everything had changed. Looking back, maybe Ben could have found a better time. Still he did his duty and that was all that we could have asked of him. After a while, we composed ourselves. The silence that filled the room, as we held onto each other for support, was deafening. Uncle John was in Boston for the day and it was just my siblings and I until the following morning. I didn't bother to ask Ben if Uncle John knew that Dad was gone, because I already knew the answer.

Sarah gave me a hug and said, "let’s go get some candy, Johnny.” I put on the same Elf costume that I had worn when Dad had last taken me. As for the others, the boys who are only two minutes apart in age, had already rented Musketeer costumes. On the other hand, Sarah did not have anything readily available. However, she seems to get complimented in anything she wears. As a result, my brothers ran into the garage and ripped the wings off of the angel that my uncle put in the front yard for Christmas every year. My sister was already adorned with the prom-dress that she was going wear on her date. So all the boys had to do was figure out a way to fix the wings to Sarah痴 back. For being two years older than the twins of fifteen, she could be rather helpless at times.