Sacrifice and Love | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Sacrifice and Love | Previous Challenge Entry
By Terry Atchison
11/10/09
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The soldier hurried through the streets, his souvenir held tightly in his hands. The sky was dark, almost night, and the ground beneath his feet was still rolling as small waves of energy passed through the rock. Dust was hanging in the air. He had clamored over the remnants of several buildings that now lay waste across the narrow streets. His initial fear of the sudden dark sky and trembling earth was now dissipating as he neared his home. “Oh Lena, please be there, my love.” He was thinking of his wife, his love.

“Honey, I'm here!” he cried out, as he slammed the door shut behind him. “Are you okay? I was worried about your safety. Where are you?”

“Over here, my darling.” Her voice was soft, shaky. Lena was on her knees, in a dark corner of the room. She was trembling and crying. “Why did we do this? Can't those people just accept others for who they are and let them be? Where was the harm?” She was now in the arms of her husband, holding him closely as her tears dampened his shoulder. “What if he was right?”

“It's not our problem, Lena. We must let them govern themselves as much as possible. It makes the task of being here much easier for us. Right or wrong, there was something very strange about this day. It was if some supernatural power unleashed his anger down upon us. But it is over now, my precious woman. Here. I have a present for you.”

The soldier held out a garment towards his wife. “He was wearing this. I thought that since you believed his gibberish, that you would like a souvenir.”

Her eyes widened in disbelief as her fingers touched the piece of cloth. “Thank you! Thank you! This means so much to me.” She shook open the tattered, stained piece of fabric, and wrapped it over her shoulders.

The soldier sat at the kitchen table and started sipping some wine and nibbling on a piece of bread. “Lena, the governor really didn't want to end that mans' life. He just wanted to keep the peace and stay out of trouble. He will be retiring soon and doesn't welcome any conflict with the locals or with Rome. You know, we will be leaving here in a few months ourselves.”

He turned to face his wife, but she had turned away from him. She seemed to be talking to someone as she knelt there in the corner, head bowed, with the purple cloth that Jesus had worn, wrapped over her shoulders.

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