The End is Now (7 page)

About a half hour later she crawled into bed with Jeff. It reminded her of how she felt when she was first married. She was
frightened about the concept of sharing her bed with someone. Every time she wanted to turn over or pull the sheets a little
closer she was scared that she might wake Jeff up. It felt so strange then. It felt surreal that she would be sharing her
bed for the rest of her life. It made her anxious as she realized this wasn’t just an arrangement that would be going on for
a couple of weeks, this was forever. As long as she was still on earth, every time she twisted or turned or tugged on the
covers, Jeff would notice.

That feeling went away after a while though. And Amy grew to like sharing her bed. She thought it was nice to have a warm
body to snuggle up with on the bitter cold nights of December. And it was nice on a night like tonight, when the world outside
of her home seemed so frightening, to have Jeff there to protect her.

As Amy got into bed she curled against her husband and closed her eyes. Amy had recently been studying about lucid dreaming.
She learned that she could dream about whatever she wanted and that seemed like such a wonderful thing. So she’d read up on
how it worked and had tried with some success lately to control what she dreamed about. Amy lay with her eyes closed and imagined
all of the things she wanted to dream about — picnics in the park, their trip to Disney World, Emily growing up and becoming
famous, Will marrying some amazing Christian girl and bringing over perfect little grandbabies on Thanksgiving. Amy was sure
these would be the things she would dream about.

She was wrong. Once she finally fell asleep the image that kept rolling over and over in her mind was Will stranded alone
in that cornfield having visions of the future. And the question that kept popping into her dreams was — what really happened
to my son out there?

Will skipped school the next day.

It was only the second time in Will’s life that he’d been told
not
to go to school even though he was feeling perfectly fine. The first time was in the second grade. The kids at school were
busy making a haunted house. Will was on the zombie team and his job was to make a dish called “brains delight,” which consisted
of red Jell-O and Raisinets. When his mom heard about what the class was doing she insisted Will stay home from school. At
the time she was listening to Kent Howard, a nationally known, loved, and respected evangelist who was warning about the little
ways evil things get into our homes. “Often, the evilest, I’m talking about the most demonic of things, can get put into our
homes through our children’s toys.”

And when she learned about the haunted house she knew this was exactly what Kent Howard was talking about. Will thought it
was sort of neat he got to stay home without being sick, but he was kind of conflicted too. He didn’t want to let the other
kids on the zombie team down. When he told his mother this, she said, “The kids on the zombie team
should
be let down.”

Will didn’t exactly know what she meant.

But then his mom asked if he wanted to go to the store and get all new toys and some new movies. Will could hardly believe
it. Skip school and get new toys — it was too good to be true. The problem was his new toys were Bible action figures like
the apostle Paul and Meshack and his new movies were
McGee and Me
and
Superbook
.

When Will got home he started to watch his new movies. They were sort of okay.
Superbook
was a cartoon about a bunch of Japanese-looking children who had a robot and a time-traveling flying house. They traveled
back to Jesus’ time to watch him do miracles. Will tried to get into the cartoon but the whole time he kept thinking, If you
had a time-traveling flying house, why would you go back to Jesus’ time? Why not go see cowboys and gunfights in the wild
west or to medieval days when there were knights and dragons and castles and moats? Will decided that the kids in
Superbook
were just more spiritual than he was and then he felt guilty that he was more interested in cowboys and dragons than in Jesus.

As
Superbook
came to an end Will heard a rustling sound in his room. He ran upstairs and saw his mom with a trash bag throwing away his
Power Rangers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and
Harry Potter
books. “Why are you throwing everything away?” Will asked.

“Oh, these old things? You don’t need them anymore. You have new toys and books now,” his mother explained.

“Oh,” Will said. And then, “But I sort of like my old ones too.”

“These aren’t good for you. I know you don’t understand this now, but someday you’re going to. And you’ll thank me,” she said.

Will didn’t get any new toys on the morning after the cornfield. But his dad did tell him that he could watch any movie he
wanted. His dad said he deserved a day off after his rough night last night. He told Will that he had seen some special things
but he needed to keep them a secret from
everybody
until they could talk about it more.

So Will tried to enjoy his day off. He poured himself a bowl of Lucky Charms and then spent twenty minutes picking out all
of the non-charm pieces so he could enjoy a bowl of nothing but colorful marshmallows. Then he popped in
The Return of the King
, his favorite in the
Lord of the Rings
trilogy. He should have been having fun. He should have been getting lost in middle earth and not worrying about anything
that was going on in Goodland. But he couldn’t because there was a big problem — the face had given him a warning. And this
wasn’t something he was supposed to keep a secret; this wasn’t something that was supposed to just be between him and the
other guys in the cornfield. Everybody was supposed to know the things the face was saying. Because what good is a warning
if you don’t warn anyone?

Had his parents not thought about this?

Was Officer Mike saying things — saying
lies
— that were tricking his mom and dad? Suddenly, Will got a little scared. A police officer who was a bad guy, that was a
lot to take in. Still, it was possible. It had to be. Will sat in the back of the police car last night and listened to Officer
Mike tell his dad, “Your son shouldn’t go to school for the next few days because he’s going to scare people.” And Officer
Mike was right. Will was going to scare people.

He was
supposed
to scare people.

Sure, it was scary that the school was going to be destroyed. But wouldn’t it be scarier if the other elementary kids were
in the school while it was being destroyed? Of course it would. So the only explanation was that the police officer and his
parents didn’t believe him.

Did they think he was just making this stuff up for fun? Or did they think he was dreaming? Did they think he was having a
nightmare? Maybe they thought he was having a dream or a nightmare and when he woke up he started talking about the face and
reasons the rapture was going to happen. But they couldn’t be more wrong. Whatever last night was, it wasn’t a nightmare.
Nightmares jump all around. You could be in a field, then in a house, then falling from the sky, and then in your underwear
in the middle of the school bus with all the other kids laughing at you. Nightmares are jumbled with lots of scary pictures
strung together.

The face wasn’t like that.

It was calm, and it talked for a long time, and Will could remember everything. He could remember how the wind sounded, how
cool it was, the questions he asked and the answers the face gave. Still, it was starting to make sense, his parents and the
officer wanted him to believe that it was a dream. It was safer that way. After all, they hadn’t seen the face themselves.
And kids imagine up weird stuff like fairies and pirates and monsters in the closet all the time. Sure, Will wasn’t a kid
anymore, but he wasn’t an adult either. So, how were they supposed to know Will had actually seen the face? They couldn’t.
The only way they could believe would be by the school being destroyed.

And by then it wouldn’t matter anymore.

It was suddenly clear what had to be done. Will ran upstairs, put on his favorite sweatshirt, his second favorite pair of
jeans, and his bright red Chuck Taylor sneakers. Then he ran back downstairs, threw a blanket over himself, and waited. He
would look exactly like he did on any other sick day. He wouldn’t act until the moment was right. He continued to watch
Return of the King.
Right around Will’s favorite part (the moment where Sam Wise Gamgee says, “I may not be able to carry the ring Mr. Frodo,
but I can carry you”) his mom sauntered down the stairs.

“How are you honey?” This question felt more annoying than it should have. Lately, Will didn’t want to be mothered. He loved
his mom, sure, but she could also be so suffocating. It was like she was trying to hold him back. She didn’t want him to grow
up. She wanted him to be her “precious guy” or “little lamb” forever.

“I’m fine Mom.”

“Do you want to come to the store with me?”

“I’m going to watch the rest of the movie.”

“Isn’t it almost over?”

“No, there’s a lot left.” That’s what was so great about
Return of the King
. Even when it felt like it should be over there was still like an hour left.

“Okay, is there anything you want me to get at the store?”

“No, I think I’m okay.”

“But you always want me to get you something.”

“Right, of course,” he said. She was right. He always wanted something at the store. And now suddenly he didn’t. He was acting
suspicious. He needed to ask for something — but what? How was he supposed to be able to think about treats when the end of
the world was so near? It was tough to think about what to ask for when every friend you have is going to be killed in a few
days. So he just blurted, “I’d like some ice cream.”

“What flavor?”

“Vanilla.”

“Vanilla? That’s it?” she said.

Vanilla? What are you thinking? Why didn’t you say Cookie Dough or Rocky Road or any of the special flavors of ice cream?
Why did you have to pick vanilla, the most suspicious of all ice cream flavors? He needed to tell her some things he’d like
with the ice cream. Because the only reason a person would ever order vanilla ice cream is so they could put all sorts of
stuff on top of it. So he said, “I’d like vanilla,
and
chocolate sauce, caramel, and marshmallows for toppings.”

“Isn’t that a little much?”

“You asked me what I wanted.”

“Okay, because you’ve been so brave,” his mom said right before she kissed him on the forehead, grabbed her keys, and left.

She bought it, Will thought.

He sprung up from under the covers, peered through the window, and watched as the Volvo pulled out of the driveway and down
the road. He darted outside. He grabbed his bike and pedaled down the road as fast as he could. It wasn’t fast enough. He
had to get to school and back before his mother got home. Unfortunately, his family lived out in the country. And in Goodland
that’s saying something. Still, he had to somehow get onto the school grounds without any of the teachers or principals seeing
him and beat his mom home. If he could do that successfully, then no one could prove he was ever there. Sure, someone else
would get the credit for saving the school, but he couldn’t worry about being a hero at the moment.

The message was all that mattered.

The plan started off well. Will made it to school in record time. He pulled up to the school right as everyone was getting
out for lunch. Luckily he wouldn’t have to sneak into the school because in the fall most kids eat their lunches outside.
They eat on the benches or sitting in the grass (it was more like weeds, dandelions, dirt, and grass splotches, but none of
the kids paid much attention to the landscaping), and they ate quickly so they could get on to the important business of playing
dodgeball and steal the bacon.

Will hid his bike in the shrubs and snuck up to the chain-link fence. He’d have to find the nearest kids and talk to them.
In the corner he saw Phil, Jessica, and Veronica. It was perfect. They were in the fifth grade
and
they were popular. Everyone looked up to them. If he could just convince them, they would have the clout to spread the word.

“Jessica,” Will whispered. Jessica looked towards the playground, benches, and slides, but she didn’t see anyone.

“Jessica,” Will whispered again. She looked a bit more, and then she saw Will, crouching and peering through the fence.

“What are you doing here?” Jessica asked.

“I have something important to tell you,” Will said. By this time Phil and Veronica saw him and went over to the fence.

“Why aren’t you at school today?”

“The police wouldn’t let me come to school,” Will said.

“The police told you to skip school? We’re seriously supposed to believe that?” Veronica said.

“It’s the truth.”

“The police bust people for skipping school. Not the other way around,” Veronica said.

Will once again realized how annoying and prissy Veronica was. His mom told him that God puts all kinds of people in our lives
to teach us how to get along with everybody. But Will suddenly had a horrifying thought: What if he had to marry someone like
Veronica? What if God was planning on teaching him the ultimate lesson? He could imagine coming home and having everything
he ever said met with a nagging, know-it-all resistance. Suddenly he was very grateful that the rapture was going to save
him from such a miserable marriage.

“Would you just listen Veronica? I don’t have very long,” Will said.

“Fine,” she said.

“This is going to sound weird but you have to believe me. You know the rapture everyone is talking about?”

“Yeah,” all his classmates said. They knew about the rapture all right.

“Well, last night someone told me that our school is going to be destroyed. It’s the first sign that the rapture is coming.”