Delroy closed his fists in the mud at his father’s grave. “I was selfish in my grief, too, Daddy. When I lost Terrence, I just couldn’t see anyone else. Couldn’t see Glenda, couldn’t see Momma. Couldn’t see anybody but that hole that his passing left. His absence was too big, too painful. I couldn’t get around it.”
Delroy remembered how Glenda had tried to talk to him during those dark days. But he’d turned away from her, taking the first step of all those that had separated them over the last five years. Even on a ship halfway around the world from Glenda, he’d never put as much distance between himself and his wife as he had standing side by side on the day they had buried their son. He couldn’t give himself over to her because he’d feared that he couldn’t pull himself back together.
“And now I come to you tonight,” Delroy said in a hoarse whisper, “shamed and hurting because I don’t have the faith that you did. I’ve never had it. I never knew God. I can see that now. Not like you did. I don’t even have the faith that God cares about us.”
Grief and fear doubled Delroy over. He cried, dipping his head in close to his chest. Rain pelted the back of his slicker and ran down the back of his ears. He gave himself over to the emotion, letting it wrench him and tear him apart. The hours of flying, the miles of walking, and the days of worry and agony came together and taxed him to the point of exhaustion. He rested his head on his forearms, almost passing out.
“I’ve seen news reports since I’ve been back stateside, Daddy,” Delroy whispered. “People everywhere have disappeared. Unborn children were taken from their mothers’ wombs. Funeral homes and morgues have had the dead disappear on them, too.”
During the last few days, Delroy had concentrated his attention on stories concerning the missing dead. That was when the idea for his present course of action had called out to him.
“There’s no explanation for those missing bodies, Daddy. I have guessed that they were all God’s people called up to heaven, too.”
The wind whistled through the trees and the rain shifted, coming in from the north now, blowing harder and turning colder.
“I’m serving aboard Wasp right now,” Delroy continued. Lightning flashed and thunder pealed. The rain ran across the muddy ground only inches from his face. “I had a good friend pass away the day before the—the—” he couldn’t even bring himself to say “the Rapture.” “—before the disappearances. You’d have liked Dwight Mellencamp. The chief was a good man.”
Taking a ragged, deep breath and feeling the cold, wet night air crawl into his lungs, Delroy pushed himself up to a kneeling position. He stared at his father’s headstone.
“Dwight’s body disappeared, Daddy. I was there when it happened. I saw it and I still don’t know what it was that I saw.” Delroy’s voice caught. “He was a Christian man. He and I had long talks about the Bible. He knew about the end times, too.”
Rain slid down Delroy’s face. The flashlight brought out the headstone in sharp relief. More of the flower petals ripped free and floated away on the runoff.
“With Dwight’s body disappearing along with the bodies of all those other people, I knew I had to come here. I didn’t have a choice. Revelation doesn’t say that people would disappear when the Rapture came. The book doesn’t mention that they’ll leave their clothes behind. It just says that God will call His church.”
Delroy’s voice quit for a moment before going on. “There’s so much that we didn’t know. I wish I had known it would happen like this. But they are called the mysterious ways of the Lord, aren’t they? Maybe He judged that the whole truth would wreak havoc in His church. I just don’t know what to think. Not about my part in all of this. With my head I believe in God, Daddy, and I believe that this is the Rapture, but I can’t seem to find that faith in my heart. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems to me that at some point we should just know.”
Slowly, Delroy pushed himself to his feet. He took up the shovel and the flashlight. “I’ve got to see, Daddy. That’s all. I’ve just got to see.” Delroy paused. “I raised Terrence the best I could. Watched my boy become a man, and then watched that man walk off to become a warrior. He died in battle. He was a hero, a man to be remembered. Like you. You would have liked him, Daddy. You would have loved him. I hope—I hope that the two of you have met by now.”
Almost overcome by the emotions that raged within him, Delroy tilted his face up at the dark heavens, letting the rain pock his face. He felt the cold drops burst and spread against his skin.
“There’s a war coming on, Daddy,” Delroy said softly. “The hosts of heaven and the demons of hell. They’re going to fight right here and right now. For seven years, the people left behind are going to see some of the greatest evil atrocities ever committed. Souls hang in the balance. Not all of them will know the love of Jesus and His salvation, and they will be lost. It’s already too late for so many.”
Thunder hammered the skies. Lightning flashed again and another roll of thunder followed in its wake.
“I brought Terrence up in the church, Daddy. The same way you raised me up. But—” Delroy stopped and brushed the hot tears from his eyes—“but I know how weak a man sometimes is. I’m weak. Not nearly as strong as you thought I was.” His voice didn’t work for a moment. “I raised Terrence in the church, but I don’t truly know if he knew the Lord. Just as I don’t know if I ever truly knew the
