…Into Shouts and Screams

Chapter Three

(Sequel to "The Footsteps are Fading")

"I want to know God's thoughts...the rest are details."
- Albert Einstein

In the beginning…these are the names…the Lord called Moses…the Lord spoke to Moses…these are the words…after the death of Moses…after the death of Joshua…there was a certain man…after the death of Saul…now King David was old…after the death of Ahab…Adam, Seth, Enosh…Solomon the son of David…in the first year…the words of Nehemiah…in the days…there was a man…blessed is the man…the proverbs of Solomon…the words of the preacher…the Song of Songs…the vision of Isaiah…the words of Jeremiah…how lonely sits the city…in the thirtieth year…in the third year…the word of the Lord…the word of the Lord…the words of Amos…the vision of Obadiah…now the word of…the word of the Lord…an oracle concerning…the oracle of god…the word of the Lord…in the second year…in the eighth month…the oracle of the word…

Here the human race falters. They stumbled to the ground and in their frustration pointed fingers at those who had tripped them. Jesus is our savior – our savior has not yet come. Mary was a pure virgin – the definition of 'virgin' in those days meant that no one knew who the father was. Jesus is god in flesh form – he was no more god than was Mark or David.

"You've been fooling yourself."

She raised her blond head to him and then turned back away.

"I know."

"You even said it yourself last time but you didn't catch it. How god got bored so he created you."

"I know."

"You're just fulfilling his want if you go through with this."

"It is my destiny."

"No. It's the destiny he had planned out for you."

She shook her head violently and suddenly started to sob.

"I just wanted my own!" she shouted, and then she was kneeling on the ground with her hands to her face.

"Own what?"

"Own destiny! Curse him! Curse him that I should hate him by destiny and be helpless to this feeling! Curse him that he has made me into this beast!"

"You can reverse it."

"And fight the will of god?!" She whipped her face around to him, the fierce gold dust in her eyes sparkling. "What man has the power to do that? What divine man could even accomplish something like that? My dear little Davis: this is tyranny. We are the puppets, the slaves. Can you not feel that in your heart?"

His muddy brown eyes fell to the floor. Yeah, he could feel that. Tyranny at its worst was god, because he could get you to do anything without even speaking. How envious Hitler must have been.

"How are you going to fulfill this destiny?"

"By killing him, of course. But to do that," her golden head cleaved the air in two as it swung upwards, towards the skies, "to do that I need someone to stand next to me."

How kismet that she had chosen Taichi.

"Do you think that everyone has someone to stand next to them?"

Her eyes were half-slits in the darkened room, shadowed lightly by her quaint eyebrows. A lock of hair tickled the tip of her nose and brushed playfully against her eyelashes. Daisuke was tempted to slap it away and scream at her.

"Yes."

"Will we all find them?"

She sighed loudly, and her shoulders heaved high to accent her apathy.

"Probably not, no, I don't know for sure. I am, after all, only the devil. I am also restricted to destiny. I suppose finding them depends on what destiny has in store for you."

"How do you know when you find them that they are the one?"

A smile stretched across her face. It humored her that he was asking her, of all people, these questions.

"Well…there are many ways to tell. But first, let me tell you something about soul mates." She stood up next to him and he suddenly realized that they were about the same height. "Soul mates don't have to be of the opposite sex. You don't have to be homosexual if they just happen to be of your sex. Soul mates also don't have to be human. That sounds weird, I know, because how would you communicate with, say, a gerbil? But it makes being a soul mate all the more special because it's so difficult to find yours. Seven billion people on earth, Davis, and how many animals? What are the odds that your soul mate will live in even the same country as you? Well, scratch that, because odds are irrelevant when considering destiny. Yeah…just remember that it will only happen if destiny wants it to."

"And who controls destiny? God?"

"Well…look at it this way: The destiny to be despised, worshiped, cut down, and praised in all corners of the world at all times of the day – who would choose that as their destiny? Only some self-centered, immature, toddler is what I think. So, it very well could be god choosing the destinies of all, but then again…" she shrugged, "who knows?"

"Do you think god would change a destiny if asked politely?"

His face was too eager for her liking.

"Get out of my sight. You talk to me as if we're of the same importance."

Everyday seemed to slip slowly from the unctious grip of reality. Was Taichi dead, was he alive, did it really even matter now? But he had lost someone…that he could feel for sure. Someone was gone, but they didn't have a name. Maybe it was that one person he had held open the door for once…or maybe it was his best friend from middle school. Weren't they all the same in the end, though? People…Daisuke's eyes lifted lazily towards their blurred faces…people…did he really love them now? Could he love someone that was tied to destiny? Could he find it in his heart to love someone who wasn't free? He rose slowly, his eyes taking their last drink of the world he had known…and destiny decided right then what would happen to him for the rest of that day. And the day after that. And the day after that, until there would be no more days for Daisuke.

So humans don't really dream alone afterall, Mr. Conrad. Destiny has to be watching, because it needs to plan what future would fit best on the dreamer.

Destiny…does it affect god as well? The destiny to be despised, worshiped, cut down, and praised in all corners of the world at all times of the day – who chose that destiny for god? And can a face be put to that power, or is it just inanimate?

Daisuke closed his eyes against the flashing sunlight.

Yeah…tyranny at its worst…he could feel that.

The End