Chapter 7 Why Do They Follow One They Have No Faith In?

Hello good readers. Told ya I'd come with the next chapter, didn't

I awoke the next morning in the Inn. I had slept in. It was eleven. But I had been worn out by all the fighting. I needed the rest. I stood up and stretched. I saw Cliff sitting cross legged on his bed.

"What happened last night man?" he asked me. "Why did you suddenly come to the Inn?"

"Lets go downstairs and get breakfast," I said. "I'll tell you while we are eating."

Cliff nodded, and the two of us got up and went downstairs. Doug stood behind the counter. He looked rather sleepy for he had bags under his eyes, and he was yawning. He smiled at me as I came down the stairs.

"I stayed up half the night," Doug said. I noted that his shotgun rested in his lap. "I was afraid that something else would happen."

"Things only happen when I'm outside at night," I said. "If I'd have been inside, nothing would have happened."

"Yeah," Doug said with a grin. "Then you wouldn't have had to give Ann CPR. And then none of that would have happened."

I blushed. That was Doug. Always the optimist. He had a way of taking something horrible, and finding something good in it.

"You had to give Ann CPR?" Cliff said in amazement.

"Yeah," I said. "Is Ann okay, Doug?"

"Sleeping beauty," Doug said smiling.

I mentally agreed with him.

"She hasn't woken up yet," Doug continued. "Do me a favor Zach. Go in there and wake her up for me."

"Sure!" I said leaping up from my stool to go in and see Ann.

Doug laughed as I practically ran through the door to the bedrooms. I went into Ann's room, and saw her sleeping peacefully on her bed. I stopped in the middle of the room, and watched her. She looked so beautiful sleeping there on her bed. I walked over, and sat on the side of her bed. I stroked her hair back, before reaching down and planting a kiss on her lips. She smiled in her sleep, but didn't wake up.

"Time to get up!" I said.

Ann opened her eyes, and smiled up at me. She yawned, and stretched herself.

"Good morning Zach," she said softly.

"Time to get your self out of bed and join the rest of civilization." I said quietly.

"No," Ann said as she closed her eyes, and rolled over to face the opposite wall.

"Come on Ann," I said. "Its eleven fifteen."

"Then wake me up at twelve," Ann mumbled sleepily.

"Sorry," I replied. "Can't do that."

Ann still refused to get up. So I grabbed a pillow, and began whacking her with it. Ann giggled, but still refused to get up.

"Don't make me do this," I said playfully. Ann still didn't stir. "Okay, you made me."

I first yanked the covers off of her body. Ann ignored this, and continued to pretend to be asleep. So I walked to the other side of the bed, and grabbed the wooden frame. I pulled it up, tilting the bed at an angle, and Ann rolled off onto the floor.

"Hey," Ann said as she picked herself up from the floor. "That's not fair."

"It got you up, didn't it?" I replied. "Now come on, lets go get breakfast."

"Okay you win," Ann said. "Just give me a couple of minutes to get dressed."

"Right," I said as I left the room.

As I reentered the main room of the Inn, Cliff immediately ran up to me.

"Now will you tell me what happened?"

So I related my tale to him, telling him of my Grandpa's warnings, and what Won had done. I described with great detail the battle with the clay creatures, and how Ann's heart had stopped and how I had to give her CPR.

"Ann's okay now, luckily. I'm now very fortunate that I took lifeguard training over the summer."

"Yeah," Cliff replied. "But Doug acted like you having to give Ann CPR was a good thing. How was that good?"

I blushed, and turned away.

"Ooohhh," Cliff said in almost a whisper. "I get it. There is a certain emotional bond which forms after you restart someone's heart."

"Shut up!" I shouted punching Cliff in the arm.

Cliff smiled back, but then closed his eyes and glanced away suddenly, as if preoccupied by something.

"I told you he doesn't hate me."

'What difference does it make? You still are his enemy. Some day you will have to face up to this fact.'

"But why? Whatever happened to freedom of religion?"

'The only reason freedom of religion was created was because there was no solid proof which proved one of the religions. Now, there is. On this island, he can see the Harvest Goddess with his own eyes, and the Harvest Sprites can testify to her existence. If he still refuses to bow down to the true deity, then he is a fool who refuses to believe the truth because he doesn't like what is true.'

"He said something about not worshiping the Goddess because faith is more powerful than the ability to see. Maybe this "faith" that he speaks of is something he has found that you and I cannot see."

'He does not know more than I do.'

"Hey, Zach's an amazing kid. He still continues to amaze me. Perhaps he is different than you and I and his difference has helped him find what he has that we don't have."

'He has nothing that I do not already possess, or that I do not already know of.'

"Know of, yes, but understand? No one understands everything."

'Don't be so sure of that, my friend.'

"Really? You really think you understand him? Did you know that he saved Ann's life last night? He gave her CPR and restarted her heart."

'Of course I know of this. I listened just as closely as you did to his words at breakfast.'

"Hey, that reminds me. I was wondering. Do you eat?"

'Yes I do as a matter of fact. But I feed in a much different fashion than you. Not only that, but I feed on different things that you do.'

"Really? What kind of things."

'Strange things. Things that you would not understand if I told you.'

This was not the first time I had felt that something was wrong about a person I knew. The first time this had happened was when I was on a trip to England about two years ago. While I made friends with a man who lived off in the outskirts of London. He always seemed to have a dark feeling around him, as if something was wrong with him. Later I learned that he was a practicer of witchcraft, and that he and several others had formed a cult in the local region. They would meet in their "Church" and worship Satan. All the while blaspheming God saying that he was really the evil one while Satan had been banished because he was good.

Now I felt this strange darkness around both Cliff and Karen. But why had I felt this around them, but not around Won, or Ann? Both of them worshiped the Goddess, and Won seemed pretty into the town's religion. So what was different about Cliff and Karen?

It appeared that Ann's faith in the Goddess was only there because she feared what the Goddess could do to her, and she wanted the Goddess to help her. Now what was happening to me as a result of my faith was damaging Ann's faith in the Goddess. I could tell. Doug seemed to be losing faith in the Goddess as well. It made sense that since Ann's faith in the Goddess wasn't very strong, then she wouldn't have the dark feeling.

But Cliff did, and it appeared that the only reason he worshiped the Goddess was because he had seen her, and because he wanted her to help him. Neither Ann or him worshiped the Goddess because of faith. They worshiped her because of earthly desire, and fear. I would have to use this to my advantage. But it seemed like deep in Cliff, something kept him from giving up the Goddess.

His faith in this Goddess seemed weak enough already, so what made him keep the Goddess? Ann had grown up believing in the Goddess, so it made sense for her to hold on to those beliefs even when she had no faith. But Cliff had just come to Mineral Town. There had to be a reason why he worshiped the goddess even though he had little faith in her. Perhaps it was because of his faith in something else. Maybe he had too much faith in money? That would explain it. He wanted more money, so he worshiped the Goddess in hopes that she would give him more money.

But he had talked of having a troubled past. Maybe whatever he had faith in was bringing him down, but he didn't know it, and thought that whatever he had faith in was helping him instead of hurting him. That would explain why his past was so bad, and why he had money troubles.

Anyways, I was now trying to figure out what was going on on this island. What could the Goddess be? My initial belief was demonic activity. But even that seemed a bit strange. Since when could Demons have children, or was all this beyond my understanding? And what of these Harvest Sprites that people talked about. They were said to be children of the Harvest Goddess who were given mortal bodies so that they could live and interact with the people in the town. I had to find out who, and what they were.

'He is not affected.'

'Of course, your prey is too weak.'

'Hey, if you knew how far I have taken him, you would know why he is weak. And if you knew how far I have brought him in.'

'Yes yes. You are the envy of all my children. If I succeed, then all of them will have prey as well.'

'But having weak prey right now is not a good thing. We need someone else.'

'I have servants. They are not my prey, but they serve me. Perhaps Won? He has served me many times when dealing with the older enemy. Unfortunately the older enemy warned the new enemy of this man. Yes, Won will do this, but we need others. I have the perfect person in mind. And she is my prey. But I have a problem. A few of my followers are loosing loyalty because of the new threat.'

'I see.'

'Nothing can stop the master plan. I will deliver this information to the others. But now, you must find a way to deal with the ones who loose loyalty.'

'I could approach this in a number of ways. What do you want me to do? Haunting? Refutation? Direct Warning? Death?'

'I only want death as a last resort. If we can't drag them down, death is the only option. I have done it before, I can do it again!'

'But you almost killed one of them earlier.'

'I know fool. First of all, that was not done by me. But if I had been there, I think I would have ordered that to be done. Why would I do that if I want to preserve servants you ask? Because they were getting in the way of the master plan. Servants don't do this. If they get in the way, I will kill them on the spot. But as I said, we will use death as a last resort. But I have done it before, and can do it again.'

'What instance are you talking of?'

'The old enemy. You know of his death?'

'I heard about it from the Harvest Sprites.'

'I organized it. My hopes were that after him some lost soul would take over the farm. Then I could bend him to my will. But the cursed old man willed it to his Grandson. Curse the one who invented the idea to make wills.'

'I understand. That explains a couple of the town rumors, and also how the old man knew of his death before hand.'

'He was a powerful enemy. He went to death without regrets, except that he would never see the town be turned. BUT IT WILL NOT BE TURNED!'

'Indeed. Our dark duties must not be hindered.'

I walked back to my farm after my quiet contemplation of all that was going on. I kept walking, until I walked into the forest. I walked between the twin mountains down to the bottom of Mother's Hill. I then came to the Lake at the base of Mother's Hill. Then, I sat down and closed my eyes. I slowly began to pray.

"God," I prayed. "I see this task which you have set before me. I understand what you want me to do. This is a very hard job God. So please give me your wisdom and strength so that I may carry out your trials. Help me to remember that you are with me. Father, keep my faith strong, and don't allow it to be dissuaded by earthly pleasures or temptations. Give me the courage so that I will stand up for what is right, no matter what the cost is. Please protect Ann and her father from all of this. They are very close to me, and if they died because of me, I couldn't bear it. Please open up the eyes and hearts of the people of this town. Help them to listen and receive the message. Please God, save them. Help them. Free them from the demons which control them. And please, help me do all that you ask of me. Please, send another disciple to help me spread the good news. In Jesus' name, amen."

I stood up, and walked back to my farm. Spring was almost over, so I began harvesting what was left of my spring crops. I put some in the shipping box, and others I took inside to put in my refrigerator. Then I rode my horse around the farm a little before heading in for bed.

'I don't see how this is going to work. It didn't work on the old man. Why should it work on this guy?'

'Because the new threat is not an elderly man. He is quite young. And when they are young, they can be more vulnerable.'

'How are they more vulnerable?'

'Oh, you will soon see.'

'I don't understand.'

'As I said, you soon will.'

Once again the voices began speaking to me, whispering tails long forgotten. Tails which seemed so real, that I searched my brain desperately to try and find a memory which matched the stories. But I found none. Then the story of Mineral Town appeared again. I focused on it again, and found myself reliving the experience.

The next day I went to the girl's home and asked her father if she could play again today. She came out, and we ran down to the beach to catch crabs.

"I wanna catch a huge one!" I shouted. "One even bigger than Grandpa's farm. It would be so cool."

"I think I'll find a bigger one than you," the little girl replied.

"We'll see about that."

I awoke, and immediately began pondering the significance of these dreams which I was having. Sure, I remembered the girl that I had met so long ago, but I did not remember what her name was. So I had no idea which girl in the town was the girl I had met years ago. Who knew how I would ever learn the truth. I felt like crying. I didn't know why old memories would make me feel this way, but they did. Perhaps it was because I wanted so much to learn who the girl in my memories was, but I knew that that was probably impossible. Who knows, the girl may have moved away from this town a long time ago.

I fell back against the bed as this thought entered my mind. There is nothing sadder than forgetting memories which mean a lot to you. When you forget them, it is as if a piece of your life, your soul, is erased forever. Its almost as if you know what your dreams are, but you can never reach them, because you know that they are impossible. But I had no time to mourn the dying memories, so I got out of bed, and dressed myself.

I stepped outside, and viewed my farm. My horse bounded down the field looking happier than ever. I smiled. My dreams were coming true. I closed my eyes and murmured a soft prayer.

"God, please give me guidance during these hard times. Please use me as your tool to reach out to the people of the town. Give me strength, and please protect me from those who wish to cause me harm. In Jesus' name. Amen."

I opened my eyes, and began harvesting the remainder of my crops. Summer was almost upon us, and the spring crops would wither and die under the hot sun. The hear beat down on me as I pulled at the weeds and contemplated why Ann and Cliff followed the Harvest Goddess when neither of them seemed to have any faith in her.

I stood up, my arms full of vegetables, and looked at the sky. Today I had planned on meeting some of the people in the town who I didn't know yet. So, I carried my harvest down to the shipment box, and placed it inside. I wiped the sweat off of my forehead, and then headed off into the town. The first place I went to was the supermarket to buy summer seeds.

"Hello Zach," Karen said as I entered the building. "You here to buy seeds for the summer?"

"Yeah," I said. "Do you have any corn seeds?"

"Yeah," Karen replied. "How many bags do you want.

"Five please," I said. I planned to grow a massive amount of crops this summer.

After I bought the bags of seeds, I left the supermarket to meet new people. I went to the first house I saw. A short haired girl opened the door and looked out at me.

"Yes?" she said.

She was about my age, with brown hair.

"I'm the new guy at the farm..."

"Oh yes," the girl exclaimed. "Your name is Zach, right?"

"Yes," I replied. "And who might you be?"

"My name's Elli," the girl replied. "I work at the Clinic. If you ever get physically hurt come on down to the Clinic, and we will help you. If you are spiritually hurt, try the church."

I tried to laugh at this, but I knew that this was not the church I would want to go to if I was spiritually injured. So instead, I just smiled.

"Elli!" shouted a childlike voice behind her. "Come here. I have something to show you!"

Elli sighed, and rolled her eyes. "Come on in Zach," she said holding open the door. I stepped inside and followed Elli through the house. I saw a little boy with brown hair standing on the carpet with his fist clenched tightly together.

"Elli," he said. "I have sumthing to show you."

"What's that Stu?" Elli asked as she kneeled in front of the boy..

"This," the boy said as he held his fist up just inches below Elli's nose. He then opened his fingers.

Elli shrieked, and leaped up to her feet.

"STU!" she yelled. I couldn't help but laugh at the child's clever trick.

"All I did was show you a bug sis," Stu said with an innocent look on her face. "Hey, who is that guy?"

"Z-Zach, this is Stu, my younger brother," Elli said.

"Hi Zach," Stu said enthusiastically.

"Nice to meet you Stu," I replied.

"Stu?" Elli said between clenched teeth. "If I were you, I would never do that again."

"All I did was show you a bug," Stu said innocently.

"I rest my case," Elli replied.

"Zach," Stu said to me. "You understand me, don't you? You're a boy."

"Yes I understand you," I said smiling.

"Really!" Stu said happily. "I like you Zach."

And with that, he dashed up the stairs to the second floor of the house.

"You don't have to humor him you know Zach," Elli said.

"I wasn't humoring him," I said.

"You mean you approve of..."

"I have to say that was the most hilarious things I have seen in a long time."

Not a wise choice of words. I ducked the pillow that Elli threw at me.

"Woa!" I shouted as I ducked it. "Nice throw, almost hit me."

I dodged a second pillow. I then opened the door and dashed outside.

"Igottagoseeyoulater!" I said before closing the door. A third pillow ricocheted off of the door as it closed.

I immediately headed off to the church. It had been a long time since I had seen Carter.

"Ah Zach," he said as I entered. "Have you finally come for a Ceremony of Unity?"

"No," I said. "I just came to say hello."

Carter shook his head. "Zach Zach Zach. If only you would open your eyes to the truth."

"I have," I replied. "And I have found God because of it."

"Have you ever seen God? You've seen the Harvest Goddess, haven't you?"

"Yes, I have seen the Harvest Goddess. But just the fact that I have seen her does not mean she is the true God. My faith in God is more evidence to his existence than the fact that I have see the Goddess, and the fact that she has sent dark creatures to attack me."

"What are you talking about?" Carter asked. "What's this about dark creatures?"

"You haven't heard?" I replied. "I was almost killed twice during my time here."

Carter tilted his head, and looked back at me in a strange fashion.

"To make a long story short," I began, "I had to give Ann CPR about a day ago or so.."

"What?" Carter said in disbelief.

So I told him my story. I started with the letter my Grandfather left for him, and went on to describe the night I went out to chase away what I thought was a wild dog. I finished by telling about the Clay creatures which attacked Ann, Doug, and I the one night. Carter just listened carefully to every word.

"Are you sure you didn't imagine, or dream all of this?" Carter asked as I finished my tale.

"Ask Doug, Ann, and the Doctor," I replied. "They can back me up."

I stood up to leave, but stopped and reached into my pocket.

"Here," I said as I pulled out a black book and handed it to Carter.

He took it, and read the title. It said: "Holy Bible."

Carter looked back up at me. "What makes you think that I will read this? I have heard about this book, and I know of the blasphemes in it against the Harvest Goddess."

"Just read it," I retorted. "You might learn something from it. You know, only the people of this island believe in this Harvest Goddess."

"Very well," Carter said softly. "I will read it. But I doubt it will have any affect on me. So why do you bother trying to convert me if there is no hope?"

"There is always hope that people will be saved," I replied. "Besides, if you never accept Jesus as your savior, well, I won't go to heaven feeling guilty for not trying to save you. Know this Carter. I don't try and convert you because I hate you, or your religion. I do it because I love you, and want what is best for you. I don't want to see you burn in hell. So I will try my best to save you."

Carter nodded, and I left.

The Ferry floated gently across the waves as the ship came nearer and nearer to its destination. The young man stood at the front of the ship leaning against the railing. It was time now, time to return to Mineral Town. But deep inside, this man was afraid. He did not know how the people of the small island would react to his sudden change, or if he would still be accepted. And what about her? The man closed his eyes, and scratched his black hair through the purple bandanna which was tied around his head. It would be hard to explain this to her. The man doubted that she would understand it.

She has to understand! he thought to himself.

But in his heart, he was not sure if this would be the case. But he greatly hoped that she would. The man bowed his head and closed his eyes. And what of Won? Won lived on the beach. It would be impossible for him ever to understand. What with the rituals which took place there at nights? What would he do about those? The man's dark brownish blackish eyes snapped back open, and he looked out to sea.

'You have to stop thinking like that,' he thought to himself. 'Those thoughts only make things worse.'

The man had felt the calling, and had followed it. He knew that there was a greater purpose in his return to Mineral Town. Now he had to explain his changes to the people of the town. But what of what was happening on the island? Before the man wouldn't have recognized that something was wrong, but now he did, more than anything else. He had to warn her. He had to warn them. He had to find the words to explain.