CHAPTER 14: LAW OF INTERFACES
"Power exists in the interfaces of things. These are the between places that are not entirely one thing or another."
(Whitcomb 15)
Past—Carl's POV
"Only what you're willing to give," a new voice fills the empty church.
Carl jumps. The voice is familiar. It belongs to...
"Jacob?"
Jacob emerges from the front of the church, walking past the rows of pews until he can sit down next to a still kneeling Carl.
There's silence between them as Carl moves into a more comfortable sitting position beside Jacob.
"What did you think of the sermon?" Jacob asked at last.
Carl squints at him. "That was your doing?"
Jacob shakes his head. "No, that was purely Divine Inspiration. I'm not from the Divine... well, not directly that is."
"So...that means you're not an angel or something, right?" Carl shifts slightly.
"Well, I am something..." Jacob corrects.
"What?"
Jacob shrugs. "I am what you made me to be."
"What?!" Carl looks at him askance.
Jacob smiles, but it never quite reaches his eyes.
"How about I tell you a story? But first you have to swear to me in return that you will tell no one anything in the short period you will remember it." Jacob's expression is unnerving as he stares Carl down.
"I promise," affirms Carl, who narrows his eyes back at Jacob. "And what do you mean by 'the short period I'll remember'?"
"Because if we don't act soon, this will be your reality."
Carl is, once again, confused.
"I'm not necessarily saying this is a bad Life that Tom created for you..." Jacob continues with a shrug.
"Who's Tom?" Carl cuts him off, finally demanding an answer. This was the secret that had preoccupied his thoughts ever since he had heard the name; a puzzle he couldn't find the pieces to, much less solve.
"Do you ever dream at night Carl?" Jacob asks, ignoring him.
Carl's lips purse into thin lines which threaten to turn into a frown.
"Everybody dreams," Carl snaps, "Now what about..."
"Do you remember your dreams though?"
This time Carl does frown as he contemplates Jacob's question.
"I used to I think... but lately? No, no I haven't remembered my dreams for a long time now." Carl blinks at this revelation.
Jacob doesn't bat an eye.
Carl looks again to the crucifix at the front of the church and whispers, "Tell me. Tell me everything."
Jacob glances to where Carl's attention is focused and replies, just as quietly, "Not everything, never everything."
"Then at least tell me something! Give me something to go by!"
"Are you ready to hear the story now?"
With effort Carl calms down and nods.
"Once upon a time there were two men: friends, brothers, comrades in every sense of the word. Only there was a secret between them...
"See, one Loved the other...
"...in an entirely different way."
Carl's eyes widen at the implication of the sin.
"There came a day when they were separated. The One Who Was Loved never knew the reason why but The One Who Loved did. And instead of trying to regain what was lost, the Lover gave the Beloved a gift..."
"What was it? Life? Love?"
"All those things, but the greatest was this: the ability—indeed the blessing—to Love another, unhampered by any feelings for the Lover. To live a Life without regret. And to do that required..."
Jacob shakes his head before continuing.
"I had mistakenly thought that the Lone One's intervening had been a curse. But the Lover obviously had other plans. The Lover knew the Lone Power would be jealous, never having such a gift Itself...
Can you imagine it, Carl? What it would mean for the Lone Power to have such a gift?
The ability to forgive Itself for creating Death after so long...
The ability to forget Its own Love for the One's Champion..."
"Wait, what?!" Carl interjects at this point.
Jacob shakes his head. "That's another story for another time."
"Then tell me this: what happens to the Lover?"
"What happens to the Lover? Why, the Lover ceases to be. No one knows of him. This world no longer needs him. So he simply vanishes."
"How?"
Jacob ignores the question.
"But there is something that neither the Lover nor the Beloved ever counted on. That is their Love manifested into physical form, granted by the One."
"And...?" Carl prods after a long silence.
"And I think that's it for today's lesson." Jacob stands up and looks at Carl. "You did feel it today, didn't you? The power here, there, everywhere..."
"Yeah, I felt it," Carl concedes. "Just tell me one thing. Was the Lover and the Beloved Tom and me?"
Jacob appears thoughtful and for a second Carl thinks he's going to answer. But then...
"I'll leave the rest to your imagination. For now at least."
Carl glances down at his hands.
When he looks up again, Jacob is gone.
"Think it over." Jacob's voice echoes throughout the empty church.
Present—Carl's POV
"Wow." Nita said, just the one word.
"Yeah, that's what I thought too," Carl agreed.
"Is it true...?" Nita asked uncertainly. Then something else occurred to her, "What about the Lone Power and the One's Champion? You can't really say that..."
"That they were Lovers?"
"Well, no one regrets his 'Fall' more than the One's Champion..." Carl began.
"And somehow they're always in a tug of war over human's lives. Or they used to be. And so they took a vested interest in both Carl's and mine." Tom finished.
"When He read my mind," Carl added in, "He saw something there that reminded Him. He remembered that Love, he's never forgotten it. And the thought that there could be another like Him, with a similar Love...
That's why he took 'pity' on me."
Carl inhaled, exhaled, and went on...
Past—Carl's POV
A few days later finds him pacing his room.
His wedding is fast approaching.
And he'd found this out the hard way...
A few days after Mass, Cecelia had approached him in their room.
"Carl," Cecelia had thrown her arms around him, asking half-teasingly, "When are you going to go out and buy a tuxedo?"
He had blinked, looking down at her in bewilderment.
"Whatever for?"
It was obviously the wrong thing to say.
Disbelief dawned in her eyes as she pulled away slowly. Shaking her head she backed up and, with a tiny sob, turned and fled the room.
A few minutes later, Carl's mother and father made an appearance.
They had to explain to him the situation. How he was betrothed. Did he remember proposing? Did he still want to marry her?
Carl knows the answer to the last question is "yes."
He knows he loves her, that isn't the problem. He's loved her ever since they were kids. They'd grown up together. They'd laughed and cried and made love. He has wonderful memories with her.
So yes, he does love her.
But there's one thing looming over their happiness...
What about Tom?
Tom who, to all intents and purposes, doesn't exist...
...never has.
And for what? What did Tom gain by disappearing?
The thought angered Carl.
Carl debated this thought and the accompanying anger as he stared at the ceiling of his room at night, unable to sleep with Cecelia draped over him.
What kind of guy was Tom? What kind of person could do something like that? To just vanish from the world to ensure the one he Loved most moved on?
And that the one he Loved most was Carl?
Carl is uncomfortable with that, to say the least... and not just because they were both men.
But he also has to find answers.
So where to begin?
Jacob hadn't given him any clear instructions; just "think it over."
If he's right—and he's fairly sure he was—Tom had Loved him.
Had Carl Loved him in return? And if so, in what way?
If it's how Carl suspects... his thoughts shy away from that.
He couldn't imagine it.
He couldn't...
Carl shakes his head, this is getting him nowhere ...or is it?
What's he deliberating exactly?
Whether or not to marry Cecelia? Whether or not he should save Tom if he could?
He finds he's not so certain of option A anymore. But he is sure about option B.
"What have you decided then Carl?"
Carl spins around.
Jacob is there, sitting on the corner of his bed.
"How did you get in here?" Carl demands, shaken.
Jacob just shakes his head sadly. "I thought you understood."
"Explain it to me," Carl growls.
"Since when have I ever done that? You must come to your own conclusions..."
"You're not human!" Carl complains, rubbing his eyes and collapsing on the bed next to Jacob, frustrated.
"Well, not entirely..."
Carl freezes.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Carl's voice is deceptively even.
"It means we're out of Time. Choose Carl."
"Choose? Choose what? Between Tom and Cecelia?"
Jacob nods, "Essentially, yes."
Then Jacob hesitates, "You have to know Carl... you have the right to know... I don't care what He says..." Jacob stops himself again and clears his throat before going on. "I'm not supposed to be telling you this, but there is another reason that Tom did what he did..."
"You mean it wasn't just to stop me from getting hurt?"
Jacob shakes his head. "No Carl, it was exactly to stop you from getting hurt... and another as well."
"Then who...?"
"Go to sleep, Carl." Jacob stands up. "I promise it all will become much clearer."
Carl wants to argue more but then sees the look in Jacob's eyes.
Carefully he positions himself better on the bed, resting his head on a pillow and closing his eyes.
"I'm not going to be able to just..." 'Fall asleep,' is what Carl means to say but Jacob runs a finger over his eyes and it's as though a weight is placed there. It's impossible to open them.
Carl isn't scared though, he's determined.
He loves Cecelia but he has to save Tom...