THE ULTIMATE REWARD,

(Write a story about waiting but don’t reveal what you are waiting for until the end)

I’m never sure why I have called this a vision,  as there was no visual manifestation of any sort,  I saw nothing,  just the filling of my mind and my  being with sound or knowledge that could not be denied!  And so I will continue…..

The vision said:

“Have faith and wait,  you will be rewarded!”  

“Follow the unspoken but unerring directions exactly!”  

“You will feel massively compelled,  do not fight it, obey it!”  

“Never doubt it,  You must have faith and wait!”   

“You will know it when it happens,  you will understand!”

“The ultimate reward!”

~~~~~

You are standing on the sea wall looking outward to the sea. The tide is on the rise and the connection from this island to the mainland will be lost. The night is full of strange noises like the caterwaul of distant cats or the pain of one caught in a trap in the last vestiges of strength.  The shadows are changing, something is about on this night and if you weren’t feeling so compelled to go up,  you might lock yourself in somewhere, lock all doors and draw the curtains.  A feeling of impending evil permeates the damp air.  This knowing that you must go up has taken control of your logic, your intellect.  But these words and urges,  so strong, so powerful,  must be obeyed.

Turning now to the city which has closed its shutters on this night, you begin,  you begin going up streets and lanes, through alleys and gardens!  The shortest route is just to see the very top and go there as directly as possible.  Forget obstacles, forget the noise or disruption you may cause,  it would seem the local residents know not to interfere, some may have witnessed these otherworldly occurrences in the past.

Climbing up levels and onto terraces, entering and exiting gangways between buildings, scaling over fences and then through a whole lighted house with the people staring frozen with fear as you enter then leave their home.   But the route is always upward!  You have no idea where or why, just that you must!  You must go up!  You must wait for what?  Enlightenment?  Knowledge?  Some ultimate reward?   You are not sure!   Is anyone ever sure when the words occur so loudly in one’s brain?  Not a suggestion or a wish, but a command!

Finally exhausted from the constant climb,  you lay panting at the base of the very castle walls.  You look out into the darkness.  Lights blink from boats as they pitch into the trough of waves and bob again to the crest.  The tide is high,  up to the walls of the city.  There is no escape now from this place.  Your eyes register all of this but in this dreamlike state you don’t question.  Your mouth so dry,  you lick your parched lips,  knuckling sweat from your eyes.   You look up again…the spires still so far above you,  still so high!  It is not knowledge just blind faith drives you upward.   The task seems to be beyond your strength but you no longer have free will!

You have no way of knowing how you know,  but you are certain,  if you can gain the cathedral and climb the spire, if you are patient and wait, you will have a vision of Saint Michael the Archangel!   

This could be the reward!  You wonder if you have guessed correctly! !   You feel it!  It must be true!   Stories say it has happened here before in ancient times.   It is suicidal but what is life worth anyway?  To be chosen from among modern men to do this thing,  tears flow at the very thought!  You wonder if there will be visions or precognition?  You wonder if this enlightenment will enrich your life in ways beyond your imagination!  Will you be able to save mankind?

Your  arms ache and your chest is still heaving but you continue to  go up!  Up and up!  Higher and higher!   You are climbing over tile rooftops and passing gargoyles and inscriptions carved in stone.  Your mind is full of questions but you never question the compulsion to obey,  

The sky begins to change,  the tiny lights from the boats become less apparent.  The inky night, the blackness becomes diluted with a mauve tinge of color,  a glow begins to develop in the East.  You are nearing  the very top,  the steepness of the spire, the tiles, they are treacherous ,  the height creates dizziness and your raw bloody fingers try to  hold to the slate, to the stone edges.  The glow is growing like a flower opening!

It is then that it happens.  Bursting from the horizon. The glow of life Devine.  The sun,  maybe you are to be saved from this thing!  You look once more far out to sea,  across land masses beyond comprehension,  the vast oceans,  the enormity of creation.   

There have been no words in your mind for hours and hours but now you hear, 

“You have done well, my son!”

And you are released from the compulsion!   You know somehow that your waiting is over!   You will know now in this very moment what you have been waiting for,  what your ultimate reward will be!

You blink at the sun, the sky enfolds you, your fingers just release you and you are falling.  Falling.   Falling.

Your eyes burn with salty tears but you are without a voice, you do not scream or give thanks or utter words of praise.  You just exist in this moment!  Is it glorious?  You are unable to comprehend!

The air around you becomes full of turbulence and your ears register the sound of a thousand bird wings and you are scooped from the air by the angel.  

And then blackness!  

Your mind finally screams, “This is it?”  

 “I have been waiting for blackness?”

And the angel speaks,  “From the darkness comes enlightenment,  from the darkness the appreciation of light,  from the darkness a time to learn!”   “Do not despair,  you are worthy!”