Day 479: 5 Minute Freewrite: Monday - Prompt: Beacon

carolkean (66)in #freewrite • 5 years ago (edited)

Beacon

Never doubt that I am with you always,

he said, and I believed him, because I was young and he was invincible.

We fought side by side; we fought from the cover of the forest; we fought on land and sea, us against them. We thought we were safe from other-worlders, being in a galaxy lightyears away from any other that could harbor life. We didn't count on their trickery using wormholes to get to us from "impossible" distances.

It worked so well in the vintage Star Wars movies, throwing rocks at their mechanical land rovers to jam their high-tech monsters and keep them from taking over our world.

Vaughan Lodge led the resistance. If he couldn't save the world, nobody could.

When he walked alone into No-Man's Land to plead for a peaceful resolution, I honestly believed they'd listen. Vaughan had more than logic on his side. He had God on his side. Most of humanity had abandoned hope of a listening god, but Vaughan internalized the best of the Buddha, Jesus, and all the New Age idealists and peaceniks ever to gain a following.

We didn't expect to see him vaporized before the eyes of the world, all of humanity holding our collective breath.

Our sigh of defeat was as pathetic as moth wings fluttering to the flame.

Oddly enough,

the aliens did not proceed with their mysterious buildings made of alloys and strange materials. They set off pyrotechnics that were positively atomic, compared to our fireworks, and set the sky ablaze.

And then they were gone.

Never doubt that I am with you always, Vaughan had said, but we doubted him, until the beacon started glowing in the night. It was a long, arduous journey, but I walked with a horse and a dog, Juniper and Serra, following abandoned roads and climbing the side of a cliff. The air was chill and damp, an ominous mist rising.

A glowing light in the fog of night promised someone or something was there. My pace quickened. Juniper and Serra came to a halt and stood with their heads lowered, looking up as a dark figure appeared on the balcony. A hand rose and waved at us.

Apparently Vaughan had an identical twin, or a clone. Or something.

I ran closer, and the ghostly Vaughan blitzed from the balcony to the earth under our feet faster than eye could see. I threw my arms around him--and fell face-first onto the ground. What the...

"It's ok, Molly. I'm here, but I'm not very solid." He somehow helped me to my feet and I stood blinking at him, or this apparition of him. I glanced up at the tower, the beacon shining in the night, then back to my old friend smiling at me.

"But--you died. Vaughan, I saw you die."

"Death is not the end."

He called to Juniper and Serra; they straightened and came bounding over to Vaughan, tails swishing and wagging.