The Beckoning

The Beckoning(John Dodge) “Alright children, gather round.” The sound of rustling can be heard echoing throughout the grade school room.
“Story time!” The group of children yelled.
“Are we going to hear another one about John Dodge?” A little girl asked. “Like about how he killed Hitler?”
“Or how he defeated the evil Donald Trump?” A younger boy asked.
“No kids, today we are going to talk about one of his closest friends.” The teacher said, “today we are talking about Faith Stratton.”
“Who?” Said the class in unison.
“You are about to find out.”

The headlights flicker on an old station wagon driving quickly through the Iowan country side. The car makes a sudden halt at a dim lit intersection, skidding on the gravel road. The car doors open, revealing two hooded figures. They appear motionless for a few moments, then they re-enter the car and drive away. Driving quickly, the dust engulfs the area.

“Ms. Stratton wake up!” Roared an angry man. Faith’s eyes shot open and pulled her head up quickly from the desk. She glanced down and saw a puddle of her drool all over her notebook. “I’m ‘sorry’ if the French Revolutionary War isn’t ‘hip’ enough for your young mind.” He said sardonically, “I am certain that those brave thousands of men thought it was boring as well.”

Faith was still in somewhat of a daze from her dream. (That’s not a dream I normally have, this one seemed real.) “Ms. Stratton! Can you even hear me!?” (Whoa, take a pill teach.)
“Yes I can hear you Mr. Harris.” Said Faith, “I was just ‘in deep thought’ or ‘imagining’ what those poor souls had to do for their country.” The class started laughing from that remark. (Was I too sarcastic?) Mr. Harris on the other hand appeared to have broken a blood vessel. He shot the rest of the class a menacing glare that silenced them instantly.
“Well I’ll have you know that you have just earned yourself more time to ‘imagine their lives’ in detention.”
“That’s not fair!”
“Neither is having to pretend to teach a bunch of teenage pig sows!”

Just as those words exited Mr. Harris’s mouth, all of the students were staring at the principle who had just stepped in. “And by, uh, pig sows I obviously mea…”
“That’s enough Nigel. My office. Now.” Said the principle with a strict tone. “All right kids, now if he assigned any of you a punishment just forget about it okay?” She said in a very sincere tone. (Hells yeah)

The day went by quickly for Faith because she didn’t want to risk getting in trouble again.
Now, as the day passed she found herself day dreaming about the country side, the car, and the figures. (What does this mean? Am I crazy or what?) She put it off and tried to ignore it but, it kept coming back. Days, even weeks, went by with just that dream always in her mind.
As each day past she grew more and more nervous. She was always wondering when she would see them again. A new goal was formed in her mind. Find them. Her friends and family noticed and tried helping her. She refused all help, except for John’s.

“Yay!” All the children screamed.

Faith had an open relationship with John. They could share anything without either judging the other. She told him everything she could remember about it. “John, what do I do? Is there a message inside? Do I have to find them? Where do I begin?” She said quickly, “John, look, I know you care about me. That’s why I came to you; I really need your help.”
“Faith, you’re awesome kid! Don’t let some silly dream shake you.” Faith looked away in discontent. “Okay hun, how about the next time you have the dream look for key details. A street sign? A license plate? Anything would work.”
“But how do I do that John? I need you to do this with me.” Faith said worriedly.
“Listen, I wouldn’t love anything else more than to help you but, Donald Trump is at his old tricks again. The universe needs me.”
“Whaa..?”
“…Never mind, but look I’ve got to go.” John pulled out a skateboard from a nearby locker. “You have the power to control your own dreams. I believe in you, good luck.” And with that being said, John rode away as quickly as he could in search for Donald’s secret hideout. (Gee thanks that sure solved a lot.)

Now completely on her own, Faith decided to use John’s advice. (At least he believes in me, one of us has to.) She went home as she always did, by walking. She noticed there were a lot of cars in her street. (Is someone having a party?) The large amount of people unnerved her.
She put that feeling to rest when she opened her door. She was excited for the night ahead. (Control my dreams. I have to do it.) Upon going in her house, she saw a large amount of family and a few friends. (Oh no) “Faith, we care about.” Said her mother, “These dreams you’ve been having have become a concern to us.”
“Your mothers right Faith; we’re going to help you.” Said her father. (Just give me one more night.)

The night passed with many fake tears, a few hugs, and some I love you’s . The people who should up and left one by one until it was just her and her family. “We care about you Faith, don’t forget that.” Her mother said. “Try and get some sleep okay?”
“All right mom.” Faith said walking up the stairs. (Finally! That took way to long.) Faith was getting ready for bed when she heard a few knocks on her window. Upon opening the window she saw John standing below. (Is he holding a doughnut?) “What are you doing here yeah crazy kid?”
“Move back.” John whispered. Faith did and John crawled up the side of the house. He squirmed his way through the window and fell face first on the floor.
“Shhh! Do you want my parents to hear?” John looked up and smiled that irresistible smile, the one of a funny young man who hasn’t a care in the world. “Dumb kid.”
“Just wanted to stop by, I just got back to Earth.”
“What?”
‘Uhh nothing, I just wanted to stop by and wish you luck.” Faith made a shyful smirk. “And I wanted to apologize for not being at your intervention.” John said jokingly. “Well see you ‘round you nut job!” Just as he said that he took a bite of the doughnut and jumped through the window. Faith looked out to see if he was okay but he was gone. (Stupid kid…)

Faith jumped in her bed and fell asleep. She was eager this time, she was eager to control her dream. That night felt long for everyone else in the world. It felt like the night had lasted for days. For Faith, however, she slept like a rock. No moving, no dreaming. Nothing.
When she awoke her house was silent. Now, that’s unusual for her house. With having two younger brothers who play sports, a dog that barks all the time, and a ferret. Well the ferrets cool. But the silence shouldn’t happen. She went downstairs from her room. (Where is everyone?)
She looked around her house and couldn’t find anyone. In denial she sat down in her living room to watch mind-numbing T.V. (They’ll be back later I guess) She switched on the T.V. only to see static. In frustration she stood up to hit it, but to no avail. As she turned back around she saw a figure standing on her back porch. It was dressed in all black, it’s face covered with a hood. Faith started getting dizzy. The last thing she remembers seeing is the figure inside her house. She hit the ground.
A car was driving furiously down an old dirt road. Every rock caused a vigorous bump within the car. (Owe my head) Faith opened her eyes. (Where am I?) A bump bounced her in the air. (I can’t see anything.) The car skidded to a halt. (It stopped?)

The car doors opened. Two hooded figures stepped out. They walked in a drifting motion to the trunk. “Where am I!?” Faith shouted. They opened the trunk and she shot up. “Who are you!?” They reached in and grabbed her with extremely quick movements. “Help!” They carried her to the side of the road.

In unison they spoke,” You weren’t supposed to become aware.” It sounded like fifty different voices in her mind. They threw the struggling girl into the ditch. As they did she managed to rip off one of their hoods. Nothing. No face, no head. She fell. The car drove off and she blacked out.

(What was that?) Faith came to, she felt herself lying on something uncomfortable. She struggled to open her eyes but they seemed wielded shut. A loud buzzing noise is heard above her. A light flashed on. She could feel the warmth of her light on her face.
“Well, what have you gotten yourself into?”
“Who’s there?” She managed to speak.
“How do you not recognize my voice? It is I, the essence of masculinity, John Dodge.”
“Shut up… Where am I?”
“I can tell you where you’re not.”
“Go on…”
“You’re not on Earth anymore.”
“What are you talking about? Is this another stupid dream?”
“Maybe, let’s make the most of it.” John said as he walked over to her. “I had to cover your eyes. You saw a member of the Beckoning. One look should have killed you.”
“The Beckoning?”
“They’re a religious order who hide in the night. Their soul meaning is to kill all life as we know it.”
“Why not just kill us than?”
“Their God looks down on violence.” John took of a pair of metal visors from Faith’s face. She leaned up and looked around. The first thing she noticed was John. Smiling. (Why is he so adorable?) John pointed to a window behind her.
“What is it….. We’re… we’re in space…How...why...John?” John had left as she looked outside in amassment. The lights came on. She looked around the room and saw it filled with machinery that she didn’t even know how to comprehend. She could tell one thing though; there was a chair higher than anything else. Siting on it was John.
“Welcome to my ship.” John said loudly. “Listen, I’m not going to talk about back stories, this is the here and now.” (He just got serious, that never happens.) “The Beckoning have been lurking in the shadows for the last 200 years. They are the ones responsible for all of the cruel, abusive, and evil in the world. You’re special; you could foresee that they were going to do to you. We can use that.”
“Okay John, slow down. Are we in a spaceship?”
“FAITH! We don’t have time for this! We have to act soon!” John jumped off his chair and ran into another room. “Follow me.” She climbed off the table and ran after him. (What the hell is going on!?) The next room was bigger than the last. It had racks upon racks of what looked to be weapons. “The armory.” John said boastfully. “Suit up kid; we’re in for a hell of fight.”

John spent the next few days training Faith with the weapons he had. “I acquired these on many of my runs and odd jobs.”
“You mean those stories you write me are real?”
“Of course, I’d never lie to you.” Faith looked away for a minute. John walked up to her. “This is a quantum flux grenade, this could destroy Texas. You push the red button and then run like hell.” She took it cautiously and strapped it on her vest. “Well that’s it for training, you owe me about more money that Earth has. I’ll collect later.”

John made sure the two were fitted for this mission and lead her into a room she hadn’t yet seen. ”Mission room, we’re going to go over what we are actually doing.” He clicked a few buttons and a hologram came up showing the planet. It zoomed into Canada for some reason. “200 years ago they landed in Québec, the thought humanity didn’t deserve to be a part of the cosmic community. ‘Let’s kill them off’ that’s all they thought.”

The map zoomed into a hill; underneath it was a huge construct of tunnels. “This is their base. We break in, we kill, and we blow it up. Got it?” Faith was still in a daze but nodded her head. “Great, let’s go.” John leads her into the hanger bay. Loads of alien ships can be seen.
“From your adventures?”
“Yup.” John started looking distant. Faith didn’t bother with it. (He must be nervous for the mission.) The two Earth-bound heroes climbed inside a modified fighter jet. “We’ll be fine in this one; the other ones are sort of broken.” (That’s reassuring)
About two hours passed in silence. They were en route to The Beckoning’s base. “John, is there something you’re not telling me?”
“This is a one shot mission. We’re going to blow it up and we can’t escape the blast radius in time.”
“But what about the people that live there?”
“A small price to pay for the world’s future.”
“What about us?”
“An even smaller price.”

Having heard this Faith started questioning why she was here. (We’re going to kill people and then die.) She wanted to eject, but she knew she couldn’t. “We’re here.” John said emotionless. The base was apparently hidden in a hill. All there was on the hill was a farm house. A few cows here and there but nothing was suspicious about it. John landed the jet about a mile away. He still wasn’t talking.

They walked for about 15 minutes before John said something. “We’re going to have to army crawl the rest of the way.” Faith went along with what John did without question. A few hundred feet they had to crawl. When they reached the farm house they stood up and went inside. “It’s a trap.” John said. The floor opened up and dropped them down a steel chasm.
“John! What are we going to do!” Faith yelled.
“Fight.” John said surprisingly calm. He pulled out his battle riffle and waited for them to hit the ground. Faith’s eyes started to drift shut. The last sounds she heard were the combat movements of John. She heard him shoot, and then she was out.

Faith opened her eyes and she was laying on the ground in a blank white room. It was so bright she had to squint her eyes. “John!?” There was no answer. She started banging on the wall in fear and frustration. Nothing. No John, no hope.

A door appeared on one of the walls. A hooded figure stepped through it. This one wore all white, unlike the others. “I’m sorry; your attempt to kill us has failed. You will be subject to many tests before you will be terminated.” Faith pulled out her gun and shot it in the chest. It dropped to the floor. She ran out of the door to find John.
“Faith”
“John!? Where are you?”
“Control room, find a way out. I’m going to detonate the bomb. I’ll wait for you to leave. Get in the jet it’ll fly you back home. Live a normal life; forget about me, forget about this.”
“John! I’m not going to leave you!”
“GO!” Faith ran straight forward. Never stopping, Just running. She found the way out in about ten minutes. (Lucky me.) She sprinted with everything she had towards the jet; she got in and took off. She calmed down enough from the adrenaline to notice that she was crying. An explosion shook the jet.
“John!” She screeched. She started crying deeply now. The flight home only took twenty minutes, but it felt like twenty life times. She got home and lived out her life. She remembered the events of that day until she died. It even lead her to found the Space Affairs Association. She had one thought in her mind. Everything. Remember John, remember the truth.
“But teacher, John didn’t die! He’s still around today.” A little girl stated.
“Yes, he did manage to escape. But we’ll save that story for another day.”