Emmanuel: Book Two

“Luke, wake up!”
 Luke opened his eyes and saw the familiar confines of his bedroom. He breathed a sigh of relief as he became aware of the fact that it was all a dream. He was drenched in sweat from head to toe.
 His maternal grandfather, whom everyone referred to as Pops, entered the room and asked, “Are you okay? You were making a lot of noises.”
 “I’m okay. Just a bad dream.”
 Pops sat on the edge of the bed. “Must have been real bad. I could hear you all the way from the kitchen. Do you want to talk about it?”
 Luke felt a little embarrassed. At fourteen years of age, Pops still treated him like a little kid sometimes. He didn’t want to tell him, for fear of appearing weak in his grandfather’s eyes, but knew that Pops wouldn’t let it go, so he reluctantly told him all of the details of his dream, minus seeing Emmanuel in the flames.
 Pops didn’t approve of Emmanuel, nor did any of the parents of Luke’s friends. They didn’t believe the kids’ claim that he is Jesus, so they were forbidden from having any contact with him. The kids no longer mentioned Emmanuel in front of the adults.
 Luke concluded his story by telling Pops about being pushed into the furnace and waking up.
 Pops nodded slowly and said, “That sounds an awful lot like the story of Daniel, from the Bible. Matthew was asking me about that the other day. You probably overheard us talking about it and it influenced your dream.”
 “I don’t remember hearing you two talk about that, and I’ve never read that part of the Bible.”
 “Well, in any event, it was just a dream. It’s getting late. Just because it’s Saturday doesn’t mean you can sleep the day away. Get up and I’ll make us some breakfast.”
 “Sounds good.”
 Pops got up and headed toward the kitchen.
 After a quick shower, Luke joined Pops at the kitchen table, where a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon awaited him. Pops said a quick prayer and they dug into the food.
 As they ate, Luke noticed that Pops was eating a lot more bacon than usual. He suddenly remembered something that Emmanuel had told him a few days earlier, warning Luke that Pops needs to watch his eating habits, or it’ll lead to health problems.
 Luke asked, “How much bacon did you make?”
 “I saw that the expiration date was getting close, so I made all of it so it wouldn’t go to waste.”
 Trying to make light of it, Luke said, “Don’t eat too much or you’ll explode.”
 Pops ignored the joke and went on eating.
 Concern filled Luke as he looked across the table at his grandfather. For as long as he’d known him, Pops had always had a paunch, but over the last year or so, he had gained a considerable amount of weight.
 Remembering Emmanuel’s advice about encouraging Pops to eat healthier, he suggested, “Why don’t we make a big salad later, and have that for dinner?”
 Pops looked puzzled as he answered, “Salad is a side, not a meal. I was thinking about ordering a pizza with the works.”
 “Wouldn’t you rather eat something better for you? Wrestling season will be starting in a few months, so I’ll have to watch what I eat in order to make weight. I may as well get used to it now.”
 “It’s still football season, so you should be more focused on keeping the weight on for now. You’re kind of puny for a tight end.”
 Seeing that he was getting nowhere, he chose to change the subject. “What did you think about the game last night?”
 “Matthew looked great. It looks like football talent runs in that family.”
 The previous night, Matthew led the Benworth Eagles to an incredible come from behind win. Although only a freshman, he was given the chance to quarterback the varsity team after his older brother, David, was injured with an ACL tear, and Cody Williams, David’s initial replacement, was benched after some very poor play. Matthew stepped up, and he performed remarkably, earning him the starting position.
 Luke smiled as he thought about the game. He was happy for his friend and was excited for what the future held for him.
 As he finished eating, his cell phone rang. He checked the caller ID and saw that it was his friend, Mark.
 “Hey, Mark. What’s up?”
 “My parents are gone for the day, and I’m stuck here, watching my little brother. Why don’t you come over and we’ll watch college football. I’ll call John and Matthew and invite them too.”
 “I’m on my way.”
 He hung up and told Pops where he was going. Mark lived on the same street, about a quarter mile down the road.
 After retrieving his bike from the garage, he rode it out of his driveway, making a left onto Forest Street. About a hundred yards down the road, a jolt of fear ran through him as he saw Jude, Scott and Ethan walking on the sidewalk to his left, in his direction.
 As soon as Jude saw Luke, he shouted, “Stop!”
 Luke began pedaling faster, hoping to get past them as fast as he could, and into the safety of Mark’s house.
 Figuring out that Luke had no intention of obeying his command, Jude ran into the street to cut him off. Luke veered to the right to try to get around him, but quickly saw that he wasn’t going to make it.
 Panic engulfed him. On the fly, he decided to try to jump the curb in an attempt to get by, but he misjudged the timing. His front tire slammed into the curb, bringing the bike to an abrupt halt. Luke sailed over the handlebars and landed hard on his right shoulder, skidding across the sidewalk and into a grassy field between houses.
 Luke laid there, stunned. The pain in his shoulder was excruciating. Before he had a chance to react, Jude came down on top of him, dropping his knee into Luke’s groin, driving all of the air out of his lungs. Nausea set in and he thought that he might throw up.
 Jude held him down by forcing his left hand against his throat. “You should’ve stopped when I told you to.”
 Luke didn’t say anything, too dazed to respond.
 “You and your friends need to be taught a lesson.” Jude proceeded to punch him in the face, repeatedly.
 Luke was only partly aware of what was happening, and with each blow, his mind got foggier. On the brink of falling unconscious, he saw Jude rise above him, then come back down full speed, driving his elbow into his jaw, and everything went black.