Heaven's Jubilee And Other Short Stories

By Faith Blum

Heaven's Jubilee
Followers of The Way were being rounded up, but I never expected to be one of them. I wanted to ask God, "Why Me" but would it do any good? Instead, I prayed for strength and endurance, little knowing how much I would need it.

Zane's Consequences
I'd always done things my way. Why would my flight test be any different?

Hope is All that is Left
Our parents had been arrested and Liz and I now hid from unknown enemies. We had nothing left until we remembered one thing: The hope that spring would come again.

New Life So much pain. So much suffering. We were sick without cure until the angel came.

Darren's Choice
I never should have signed the contract. Not without knowing what my invention would be used for. Now I had a hard choice to make. Violate my conscience or forfeit my life?

Authors note: Some of the subjects dealt with in these stories may not be appropriate for children younger than 13, so please read with discretion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Faith Blum
• Release date: May 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781533363626

Book preview

Heaven’s Jubilee

Chapter One

I curled up into a tight ball on the narrow cot, hoping to get warm. The cell I had been thrown into had drafts, rats, and countless other things I didn’t want to think about. I couldn’t understand why I had been singled out. Of all the followers of The Way, why me?

Curling up didn’t work, so I swung my legs around and stood up. I jogged in place for a few minutes and quoted passages from The Book in rhythm to my movement.

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.

For God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control.

As I quoted and jogged, my body and spirit both warmed up.

To the King of all days, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory, forever and ever. Amen.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

Be quiet in there! a guard yelled, rattling the door.

I took a deep breath and sat on my cot. Well, God, it’s just You and me in this cell. I don’t know why I’m here or what they will do with me. Whatever happens, Lord, help me to stand strong—

The door rattled again, then squealed on its hinges as a man stepped into the cell, bringing a lantern with him. Prisoner 473, stand up.

I blinked in the bright light and tried to make out his face. Was he talking to me?

Prisoner 473, formerly known as Dennis Malcolm, stand up.

I gulped. I had read books about the lost history of the Holocaust and heard about the prisoners being reduced to numbers, but I never thought it would happen to me. Would future generations deny this event happened, too?

We can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper, I will not fear; what can man do to me?’ I quoted the verse in my head as I stood up.

You will now respond to the name Prisoner 473, or 473. You will receive no further warnings, the guard behind the lantern spoke in a robotic tone. Was he human or robot?

I understand, I replied.

Come with me. Not knowing what else to do, I followed. As I watched the man walk, I decided it was actually a robot dressed in black, or at least a human who walked and talked like a robot.

Although, considering all the supposed advances they had made the last few years, this could be one of those robots that looks human.

The room the guard took me to had three chairs, a few odd-looking devices on a table, and what appeared to be a highly technological Judas Chair without the spikes. Ironic that this torture device would be named after the man who betrayed the Savior. The guard brought me to the chair and forced me to sit.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Heavenly Father, have mercy on me. Give me endurance and the words to say.

The robotic guard spoke to the chair and tapped a few buttons on the touchscreen display. As he did so, restraints strapped my arms, legs, forehead, and body to the chair. So far, it didn’t appear to be as bad as the medieval Judas Chairs that had spikes all over them, but this was also the 22nd century, so anything was possible.

The guard—whose face didn’t look plastic like most of the robot-human inventions—sat across from me in the middle of the three chairs, spoke into a device on his wrist, and stared at me.

God loves you, I said. Where did that come from? Was that You, Father? God loves you and wants you to be His child.

Prisoner 473, you were not given permission to speak. You will now be silent until told otherwise.

I leaned my head back and tried to concentrate on anything except what might happen to me.

Heaven’s Jubilee

Chapter Two

A few minutes later, two more men stepped into the room.

Let’s start, one of them said. I am Mr. Croix, the head of this prison. He gestured to the other man. This is my assistant, Mr. Mills, and your guard is Subject 128. He was once like you, a naïve follower of The Way. He has since been turned into a loyal guard.

How? The question slipped out of me before I could stop it.

It is not for you to question. You will answer us, but we will answer no questions. Mr. Croix and Mr. Mills sat on either side of Subject 128.

I had heard rumors of medical experiments being conducted on prisoners to brainwash them, transforming them into loyal subjects who would follow orders to the letter, no matter what the consequences. This was the first I truly believed it possible. I wondered who the guard had been before. Had he been a true follower of The Way? Was there some way to get past the brainwashing and medicine and reach the person inside?

Prisoner 473!

I jerked my attention to the three men sitting in front of me.

Very good. You are already responding to your designation. Mr. Croix’s voice had a calculating tone to it. Why do you follow the teachings of The Way?

An easy question. Good. "Yahweh led my heart to trust the words written in The