“Dennis…….I’ve been warning you for weeks now. I’m NOT going to continue to allow you to abuse me!” Allison screamed, even though exhausted; trapped in a house all day with a majorly grumpy old man. “I’m outta here! I’m leaving and I’m never coming back! You can just find yourself another housekeeper! But if I see her first, I swear, I’ll warn her not to work for a croutchedy old geezer like YOU!” she screeched, with a hard slam of the kitchen door.

Dennis walked, as if in a daze into the living room, and collapsed in his easy chair. He sat there for a moment stunned by Alisson’s outburst; wondering how dirty his house would become while he was still ‘alive and kickin.’’

Then he went upstairs and began to pace carefully around his room. He recalled all the times Allison had warned him that she would quit if he didn’t stop accusing her of stealing, shouting the moment he couldn’t find something, complaining about everything she did and neglecting to acknowledge anything that she or the other neighbors did for him. ‘She would scream Dennis, I told you, I’m not gonna keep putting up with your accusations, especially when you know full well how Ludicrous it is to suspect me. I’ve never given you any reason to!’ he thought; hearing her voice in his head. ‘Why do I keep pushing people away? I wish I knew,’ he thought, as he laid down to try and get some sleep.

The next morning, he waited outside, as the weather pleased him, for his ride to the grocery store for some essentials. ‘Wait till Doris finds out what I did. Actually, I’m sure Allison already told her all about it,’ he thought; beginning to worry what he would say and the possibility of losing her too.

Doris pulled in the driveway a few moments later. She got out to help him walk over the ice still left on the driveway from the last snow storm.  But the moment she got back behind the wheel, she began expressing her outrage.

“Look I know what you did yesterday! You probably don’t realize how stupid it is to bite the hand that feeds you! I’m only saying this because I don’t want to see you lose everyone in your life because of your suspicious and grumpy attitude! I don’t care if you are 93 years old; that’s no excuse to treat all the people that go out of their way to help you, badly! You’ve got people taking you to all your appointments, out for coffee and whatever else you need or want! And there is no reason under the sun why you can’t say please and thank you and just plain be nice,” she concluded, as she maneuvered her minivan through the store parking lot.

Dennis just sat there.

“Well aren’t you gonna say anything?”

But Dennis just turned his head away in disgust, with a loud grunt.

Things did not get much better in the store.

“Quit rushing me,” he grumbled under his breath, as he tried to keep up with her.  At 69, she could run circles around him. He often referred to her as “That spry little chicken;” saying, “I can’t keep up with that spry little chicken,” or “There she goes, that spry little chicken,” as she led the way speedily through the store. But even that, he didn’t say with a sense of humor.

“Why do you want me to run?” He asked her one time, as they pulled into his driveway.

“I know I shouldn’t, but you just get me so mad,” she replied, with a smile. “But it’s not because of impatience…..it’s not like I don’t understand that you have to move much slower. It’s just that I’m always so hoppin’ mad by the time we pull into the store parking lot,” she explained calmly; still smiling.

“Well okay then,” he replied sarcastically, as he tried to run up his driveway.

“I wish I still had family around to help me, so I wouldn’t have to rely on nasty old neighbors….who don’t care…..bout me,” he grumbled, as he dragged his weary body around the house; cursing out the curtains that Allison put up for him a week ago, and throwing the last piece of cake Doris made for him in the garbage can. “She says she cares……but she doesn’t care. She wants me to think they all care, but they don’t CARE!”

Then he wept, as he slowly climbed the stairs to his room and sunk cowardly under the covers. Later that night, he was awakened by a loud thunderous crash and what sounded like music in the sky. It was the sound of thunder and trumpets, but he didn’t know that. He only knew he was terrified. He threw the covers over his head and shook uncontrollably; waiting, for the calamity to pass. Suddenly everything stopped, for a little while anyway, so he got out of bed. And still shaking, he made his way to the living room, to peer out the large bay window.

Then he heard sirens and saw people screaming and running around his small urban neighborhood. And without warning, a car doing 40 miles an hour, came crashing through the front of the corner store he just happened to be staring at. “What’s happening?” He wondered, as he threw himself on the couch. Then around an hour later, he realized there may be something on the news, so he turned on the T.V.

“Millions of people vanished around 2 a.m.this side of the earth, but all over the globe! No one knows what’s happening, but some are saying that Christians and children were taken due to an alien invasion that occurred only hours ago.”

Dennis cried and screamed and cursed God, even though he didn’t believe in the existence of God, as he wondered whether an alien invasion was really possible….

Deep down, he knew he was NOT okay, but he didn’t know what to do and he had no one to help him.

For the next 6 years, his home became increasingly full of garbage and other filth from not cleaning up after himself and from losing pick-up service, as that company and ALL companies had become inoperable due to all sorts of things: fires, storms, lack of merchandise and people no longer available to work. The government did away with cash, which was all he ever used. He ate only what he had, and had no one to take him to the store, even if it was open. He was robbed repeatedly by new, as well as repeat intruders, as word spread that he was something of a hoarder and may have nonperishable food items. He had no electricity, even though some of his neighbors were still connected, which he could not explain or stop wondering about. Worst of all, he was weak and dehydrated and started to see things and to feel like he was being beaten; some of which was the result of demons attacking him in real life, and some of which was delusional. It was a miracle he didn’t die!

But another miracle was about to occur. Just when he started hoping he would just die, as a way of escape, the best thing that could happen, happened. Dennis was beginning to soften and could feel himself becoming more caring where others were concerned. He cared when he witnessed a man being mugged outside his door. He wept, but was too paralyzed with fear to go outside. He cared so much when he saw a lost dog; wandering around and shaking on his fire escape, that he let him come inside and even fed him some of what he had. He started fantasizing about having another chance with the kind women and men who were always there for him and even their cute little kids and he began to realize just how wickedly he had behaved. And then, he couldn’t help but wonder if they were in fact, Christians.

Dennis got down on his knees and prayed for forgiveness. He repented of his sins and begged God to get him out of the predicament he was in; not realizing that he had missed the Rapture, survived nearly all of the Great Tribulation, and was now quite near to seeing Heaven.

Fortunately and by the Call of God, Soon after that, Dennis began reading his Bible; one he didn’t even know he had a high shelf in his closet. ‘I sure am glad that I’m tall, because if I wasn’t, I know me and I know I wouldn’t have bothered checking to see what was up there,’ he thought one morning, as he opened it to happily read and pray.

“Thank You God for showing Yourself to me and for getting me through this horrible time, that I know is not over yet…..But, I’m brave now because of YOU!…..I know I’ll probably have to be beheaded, cuz there’s no way I’m taking the Mark of the Beast, but I don’t care! I am keeping my mind fixed on Heaven. I don’t care what I have to go through……I just wanna be with YOU GOD,” he cried, as he prayed, with huge tears streaming down his cheeks.

Linzy is a certified Bible Counsellor, with countless republications on her viewers blogs, Bible Studies, Ezines and the like. Her portfolio includes, non-fiction articles, short stories for all ages, and Christian poetry.