The Sifting (8 page)

Chapter
Twelve

The door opened.

Sarah waited for the fear but it didn’t come. “I’m ready.”

A robed man led them through a doorway. Micah said all the Siftings were tailored to each individual, playing on their fears and weaknesses. But usually, they all had a common denominator. Sarah entered the small room and the man gestured to a table. “Your first test comes with all the riches you could ever want. This is merely a taste of it, of course. For you and seven generations after. They will be cared for like kings and queens.”

Sarah regarded the long row of trays
stuffed with cash, precious metals and gems. She paused. “Why is there a Bible?”

“
You must choose your God.”

Sarah went to the table and picked up the bible,
kissed it, then regarded the rest. Anger suddenly flashed through her. That they would compare God’s worth to money was an insult. She dumped the entire table over, sending their precious garbage crashing to the floor.

The man’s movements were jerky and flustered
as he glanced from her to Micah.

“
Please tell me there were other Christians that passed this sad test,” Sarah said, watching the man act as though he’d never seen such a thing.

“
Yes,” Micah said. “Just…not quite like that, and not so quickly.”

Sarah
looked at the Bible in her hands and went to the corner with it, excitement racing through her. This was a sign from God. She’d been praying since she knew her fate that she’d read more of the Word. She’d gotten away from it. She used to know so many versus by heart, and now, she had a copy right here in her hands. She opened it to make sure it wasn’t a trick. It wasn’t. It was real. She kissed it again, thanking Him for the miracle. That’s what it was.

She became aware of the silence and looked up and found both of them gawking at her.

The man looked at Micah. “I shall…go and prepare the next phase.”

Sarah returned to reading as fast as she could, feeli
ng like she were cramming for the most important test in her life. She was aware that Micah just watched her. She wanted to know what he was thinking, but she’d found another sign. “So do not fear,
 for I am with you;
 do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen
 you and help
 you; I will uphold you
 with my righteous right hand.’ Isaiah 41:10. And this, ‘All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish.’”

Micah came up to her
and pulled her into his arms, squeezing her tight, his mouth buried on her cheek. “You are so beautiful.” He stroked her cheek, staring into her eyes. “I am very envious of your god. To have something so precious. I could never be good enough for you.” Tears filled his eyes. “But I would love you with all of my heart soul and breath, Sarah, I would.”

Sarah’s heart shredded at hearing it. Hearing he thought this was something she could just negotiate. She didn’t expect him to understand but she hated to hear he thought she had the power to fix this. This was out of her hands. “
Micah?”

“What?” He stroked her
brow.

“I
need you to promise me something.”

“Anything
baby.”

She swallowed, knowing it wasn’t fair to ask. And how hard it would be. But this wasn’t her doing, nor was it easy for her.
“Help me stay strong? Please don’t…don’t let me cave. If you love me, help me stay strong. Don’t let them take my faith, Micah. I don’t blame you that I’m here, but I’m asking that you at least…honor my choice.”

He hugged her to him
tight, sobbing. “Fuck, listen to me. What comes next is hard. They start with something easy then hit with something to try and break you quickly. If you pass the next test, then you are a worthy sacrifice.” Shame and fear filled his thick voice. “But I’m going to find a way out, I can’t let them hurt you. I can’t.”

Sarah
put her fingers on his lips and nodded. “I know you will do your best.” She smiled and nodded through her tears. “No matter what happens, I know that you love me. Okay?”

He crushed her in his embrace, his entire body heaving. “Pray to your god baby,” he gasped. “Please ask him to save you. Don’t be a martyr,” he choked out.

“I’m praying, I promise.” But if he wanted her to be a martyr, then that’s what she’d pray for strength for. She preferred to live and be with Micah, and she’d let God know that as well. And trust him with what was best.

Sarah broke from his hold and
went back to her corner and scanned the pages, needing to read. She read out loud, her voice shaking. “For I am the LORD your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.’

She
scanned the Bible and devoured verse after verse, feeling stronger with each one. “Micah, here.” She handed him the book and pointed to the passage. “This. Read it.”

He looked at her, silently begging she leave him to think of a plan.
She shoved the Bible into his chest. “Please Micah. I’m not asking you to trust God, but I
need
you to read this.”

Micah
stared at the Bible for endless seconds. As if it were her head on a platter, he finally took it, appearing sick. With every passage Micah read, warmth spread in Sarah. She soon realized what the warmth was. Desire. Hearing God’s word on his tongue was creating an insane passion inside her. Was it the trauma? Was this a coping mechanism? She wasn’t sure, but she was sure the fire was growing as she listened. He seemed to be losing himself in the power hidden in those passages, his voice taking on a curious strength of rough heavenly silk. Sarah suddenly pulled him to her with a gasp, kissing him with a savage hunger.

Her fire
immediately lit his and the Bible fell to the floor as his hands hurried to answer her need, devouring all the secret parts of her. They were all his, marked with his touch.

Her dress was large enough that he lifted it and her onto his waist, sinking himself deep inside her.
Sarah stifled her cry and pulled his hair, desperation mingling in their every gasp. Micah’s fingers bit into her hair and pulled her head back. “I love you,” she whimpered as his mouth became a vortex of heat on her neck. He began moving inside her, faster, deeper, overwhelming her senses. For a timeless moment, she was some place safe, in Micah’s tight embrace, making love in a faraway place, a small country house on a hillside with a sultry summer breeze and a million more tomorrows.

The sound of the exterior door jolted them back to reality
and ended it all. They both scrambled to get decent, Micah, double checking her dress was in order even as the inner door to the room opened.

Sarah’s body trembled from the buzzing pleasure still humming through it
as they led her to another cement room. She got a dejavu sensation, like she’d done something similar before. No, seen something similar. Her sister. When she’d gone to have her first baby. The first stages of labor were fun and carefree, but they both knew that very soon, there would be lots of pain and agony since she’d chosen to go natural despite everybody saying she shouldn’t. It seemed foolish, but she had her convictions. Not even Sarah understood it. But she remembered how they joked and laughed while things only hurt a little. And then later, twelve hours of hard labor later, Sarah had to holler at her just to get her sister to focus. She was exhausted and crying. But she refused to take anything. Foolish woman.

And now
Sarah’s hard labor loomed around the corner for her. And she just hoped that Micah would be able to help her through it. Her biggest dread was not making it. Caving. Renouncing God. And Micah begging her to.

To her, that was the nightmare
she never wanted to live.

Micah’s grip on her hand tightened when they entered the
next room. A scary looking table with straps sat in the middle beneath a lone light. Fear hit Sarah at the wires leading to the machine next to it. She recognized that type of machine. They had a similar one in the hospital for electric shock treatments. Oh God.

Micah suddenly grabbed the man’s shoulders.
“Please Zane, please don’t do this,” he begged, his voice breaking.

“Master Seven.” The torment in those two words said it all.
The man was torn. And stuck. Just like them. For some reason, that made it easier, like she wasn’t alone.

Sarah went to the bed and saw a key.

“Th-that is your choice, you can take the key, it opens the metaphorical door and ends this, ends it right here,” he rasped, sounding desperate. “Master Seven, tell her.” The man all but begged from beneath the hood, his voice gravelly and old sounding.

Micah turned and looked at Sarah
. She wasn’t sure what he saw, but he shut his eyes, seeming to fight.

“Help me, Micah,” Sarah gasped
, getting more scared. She couldn’t do this alone.

He suddenly lifted her in his arms and walked her to the bed and laid her on it. He began strapping her in, his touch silky and tender. When she was all hooked up and strapped down, he
kissed her, soft and lingering. Then he fit the rubber ball in her mouth and strapped it down, his tears gone. He picked up her bible, stepped back and opened it up. And read to her. “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.”

Sarah gasped on a sob
. That Micah had opened the Bible to that verse filled her with hope and courage.

His st
rong voice reverberated throughout the room, he made it bold and loud just for her. “He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

Sarah’s body locked up with white heat
.

Time disappeared
. When it returned, she was aware only that she fought. What was she fighting? A loud noise scraped along her brain like metal rubbing against metal. Then she heard a whispering voice. “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows…” Sarah grasped for the sound and the words, she knew she needed to do that, but why?

She felt a sensation pulling at her from the center of her body, like something was trying to
tug her out of her skin. It didn’t hurt, but some part of her said it was bad. She resisted the pull, fighting to hold herself there. Where was she? She was someplace strange. In between something.

A man
was crying then. Who was that? Sarah felt sorry for him, he sounded so heart broken. His voice…he meant something to her.

“Sarah!” the man called. “Sarah, please answer me. You fucking killed her!”

She suddenly felt warm fingers ease off of her head and she gasped, realizing she was holding her breath. What was in her mouth? “Micah?” she tried to say.

Hi
s face was suddenly on hers, working the obstruction out of her mouth as he sobbed like a little boy. She panicked. What was wrong? “Sarah! Please renounce, please, I fucking beg you, don’t do this, god will forgive you, I know he will, you said yourself he was all good, he will not hold it against you,” he cried.

It all came back to her.
What she was doing, where she was. In that room, that torture room. Her body felt numb.

Micah jerked his head
around. “No! Not again wait, let me talk to her, don’t fucking touch it, I need to mediate!”

“
Yes Master. They want me to Sift this way seven times. At your word.”

Seven?

“Sarah,” Micah whispered brokenly next to her. “Listen to me. God will understand he will, he’s a good,
good
God, you have to stop, you don’t need to do this, I promise.”

The words strained out, barely audible and Sarah
began to cry for him. She was suddenly scared. Scared for Micah, scared for her. She began to cry and wail, “Micah, please, help me, help me, don’t let them have me! Don’t let them take my faith! You promised!”

The door opened and
Micah threw himself on her, holding her tight. “Don’t take me. I’m fine! Don’t fucking take me!”

Micah was pried off of her by dark figures
and the man working the machine fit the rubber ball back in her mouth. “May your god be with you child,” he gasped, his fingers trembling.

Micah fought and screamed,
sounding like the man in the hospital when she’d first met him. The sound ripped Sarah’s soul open. But his voice slowly got further away.

Until
she was alone. So alone.

Chapter T
hirteen

“Please let me go, I beg you, she needs me!” Micah coughed and spit blood, his throat raw.

Finally, Agony showed up and unlocked his shackles. “Agony,” he gasped, desperate. “Help me.”

“Oh stop it,” she muttered, rolling her eyes. “Such an embarrassment to see you behave this way. Come.”

Her to
ne was cold and Micah knew she hated that he was in love with another woman. For more years than he cared to remember, she flaunted herself at him. And when that didn’t work, she cried to daddy and forced her way. He fucked her ruthlessly, treating her like the filth she was. Her forte was abducting innocent children and harvesting power from their pain, fear, and blood. Micah despised her. “Where is she?”

“She’s in the break room. Until tomorrow.
You are allowed to tend to her. Make sure and fix her up for Satan’s sake, we can’t sacrifice a half dead woman.”

Micah’s strength nearly left him at
her cold words. He flew into the room and froze. Sarah laid on the floor on her side near the corner, fragile and small in her pretty white dress, dirtied with his life, his sins. Terror weighed him down until he could barely walk. He knelt next to her and stroked her arm, blinking tears away.

She jerked around with
wide scared eyes, holding her Bible to her chest. She sat up and looked behind him as though to check he was alone then grabbed his face and kissed him. Micah was frozen in shock. How was she… moving?

She finally pulled away
and he examined her body. Her hair stuck up in various places, the skin at her temple was burned, her body trembled like a leaf and yet she sat there with clear blue eyes and a smile on her face.

“
Micah, listen to me,” she whispered, grabbing his forearms. “I know what you’re thinking, why am I so alive, oh my God, it’s a fucking good question, my body is-is humming, I can tell that something has happened to it, it feels like when you hit your funny bone and there’s a tickling buzzing, that’s me, my whole body.” Micah stared at her as she rattled out her words without stopping. “The first shock, I felt this brief flash of hot and then-then my body was sucked into this cocoon, my mind even,” she nodded with wide eyes, “I could feel something trying to pull me from my skin, it was just a pressure all around me like little fingers tugging, and I knew somehow to resist it, not give in to it, and then, then I heard you reciting God’s word during it all, and-and I heard you screaming, then when I woke, I didn’t remember anything at first.” Her nails dug into his skin and she shot another glance behind him. “And then the
second
time,” she whispered, “the second time it was like-like the same exact thing, the instant the heat hit, I was sucked inside that cocoon, I’d feel just enough to know that…” her hand flew to her mouth, “…that God
protected
me,” she sobbed.

Micah became aware that he was trembling, a full body tremble. He pulled her gently into his embrace
worried she might break or vanish. When she didn’t, when he felt how real she was, he held her, rocked her, and cried with her. “I’m so fucking sorry,” he finally said, “please forgive me for breaking. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met, I love you.”

Micah didn’t
understand what had happened or what was happening. He didn’t know who or what power protected her, and at that point, he didn’t care. He only cared that she was alive.

For now.

She gasped and pushed out of his arms. “And listen to me. On the last time, I wondered—no I
thought,
that I was dead, it was just too weird for me not to be dead. And I cried! Oh my God, I just
cried
I thought, no, no, I don’t want to leave Micah God, please! And a voice said, just like this: ‘
You’re not dead.’
And then I woke up!”

She gasped a happy laugh and
Micah hugged her fiercely, never being more grateful to an entity. Whichever one it was.

****

Sarah was led into a room that Micah was forbidden to enter. Again he screamed and fought like a mad man until Sarah was crying for him, for herself, praying and terrified.

The test of holiness. What did it mean? She didn’t
want to ask and they denied Micah his request to prepare her. Then he’d yelled one word as the dragged him away. One word that sent terror flooding her veins along with a full blown panic attack.
Spiders
.

Sarah looked al
l around, holding her Bible tightly, the sound of her ragged breaths blaring in her own ears. She screamed at the sound of metal scratching then jerked to see a tiny metal little door at the bottom of the wall, open. She backed up until she hit the wall on the far side of the room and watched the black hole, the size of a doggie door.

She screamed when b
lack spindly legs flickered out of the dark hole, jointed tooth-pics, probing the air. Sarah turned her face, sobbing, but unable to take her eyes off of the horror entering the small room. They were too large to be real. Was it a hallucination? A trick? She whimpered, clutching her Bible tightly, wanting to hide her face in it but too scared to look away. They moved like they were very real. Big. Like lobsters. Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Seven
of them. All crawling slowly as though trying to figure out where they were and why.

Some kind of
cloud mist fell from the ceiling. A sweet smell. Sarah covered her mouth and nose. The spiders began to run around erratically. She wanted to climb up something. Fuck, fuck.

They
grew more agitated. Crawling faster. Zigzagging bursts. Closer. She cried quietly, a low keening wail.

Th
ey suddenly stopped. As though aware. All at once, they turned.

Her. That was their purpose. That’s why they were there.

Horror gripped her as they crawled toward her, one, then two, their pointy legs ticking on the cement floor.

The light
vanished.

Sarah
screamed, screamed until she had no breath. Then screamed some more, sliding along the wall until she hit the corner. She clutched the Bible in a death grip, eyes clenched, stepping on the hem of her dress in an effort to protect her feet. Oh God. They were crawling up her dress in the dark, she just knew it.
God please
. She could only scream, even when her throat shredded, she continued.
Micah…please…please come back.

She wasn’t sur
e how long it was before she realized it. Nothing had touched her. Where were they? What was happening? She imagined them right next to her, all around. Waiting. Quietly. Their ugly mouths opened to bite her.

“
Renounce and you go free.”

Sarah
gasped a sob in the dark, wondering where the voice came from. Was she hearing things? Going crazy? Was the mist some kind of drug? She didn’t fucking feel drugged.

“Renounce and this is over,” the same voice said. A woman’s voice. Agony’s she realized.
From some microphone? Were they watching her?

Gasping,
her nails bit into her bible. Images of Micah fucking that red haired bitch hit her. How dare they do this to somebody? Ask such a thing of somebody? “I will
never
renounce you fucking
whore
! Never!”

Sarah waited in the dark for something. Anything.

The lights came on and she gasped, looking around frantically. A black mass huddled in the opposite corner looking like bubbling tar. The spiders were climbing on top of each other, trying to scale the wall only to be pulled back down by the others, like an endless hellish conveyer belt.

What the fuck was wrong with them?
Keeping her eyes on the sick blob, she slowly slid her back down the wall and huddled in the corner. She opened her Bible and read the first scripture her eyes landed on.
‘Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'

Sarah’s eyes blurred with tears and she let out a sob. She suddenly realized that she’d never dreamed God would do this. She’d expected to suffer. Was ready to even. Why was he protecting her? What had she ever done for him that would
warrant that? She liked helping people? Surely that wasn’t it, she enjoyed it, it wasn’t even a sacrifice.

That.

She paused, thinking about the one word and what it could mean. She realized a few moments later, he’d just answered her. She liked helping people…it wasn’t even a sacrifice. That.

She quickly scanned the
Bible passages for more, realizing for the first time, that God was doing more than just making this easy for her. But what? Her heart raced at the next scripture she read.
‘Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.’

W
hat did that mean? Was this…was he preparing her? For death?

Sarah read more but didn’t find another
scripture like it to confirm. Only comforting scriptures came to her. The spiders soon gave up trying to crawl up the wall and seemed to fall asleep. Sarah did the same. For seven hours.

****

“How is that even possible?” Agony paced before the monitor with the rest of the council then stopped and snapped her hand to the screen. “The spiders are
sleeping
for crying out loud. Do they even do that?”

“They can,”
Trevor muttered.
But not usually
hung unspoken in his tone.

Micah
didn’t miss the hint of fascination either. How would any of them not be fascinated?

“She will indeed make a powerful sacrifice,”
Revin. “What a treasure you have found brother.”

Micah wanted to cut his tongue out, but he was too grateful to whatever was protecting her to push his luck. If good behavior could help her, he’d be a fucking saint.

“What about the electrocution?” Trevor asked. “Usually they all cave after the first dose of that. She went through all seven.”

“She didn’t even have body excrements,”
Zane added, awed.

“Someth
ing is making this easy for her,” Agony said, or accused.

“
Her body was marked on the outside, but no signs it went beyond the skin.” Zane watched the monitor, amazement in his old blue gaze.

“It would appear that
perhaps our lord Raxxon is protecting her. To ensure her blood is obtained?”

“
Yes,” Trevor agreed. “Most assuredly.”

Micah
wanted to snort. Or maybe her god was protecting her. That was the last thing they wanted anybody thinking. Liars. That’s what they were, that’s what they’d always been. Power was their principal, pain their pleasure, and false pride their sustenance. And to Micah, in that second, it was all a blasphemy of the basic principles of life, the principles even kids knew, before people fucked it out of them in whatever way they chose.

Micah watched Sarah in the corner, sleeping like an angel amidst the fires of hell. So beautiful. He ached to kiss her, hold her close to him
. Whisper his love in her ear over and over.

“Let’s move on to the next phase, shall we?”
Trevor said. “The sooner we get done, the sooner I can return to my normal schedule. The Sifting ceremony has always drained me.”

Micah wished suddenly he had the power to kill all of them. And while he might be able to kill all of the ones standing in that room, he’d have a hard time with the Hell Hounds.
Sadly, Micah didn’t care if they killed seven generations of her family but he knew she cared. And because of that, he cared. But now there was another reason he didn’t seek to end it his way. Because of what was happening. It gave him hope. They could pretend all night long that what protected her was on their side, but Micah figured otherwise. And he also couldn’t help but hope whatever did it, planned to save her.

But could she
endure what was coming next? Could he?

“Let’s see how well she does with a little reversed psychological torture.”

Revin looked his way. “Seven.”

Without a word, M
icah followed Zane, knowing how hard this was for him. Micah had become like a son. The old man had been very good to him. But he was not a man to cross in his earlier days. Seemed that even the hardest of them wearied of wickedness. He wondered if Christians wearied of righteousness the same? Of happiness?

Micah
suddenly got a clear vision of living with Sarah. She smiled at him from their bed, naked and unashamed, eyes filled with love. For him. Micah paused in mid stride at her holding a baby. Smiling up at him.

His baby.

Micah allowed them to strap him to the torture wheel. He’d done this before countless times for power ups. It wasn’t himself he worried for, it was Sarah.