The Incubus

Chapter 10, Scene 12

'This looks delicious,' the man said as he passed the table with Simon's dinner on it. 'Mind if I have some?'

Simon shrugged.

The man took a slice of bread and dipped it in some gravy that Simon prepared for the beef. 'This is lovely,' he said after swallowing the last piece of the slice.

Get to the point. 'How did you do that the other night?' Simon asked.

The man sat down on a couch. 'This is comfortable,' he said.

Simon clenched his teeth, and nodded. 'So answer my question and stop stalling. Who are you, and how did you do it?' he asked again.

'Do what?'

'Heal my hand,' Simon said. 'Before you vanished into thin air.'

The man smiled. 'The same way you brought that boy back from the dead, Simon.'

Simon's heart skipped a beat. 'How do you know about that...?'

'The same way I know about everything you've done to date.'

'This is insane,' Simon said. How can he possibly know everything? Does he also have a gift from God?

'You can call it a gift if you like,' the man said. 'But it's actually the power of the Holy Spirit. The gift, as you like to call it, is being used as a vessel for the Holy Spirit to work through.'

'You know my thoughts?'

'When I'm allowed to,' the man said. 'There is very little that I don't know about you, Simon.'

Simon probed his memory. He couldn't shake the feeling that he knew the stranger from somewhere, but couldn't for the life of him remember from where.

'Have you ever wondered why you are so different from everyone else?'

Simon pondered the question. 'Only recently.'

'Did you grow up with religious parents?'

'Not really, no. But I don't see...'

'And yet you've had a close relationship with the Lord from a very young age, right?'

Simon nodded.

'There has never been a single doubt in your mind that God exists, even though no one formally told you about Him.'

'Who...Who are you?' Simon asked.

'You're focussing on the wrong questions, Simon. The question is not who I am, but who you are.'

'Me...?'

The man nodded.

'I'm...Simon...'

'Perhaps in this realm you are known as Simon.'

'This realm?' Simon would have asked him to leave by now; but this man had intimate knowledge about him and seemed to have the answers to the questions that have plagued him for years; so he took a deep breath and tried to keep calm while the stranger steered the conversation.'

'You wanted to know.'

Simon's mind raced. This realm? Who was this man? He closed his eyes and visualized the stranger's face. Nothing came up. 'I don't...' Images flashed through his mind and suddenly he remembered. 'You! You're that angel I saw in the parking lot; the one that stood next to the truck.'

'His heart is open,' the man said. 'Now we just need the eyes.'

'You're an angel...'

'Once again, the focus should not be on who I am, old friend.'