Glorious Appearing and God's Kingdom

Chapter 10

"There's so much we don't know about you, Laura," Captain Steele said. Laura and Chaim had met up with some men from Petra and had found some food to eat. They had gone to Lucas's house and had cleaned off the table. They had cleaned his neck and bandaged it, and then place him in his bed. Chaim was happy he would get to see him tomorrow.
"That's true, but apparently Smitty knows more than he should," she said. Smitty shook his head.
"Only because you told me," he shot back.
"No... you guessed one of many mysteries, or whatever you and Lucas called them," Laura said. Judd was eyeing Laura from across the table. Laura was the only girl there because the rest had gone with Priscilla Sebastian.
"Let's get a proper introduction shall we!" Chaim exclaimed. Laura smiled. She stood and put her hands on the table. Judd was the only one who didn't look up at her, he kept his eyes at her chair.
"Well, my name is Laura Carpathia. I've got no middle name," she said. Mac had stopped her.
"What's Nicolae's middle name?" he asked.
"Jetty," she answered. "He was born at 2 am and the sky was jet black. Anyway, I was born on America's Independence Day. I don't have any memory of very much until I was five. I started going to school then and that's when I met Roberto." Laura paused because Mac had a wide grin on his face.
"The boy toy," he said. Laura glared at him.
"He was not the boy toy. I never had one... technically," Laura said. "I never had time for guys. But Roberto and I stayed close friends. We hung out all the time, and I'll tell you this, he had a girlfriend. I told him everything and he told me everything. He wasn't happy with his girlfriend, but said he'd never cheat on her before he broke up with her. But there was this one time." Captsin Steele now smiled.
"Here we go," he said.
"I was getting bullied at school," she said. "No one knew, except for Roberto. He even cancelled a lunch date with his girlfriend just to hear me out. When I finished, I was in tears because it was really bad. He kissed me." Mac had a tear in his eye and rubbed them.
"Laura Carpathia?!" he exclaimed. "Bullied?!" Laura rolled her eyes.
"But when he became a Christian, he started talking about the stuff I've known about. And he told Nicolae because he was an honest person. Nicolae hated it so much, he made me switch schools. I still talked to Roberto on the phone. At the new school, I fell in with the wrong crowd... anyone could tell. I did my share of drinking and sometimes I even smoked," Laura admitted.
"I can't picture that," Mac said. "What happened?"
"I did it a couple times and felt guilty, so I stopped," Laura said. "My friends were cool with it because they knew my background. Nicolae never knew about that and no one has, till now I guess." Judd still stared at Laura and she leveled her eyes at him. He blinked and sat back.
"I have a question," he said.
"By all means," Laura said. "Let's hear it." Judd looked back and forth.
"Uh... this Roberto guy," he stuttered. "Did he really care about you? Like did he ever look at you like he did?"
"I just told you I told him everything," Laura shot.
"No I mean, did he ever look at you the way you do when you want somebody," Judd said. Laura looked completely offended.
"You may be from America, Judd," Laura said. "But that's an insult in Romania. You just don't ask someone if there was another person who wanted you. Especially when you put it in the way you meant." Laura sat down and glared at Judd. Captain Steele didn't like this so he pried into the conversation.
"Hey, who's tired?" he asked. Laura looked to the sky.
"Lord, do we even need sleep?" she asked. Everyone heard a laugh and then a response.
"You will always rest in Me," He said. "There is no need for physical rest." Laura smiled. Caleb, the Angel, appeared in the room.
"Hey, Caleb," Laura said. He smiled and handed her a box.
"I think you will understand once you see what's inside," he said. He left and Laura opened the box. Inside was a note and some pictures. She grabbed the note.
"Read it," Smitty said. Laura shifted in her chair.
"Dear Nicolae's child if he ever got one he would keep, these are your grandparents writing to you. My name is Marilena, my husband is Sorin, and his lover's name is Baduna. We've all taught at the University of Bucharest. I just want to let you know that God is the way, don't listen to the devil. I had my consequences. I do not want you to have yours. Love to you, the ones who care." Laura stared at the letter. It was written in Romanian, but she had translated it to English very quickly. She looked through the pictures.
"So they didn't know you existed?" Chaim asked. Laura found a picture and stared at it.
"No..." she said slowly. "They did, I guess. There's a picture of me in here, riding my dirt bike." Laura handed the picture to Mac and he looked confused.
"What do you make of this?" he said.
"All I know is that I'll be expecting a lot of answers tomorrow," Laura said. Apparently, it was already tomorrow because Jesus had called everyone to the same place. Laura walked to the place, and it was now covered in golden sand. Jesus sat in a throne. Tribulation martyrs, martyrs, the elderly, and the ones taken at the disappearances were on His left side. Old and New Testament saints were on His right. She met up with Mac and they talked about who they wanted to see. Laura laughed when he said Commander Jones. While Laura did want to see him, she was still angry he had taken the blade. Arianna appeared at her side with some of her other Romanian buddies. Laura nearly died because they were all saved. They passed hugs all around. There was Kaitlin, Abby, Sarah, Natasha, Caleb, and Zach.
"It's hard to believe we are all here," Abby said.
"Hey it was Roberto that got us interested," Zach said.
"Well, not me," Laura said. "I took a little extra care." Everyone laughed and stopped when Jesus said it was time. He started with the Old and New Testament saints, then moved onto the Tribulation martyrs. Bruce Barnes was the first one she recognized. She had never met the man, but knew him pretty well. Laura was responsible for his death. After him came Ken Ritz, Buck, Chloe, Lukas Miklos, Lucas Jones, and Commander Jones. Mac shook his head when he saw Commander.
"What a fool," he muttered. Laura slapped him.
"Mac." But Laura laughed. Ray appeared at their side. The rest went very quick and when it was over, everyone rushed to find their family. But not Laura. When Ray noticed she didn't move, he put an arm around her shoulder and walked her to his family.
"They won't like me," she kept saying. "Especially your wife and son. They'll hate me."
"There is no hate here, Laura." she heard someone say. It wasn't Jesus and it wasn't Ray. She turned and saw her favorite Old Testament prophet, Daniel. Ray stopped and gasped. Laura stuttered trying to say his name.
"Yes it is me," he said. He chuckled and smiled. "I just wanted to see how you would react to me showing up." Daniel said goodbye for now and walked off. Ray and Laura kept walking and Captain Steele nearly burst when he saw all of his family. Laura walked up awkwardly, but Chloe hugged her.
"Chloe... I shouldn't have," Laura kept saying.
"No, it's not your fault, Laura." Chloe smiled and Laura couldn't help but cry. Buck embraced her next. They said their sorry's because they both had hurt the other. Laura found it strange when Ray didn't introduce her to his wife, so she took the privilege.
"The name is Laura Carpathia," she said. "I've spent a lot of time with Captain Steele. And it's great to meet you."
"And the same to you, Laura." Irene smiled. "I cannot wait to get to know you." Laura smiled shyly.
"Raymie," Captain Steele said. "This is Laura Carpathia. I have a feeling you two will like each other."
"Hey Laura." is what she heard, in a soft tone. She turned and saw a man she wanted to see: Commander Jones!
"Commander!" she shouted. She hugged him and he smiled. They stood there for a little and Commander Jones introduced himself around. Laura soon had hands over her eyes and a voice behind her.
"Guess who?" he said. Laura pulled the hands off her eyes and hugged the boy. It was Roberto. He looked the same: black spiked hair, earring, and riding clothes.
"So this is the famous Roberto?" Captain Steele asked. Roberto offered his hand.
"Yep. And you must be Captain Steele," he said. The captain nodded, and soon after Judd and Vicki came over. Roberto and Judd stared each other down.
"So this is how a Romanian guy dresses," Judd said. Vicki giggled.
"I'm sorry Mr. Yankee," Roberto said. "Haven't you met Laura?" Roberto smirked and Laura laughed. Judd did not fall for it and rolled his eyes.