Paid in Full

By Sophia Williams

A sense of doom filled the city. Everyone was uneasy, though they didn’t know why. They all had a gut feeling, a strange intuition that something was going to happen. But nobody knew what.

A crowd had gathered in the old, beaten street, staring up at the sky, which was dimming rapidly and becoming a strange brown color. Clouds began to consume the light and, at last, a hazy, golden sunbeam was all that was left. And even that disappeared.

Hopeful farmers gathered together in the streets and prayed for rain to assist the harvest. Housewives busied themselves in their homes, baking bread with the few ingredients they still had. But not even mundane tasks like this could pry their minds from the tension growing among them.

The city was eerily quiet. No children were heard frolicking in the streets. You couldn’t hear men shouting to each other outside. No housewives spoke through windows to each other.

The entire city was gathered in the main courtyard, kneeling on the dusty cobblestone streets, praying passionately for rain. Lightning struck menacingly, setting many things on fire. Rain taunted them but never came. Wind whipped fiercely throughout the city.

Farmers could no longer provide food for their livestock, who were dying of malnutrition. People were running out of wine, meat and other food to eat. They had very limited amounts of anything to make bread with. Poor families were slowly starving to death. Children were becoming sick due to dehydration or consuming filthy water. And to add to all of this, the terrible feeling and gray skies lasted for days. And on the sixth day of uneasiness and despair, the citizens, who were still praying diligently, heard a sound.

Metal and the footsteps of thousands of men. The army was approaching to finally commit their hostile takeover and potential mass homicide. They planned to set up camp amid the city to drive the citizens into a state of constant fear.

Children had been playing silently by the sea and when they saw the great army approaching, they ran home fearfully. Families crowded into their minuscule homes, terrified.

The army dwelled among the people for four days. During those four days, the sky darkened even more. Darker than the night sky. Darker than anything anyone knew. People starved to death and became sick and dehydrated due to a lack of food and water. No citizen dared to set foot outside of their homes.

At the end of those four days, news spread from the seaside. The citizens who lived nearest the sea saw the boat approaching. They opened their windows and spoke quietly to the citizens beside them. News spread like wildfire. The citizens, starved and dehydrated, stepped outside, wary of attack, yet still desperate. Children, no longer any fraction of themselves, idled tamely and lethargically behind the adults. A bell rang in the city, echoing against the silence. The boat, as soon as it neared the shore, stopped and three men jumped out.

The only child who had any part of himself left was teenage Bartholemew. He wove in and out of the crowd with remarkable speed for the circumstances.

The army noticed that the citizens of the city were losing their fear. They planned an attack. The three men jumped out of the boat and began speaking to the citizens in their native tongue. “We come from Jerusalem, the City of God. Hallelujah! Sing great praises unto the Lord, the Rock of our Salvation. He was crucified and after three days, rose again from the dead! Your sins are forgiven! Your debt is no longer!” The citizens fell on their knees in front of the men.

“Please!” shouted Bartholomew. “You know the Lord. Ask him to bring us rain.”

The shortest of the three men held his hands out as if preparing to embrace the mass of people. “Children of the Heavenly Father! Bow your heads and pray! Rain will come! Your famine shall cease! Just believe, O City. Believe!”

The people bowed their heads devotedly for the shortest fraction of a second, and rain came, drenching everything.

Women and children raised their faces to the now somehow bright, crying, and swallowed as much water as they could. Then, when they could drink no more, they stood and danced. Farmers raised their praises along with the women, children, and the three men from afar. When the people had been dancing for some time, they became famished.

The prophets told them to go to the seas with a net to catch fish. The citizens did as they were told and returned to their city with nets full of fish. Everyone ate and was satisfied. Still, the rain fell, nourishing everything and everyone it touched. The people elevated their praise.

The moment the prophets left, the people ran on to the city nearest them to share the good news. “Your sins are forgiven! Your debts have been paid in full!”

And this time, as the cities danced together, they ran off in separate directions to evangelize to the surrounding cities and kingdoms.

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SCSC Writing Contest Anthology 2021–22 Copyright © by Original Authors. All Rights Reserved.

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