A Sealed Warrioress' Diary

Scream

Dear Jesus,

It turns out Lori is a terrific driver. Mehn, this angel—sorry, lady— is a wicked on the wheels. I need to find time to ask her for lessons to perfect my driving skills.

However, when the turns she took became eerily familiar, I began to panic.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked, my palms now sweaty.

"Relax, Ray. And trust me, you have to see this," she said with a grave smile thrown at me.

I was seriously considering doing the spirit discernment test on her. I mean, why had I neglected that part of this whole process? I was supposed to know better. What if this was just a sly demon who had come in a rather convincing disguise? I didn't know how piles of doubt loaded on my mind.

The reason for my reaction was obvious. This was the same site where John and I had been taken captive by The Scar.

Lori finally shut down the engine after finding an awkward spot to park in.

I never imagined that I would be back to the place of my nightmare, not so soon, not ever.

Gloria stepped out and strode over to my side. Her confident urging thawed my tense muscles and I was able to come out of the car too. I slowly walked side by side with her, shuffling reluctantly while she held my hand to lead me. 

Many thoughts flooded my mind, bitter memories from that dreadful day.

We walked past the bushes and thick overgrowth of greenery till we got to the small entrance of the cave-like space. I felt a huge dose of claustrophobia creep into my skin.

"It's okay, Ray. You're light. The darkness should be afraid of you, not vice versa," Lori said.

I closed my eyes and shut out the ugly memories struggling for dominance in my mind. I took a deep breath and whispered a prayer.

"Jesus, I don't know why you think I'm strong enough to handle PTSD, but I trust you so I'll follow. Give me strength. I cannot walk through the valley of the shadow of death twice in a row without you by my side."

When I opened my eyes, Lori was watching me, an approving look on her face. With a nod, she said, "You're ready. Let's go."

We crouched into the low ceiling passageway and began to grope our way into the belly of the cave.

I clutched tightly to Lori's arm and entered in with her.

Once or twice, I thought I heard a bat fluttering or a large rodent scurrying and I would jump in a start, but Lori would reassuringly squeeze my hand and I would immediately feel the fear fade away.

When we got to the centre, the place was pitch dark but the headroom was now very high of course. 

"Now, what?" I whispered harshly when we had stood still in the darkness for a while. The place was so musky and dark that my eyes weren't even adjusting for me to see anything.

I could almost hear the smile in Lori's voice. "Now we turn on the lights."

Then, Lori did what was most unimaginable, considering her earlier instruction for covertness.

She transformed right before my eyes into her glorious angelic form.

The glow started from her chest and wrapped her in dancing wisps till it covered her entire form. I could vaguely see her through my hands that covered my eyes to shield them from the glare of the brilliant light.

She was still shimmering when the light dimmed to a lower intensity that I could look at. Her golden armour, sword and halo were all in place as I remembered them from my countless visions in the past.