Heart of God

Chapter 1 Twelve year-old Selah poured part of her water bottle over the hot sand before pressing the sand together between her hands to form a wall in the sand house she was building. A deafening explosion sounded from the dig site where her parents had been, causing her sand wall to fall. Worry clenched Selah’s stomach as her eyes watched a plume of black smoke fill the air. She stood and ran towards the explosion. She stopped when she reached the entrance to the tunnel the excavation team had dug out to provide access to the ancient room her parents had found. Her parents had always told her to stay out of the work areas since they weren’t always stable, so she had never ventured very far into any of them, but she had to find her momma and daddy. “Momma. Daddy,” she called out amidst the swirling dust as she stepped cautiously into the tunnel. The tunnel was dark and she couldn’t see very far in front of her with the dust that had been stirred up from the explosion. “Mommy!” she called again. The sound of muffled voices further into the tunnel drew her deeper into the underground site. Feeling her way along the wall of the tunnel since she still couldn’t see much through the dusty darkness, she eventually caught sight of an orange glow ahead of her. That’s where her parents must be. Selah pressed on into the cave, determined to find her parents and make sure they were safe. “Give me the artifact, Daniel,” she heard a gruff voice ground out the words. “No. Such a rare artifact would be destroyed in your hands,” Selah heard the voice of her father reply. “Don’t be a fool, Daniel. This whole place is going to go up any minute. Give me the artifact and I’ll let you and your wife go.” “Never.” Selah stepped into the large columned doorway of the cavernous room that was a picture out of a history book with its large pillars that held up the ancient ceiling and the broken chunks of stone and old-era furniture that sat in disheveled pieces around the room. Her mother looked up and caught her eye. Her eyes grew wide. “Selah! Get out of here. Now!” her mother yelled. The unusually strained and forceful tone in her mother’s voice stunned Selah. Her mother had hardly ever yelled at her, even when she was in trouble. She wasn’t sure how to react. It looked like her parents were in trouble, but her mother seemed upset that she had come to help. Selah caught her father’s eye as he looked at her. “Selah-bear. Go back to the camp, sweetie,” he said gently. “Not without you,” Selah responded, scared of what was happening. Her father held her gaze and reassured her. “We will be right behind you, sunshine. Go.” Selah shot an unsettled glance between her parents and the man that stood with his back to her. “Go,” her father gently urged again. Selah looked at her parents one last time, still worried about leaving them. Reluctantly, she slowly turned and ran back through the tunnel towards the entrance. As she reached the entrance, another explosion sounded behind her, flinging her out onto the burning sand. Selah sat up suddenly in bed and took in a sharp breath. Sweat ran down her face and chest as her breathing came in short, panicked huffs from the terrifying images in her dream. She could feel her heart racing and knew within an instant that the nightmare had triggered a full-fledged panic attack. She frantically reached for the prescription bottle her doctor had given her to help when her attacks got out of control. In her haste to grab her orange prescription bottle, she knocked over the unopened water bottle she kept on her nightstand for nights like this. She fumbled with the safety lid until she was finally able to pinch it just right and get it twisted off. Feeling a growing agitation at how long it was taking her to get her medicine, she quickly dumped two pills into her hand and lifted a shaky hand to her mouth, threw the pills back, and opened the water bottle to wash them down. Selah drained the water bottle and sat on the edge of her bed for a few moments, trying to normalize her breathing while the pills took effect. Her breathing finally slowed and was almost back to normal, despite the still racing feeling she felt in her veins from the recurring nightmare. Selah cautiously pushed herself up from the bed and stood holding onto her nightstand for a moment, worried her muscles might give out or cramp up with how tense they had been. When she was certain she could stand without collapsing or her muscles seizing up, she grabbed the terry cloth robe that lay at the end of her bed and slipped her feet into her pale pink slippers before shuffling out to the small kitchen in her apartment. She grabbed the electric tea kettle from its warmer and filled it up to the one cup line before returning it and turning it on. Rummaging through her boxes of tea in the cupboard, she found the one she was looking for–sleep tea with chamomile to help calm her still edgy nerves. She pulled a mug off of the silver mug tree on her counter and put the tea bag in it while she waited for the kettle to boil. After a few minutes, the kettle whistled letting her know the water was ready. She picked up the kettle and poured the boiling water over her tea bag before carrying the steaming mug to the stuffed chair that sat near her window and faced in towards her sitting area. Snuggling into the chair, she pulled her steaming mug close, blowing on it to help cool it off enough to drink. She leaned her head back into the comfy chair and stared up at the picture of her parents that sat on her mantle. “I miss you both so much,” she whispered before she took a sip of her tea. Her left wrist twinged, causing her to grimace. She set her mug down on the little side table beside her chair and rolled the sleeve of her robe away from her wrist, rubbing the aching scars that still hurt occasionally from the explosion fifteen years before. The explosion had been so forceful and close, some of the flames had caught the sweater she had tied around her waist and burned her skin when she had been thrust out of the cave. The burn scars on her shoulder didn’t normally hurt, but the ones that encompassed her wrist still ached on occasion. The dull aching lessened after a few moments, so she picked up her tea and drank some more, allowing the soothing liquid to infiltrate her body and spread its calming warmth throughout. When she finished the last of her tea, she stood up and stepped to the mantle, placing a gentle kiss on her fingertips that she transferred to her parents' smiling faces in the photo. “Good night, Momma. Good night, Daddy. I love you.” A disheartened sigh escaped Selah’s lips as her fingers lingered on the treasured photo for a few moments, her heart wishing more than anything that she could be with them again. After burning the image of the familiar photo into her mind for probably the millionth time, she placed her mug on the counter and went back to her room to hopefully get some more restful sleep than she had gotten the first half of the night. Selah woke to the playing of Respighi’s Pines of Rome. She groggily reached for her phone on the nightstand and hit the answer button. “Miss Cross. Where are you?” “What? Why? What time is it?!” she asked as she sat up abruptly and swung her feet out of the bed. “It’s 9:20. The museum director will be here any minute for the gala meeting.” Selah pulled the phone away from her face to look at the time. “Shoot. I’m on my way.” Selah hurried to get ready. She ran her straightener through her hair to hopefully patch her through until after the meeting with the director when she could run home and take a shower before she met with the caterers at noon. She pulled on her navy blue pencil skirt, white blouse, and the light pink blazer she had thankfully laid out the night before, slid into her lace flats, and headed out the door.