Haints and Saints
The question being, of course, who is the haint and who is the saint.
Here is a little attempt at a sort of ghost story. As always, all characters are over the age of 18.
In the borderland between what was and what will be lies a land of not-is. This is the land of the not-living and not-dead and only the most lost find their way to its void.
Shadrach Gage felt a blow like that of a strong mans fist strike his side. The smoke from the highwaymans pistol obscured his target so he could not fire back without endangering the townspeople.
His lifeblood flowed down from the wound soaking his through his shirt and waistcoat. He felt his strength flow out with his gore. His hand trembled so that he could not aim the firearm and then it fell from his weakening grip. His knees buckled and he collapsed onto the cobblestones. He could hear people hurrying to his aid, then everything went black.
Shadrach came to his senses walking through a dense fog. He could see vague shapes in front of him that could be trees or houses or even mountains. There were no distinguishable features near him. The last thing he could remember was being struck by the ball from the evildoers pistol. He then came to the shocking realization that he felt no pain or weakness. Perhaps this was a dream. He reached up and pinched his earlobe. The resulting sensation made a dream seem improbable. But where was he and what place was this?
The blankness and silence around him were unearthly. He realized he could not even hear his own footsteps. He wanted to call out, but his shout died in his throat as he could not force himself to break the stillness surrounding him.
He had been walking for some time, but the shapes in the mist seemed to get no closer.
"This place must be the work of Satan," he finally spoke aloud, "I do not feel the presence of God here This must be a place of great evil if God has abandoned it."
"There are no gods or devils here," answered a woman's voice. "You are the first soul I have seen in the time I have wandered here."
"Who are you?" Shadrach shouted back, "are you a demon or a witch here to lead me astray?" He looked around but could only see the dim shape of a woman.
"I am only another lost wayfarer here in the forsaken land." She answered. She came toward him gradually revealing herself out of the fog. She stopped a few paces way, regarding him with her dark eyes. A few strands of black hair straggled out from under her cap. Her nose was straight and slightly upturned at the tip. Her lips were full and a dusky rose color. He could see the shape of her bosom even under the stiff cloth of the waistcoat. Her waist was slender and the curve of her hips clear beneath her heavy skirt.
Shadrach stepped back and tamped down his response to her beauty. He had never felt the weight of the flesh pull so strongly at his soul. "She must be a devil," Ihe thought. He had never felt the attraction of a woman so strongly.
"What is your name, woman?" he asked more harshly than he intended.
"I am called Rahab," she answered. "I am, or was the wife of John Hammond of Coventry. And what name do you go by?"
"Constable Shadrach Gage of New Galilee," he asserted.
"How came you to this Godless place, Constable Shadrach Gage of New Galilee?" she asked with an amused smile. Almost against his will, he told her about confronting the robber at the door of the general store as he tried to escape with the stolen goods. And about how the thief had fired first and he had been struck down.
"And I found myself walking here in this foggy gloom with no idea where I was nor how I came here." He continued to babble on about being the youngest man in his township to show the faith and integrity to be entrusted with the position of constable. And how he hoped to be the magistrate one day.
She looked at him with an odd smile and replied. "I came here in something of the same manner. I had been married to a Godly and upright man. One who was dedicated to enforcing the will of God." She spoke with an undertone of bitterness. "Particularly in enforcing that will on me. His will or God's will. To him they were the same. I suppose he was enough older that I seemed like a child to him, even though I was past 20 years. But he certainly did not spare the rod. He hated all the sins of the flesh. Even when they were the call of his own flesh. He would revile me and call me strumpet and whore and worse. Even as he spent his lust on me."
She paused and blinked back tears. She took a deep breath and continued. "I make no excuse for what I did. I knew better, but I succumbed to the attention, flattery and tenderness of a young man of the village. I wanted to believe his promises to take me away and to protect and care for me. We had not even sinned yet, when my husband returned and found us together. No, it was a sin to desire a man and let him embrace me." She laughed bitterly. "The man who promised to protect me fled as rapidly as his legs could move, leaving me to face my husband's wrath. It truly was like the wrath of God. He struck me down, pulled me back to my feet only to strike me harder. He held me and struck me again and again. I was only half aware of what was happening, but I do remember him pulling back his fist and hitting me so hard that I heard the bones in my face break. I fell back once more and the side of my head crashed onto the hearth. Then I awoke here on my feet in this dismal place."
Sadrach was shocked to feel so much sympathy for an adulteress. And so much anger against the betrayed husband. He pushed away an image of her lashed to a post as a whip flayed her back. He had wielded such a whip before as he had carried out a sentence on a girl convicted of fornication. He remembered the prideful feeling of administering the justice of the Lord on a sinner.
For a reason he could not understand, he felt shame for that today. It had been part of his duties as constable to. Iuphold the laws of God as well as the laws of men. But here is this desolation, that seemed too harsh and cruel.
"You seem troubled, Constable," she said as he stood there silently.
"Is there something weighing on your conscience? Is there a sin you
need to confess?"
"I was right to think you were a temptress sent to lead me astray with your tale of death at the hand of a cruel husband. God has hardened my heart against your lies."
She stared back at him defiantly. "At the beginning I thought you were like my husband, but I was wrong. He was on fire with the wrath of God. You are cold like a statue of ice. You were troubled because my sorrows began to melt that ice. It is you who have hardened your heart, not God. I am no temptress, only a woman murdered by her jealous husband, who is lost here with you between Heaven and Hell."
Shadrach turned away from her as thoughts roiled his mind. He knew he
Should loathe her as a sinner. But he did feel sympathy for her cruel death and for her being lost here in this limbo. She deserved a better fate than this. Words from the Scripture found their way into his thoughts. "Go and sin no more." "Judge not that you not be judged."
He turned back to her and spoke, "I don't know why God has put us in this place together. I have to believe it has some purpose. I am without any understand what that purpose could be. I do not believe that you are a demon. I find no deception in you. That is what troubles me. I have tried to punish doers of evil in the name of the God. But what if I was wrong in my judgment. I try to be resolute, but sometimes I wonder if we are too harsh on sinners. Jesus walked with sinners and showed them compassion and understanding."
Rahab reached out and took his hands in hers. She looked up into his eyes
and said, "The ice in your heart is truly melting. Mayhap this is why you are here. To learn that mercy must come with judgment"
Shadrach pulled her to him, throwing his arms around her and crushing her
