Chapter 2: Jasmine. Rough Draft
Mark 13: 35-36
“Therefore, be on the alert–for you do not know when the master of the house is coming, whether in the evening, at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning– in case he should come suddenly and find you asleep.”
Jasmine tried to open her eyes. She could hear voices, however faint. The pain in her head continued as she tried to remember what happened. Why was she losing consciousness like this? This wasn’t just her body being tired, more like being drugged. Her eyes felt heavy. Her body didn’t want to respond to her command. Who were these people trying to wake her up? Her mind continued to lose the battle of waking and drifted back to memories or were they dreams? Again her mind loss as she drifted to another dream.
This time she found herself at a restaurant named The Bullet. A small diner with a home atmosphere in Washington D.C. She was with her bible study group, True Victory, as they celebrated Kadeem’s birthday after two days of attending seminars on Christian leadership. Their were around twenty members, but only seven of them could make the trip. The vice president, Charnelle Reese, had to leave early and left that morning and Dawn Vinson, one of the more energetic members, went with her. So the group was down to only five members and they still had many seminars to cover over the next three days.
Jasmine smiled, as the president of the student group that she founded with Charnelle as an activity group. This was the first major trip they planned and it was going well. Kadeem had pieces of a strawberry shortcake fall out his mouth as he ate. He was the treasurer and biggest member in both height and weight. She was often concerned about his size and they discussed work out plans because the body we were given is a temple. He was also the successor to her position when she leaves next year with Charnelle. Jasmine thought he was wise for his age and had the heart for leading even if he was shy.
“Thank you guys.” Kadeem said. His voice was both strong and clear, but also at the same time nice. His brown eyes were almost golden in color and were full of joy. “I didn’t think anyone would remember.”
“Kadeem, Jasmine may be keeping us busy, but that wasn’t going to stop us from celebrating you!” Glynn said lifting up a glass of tea. He was sitting between Kadeem and Darryl. The only three males that consistently come to bible studies. They formed a quick friendship which was awesome to see. Although Kadeem was slightly taller than them, they had their own individual traits. Glynn was just as tall maybe an inch short, but the smaller of the trio. This was his first year and he managed to become one of the most supportive members of the ministry. Darryl had a more muscular build to him because of his martial art training. He was the balance between Glynn’s own energetic nature and Kadeem’s quiet nature. Most of the time he seemed devoid of personality, but around those he considers close he was more expressive.
“Glynn is right. Even if Jasmine didn’t want too, we would have done it anyway. You only get one birthday a year.” Darryl said his voice was the deepest of the three, but still as lighthearted.
“Wny are you all making me sound like I’m a slave driver?” She asked looking at both Darryl and Glynn. Glynn shrugged his shoulders with a huge smile on his face while Darryl just looked at her with a blank expression.
“Because we were surprised that you did remember with all the planning you put into this trip.” Cree said as the final member on the trip. She was shorter than Jasmine and had a mole on her right cheek. Her beauty mark she called it. She always helped with praise and worship, but was a quiet person, usually almost aloof in lot of ways.
“I’m not the only one, Charnelle and Kadeem helped.” Jasmine said trying to defend her workaholic persona. She believed that this is what the Lord wanted her to do so she gave it her all.
“No one is attacking you Jasmine.” Kadeem said with assurance. Jasmine smiled and shook her head.
“I just want to say I’m proud of all of you. Even though it’s just the five of us, we managed to hit most of the seminars and now we can take it back to the others.”
Everyone smiled and continued to eat their food and desserts. Jasmine kept watching the time to make sure they all got back for the evening sermon. She looked around and noticed that Glynn was watching her. It was one of his most annoying traits. He was always watching she noticed about him. Almost as if he was judging her.
“Don’t worry Jazz, we’re going to make it on time.” he said with a smile. “And if we don’t I hope you can forgive us.”
The memory started to get hazy as her mind tried to wake itself up. The pain in her body returned to remind her that it was still there. Her eyes continued to struggle to open. She felt like a prisoner in her own body. The voices of whoever was still around her as the sensation of touch slowly returned. She could tell that she was being restrained in metal. Just her hands. Her heart started racing with fear, but her mind was still lost. Was this a dream too? Was that dinner just a dream. No she told herself. She knew it was real and that these restraints were real, but how did she get here and where was here?
She started praying, “oh god I know you are strong and wise. Please help me to see.” The voices told her that God can’t hear her. That’s when she noticed that one of the voices was female. Her subconscious tried to take over again, but she fought it off as she heard orders for another dose. She could feel the injection in her arm and wanted to fight back but couldn’t move anything other than her wrist.
Time went on and the pain started to subside as her mind continued to drift between reality and fantasy and a mixture of both at times. She had a dream about having a frog head and helping others with delivering their babies. Jasmine thought that having kids, much less, helping deliver babies isn’t her. The woman’s voice from earlier was becoming more clear as Jasmine’s eyes started to open finally. She could feel dried spit around the corners of her mouth. Her body felt like she was in control again, but was still restrained and now she noticed that she was upright. Naked. With two large metal straps that covered her breasts and groin areas. She was positioned like Jesus on the cross. In the small room ware the others. Cree, Kadeem, Darryl, and Glynn who were all in the same situation. Each of them starting to wake up.
The woman’s voice, which was clear to Jasmine now, spoke to her. “Welcome to my lab. Do you remember how you got here?”
Jasmine shook her head once because her neck was still strained from lack of movement. The woman was wearing a black robe with a white lab coat. Her hair was curly, black, and fell beneath her armpit. Her skin was white as snow. She looked harmless and even smiled.
“Where am I” Jasmine asked. The woman sat down in the chair and rolled herself to Jasmine’s side. She noticed that there was an energy to this woman. One that felt familiar and not pleasant.
“Why you’re in my lab. My name is Lilith and I saved you and your friends.”
