Covenant: Exodus

Chapter 13

Erich walked through the empty hallways, his footfalls bouncing off of the tile, reverberating in the silence. He had no idea why he was even going to meet Paulus. Paulus, who had been his friend, had looked up to him, no longer. Now Paulus was the enemy, the man trying to take away everything Erich had worked so hard to achieve. There is nothing he can say to me...nothing that will make any of this make sense, he thought, he could have come to me...why did he do it this way...why am I even going to talk to him? Jim would have my ass if he knew I was meeting with the man that had just served the museum with a cease and desist order without legal counsel, but he knew why he was going to see Paulus.

Gema.

Even the thought of her name filled Erich with such conflicting emotions, the joy that the memories of their short time together brought, followed by the crushing despair of having lost her. As he walked, he allowed himself to reflect on all of the good times that they had shared together. He remembered one particular day that had been key to him falling for that amazing woman. Erich had been teaching a small group of boys the gospel that morning, and they had taken a break to play a game of soccer. The boys were all ten or eleven and, as is often the case at that age, not entirely compassionate with one another. One small boy, Josef, had been born with a disorder similar to multiple sclerosis, so he had trouble walking and his back arched in an odd way, which led to the other boys never really wanting to play with him or be particularly kind to him. As the boys chose teams, they very purposefully left Josef out of the game and quickly scrambled to start playing before Erich had a chance to tell them to be nice and allow Josef on one of the teams. Erich had turned in time to see Josef hobbling towards the forest at the edge of the village, tears brimming in his eyes, but before he could go and talk to him, a bunch of shouting from the soccer game drew his attention.

Two of the other boys were now rolling in the dirt kicking and punching at one another, screaming about cheating. Erich ran towards them and broke them up, holding them at arm's length as they continued to try and hit one another. Erich calmly spoke to them about the importance of non-violence, and about how Jesus would have told them to turn the other cheek. Once he had the boys calmed down and they were back to their game, he turned to find Josef but could not see him anywhere, and that was when he spotted them. Gema and Josef were walking hand in hand back from the forest. Gema was talking to Josef and the look that Josef had on his face said it all. Here he was, the boy that no one wanted, walking and holding hands with the most beautiful girl in the whole village. Erich had never before seen a look of such happiness on Josef's face.

Josef continued to beam as they strode directly into the center of where the other boys were playing their game, walking toward a bench on the other side of the village. As Gema and Josef walked, Erich saw that the other boys had stopped playing the game and were simply staring, open-mouthed, at this unlikely pair. Once they reached the bench, Gema helped Josef sit down and then leaned in towards him to say goodbye, as she did she quickly glanced at the other boys staring at her and smiled before turning back to Josef and giving him a kiss. Josef's light brown face went cherry red as Gema stood up and walked back through the group of boys who now couldn't decide who to stare at, Gema or Josef. Josef simply sat on the bench wearing the world's biggest smile. Erich had never even told Gema that he had witnessed this act of kindness, he had never told her that because of what she chose to do that day, the other boys began including Josef in everything they did; he became a sort of hero to them. That one small act of compassion had changed the little boy's life forever, and not a lot of people could understand what Josef had felt that day, but Erich could completely relate to the fact that one small kiss from Gema and your world was never the same again.

If Paulus had information on Gema, Erich needed to know what it was. That was all he was going for; he had no interest in the apologies he was sure would come from Paulus when he arrived at the garden. Erich looked up and realized that with his mind preoccupied he had walked right past the garden, so he turned around and headed back down the hallway, pausing outside of the door to steel his resolve to decline the forthcoming apology, and entered the forest beyond.