Tomb After Tomb

Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper plays.

In 1998 Great Britain waved at Lacey. “Hey!” said Great Britain.

Lacey went into a seizure fit in her spirit and rolled around on her parent’s living-room floor foaming at the mouth.

“Okay. That’s not good.” said Great Britain.

“No! It’s not good!” yelled Lacey.

And maybe it was all downhill from there. It’s up for debate.

Basically…Great Britain knew way back in 1998…that…things weren’t going well. Whether there’s reincarnation in the Bible or not…somehow Lacey loves Great Britain…and…they knew. They knew. They read her distress signals perfectly.

Everybody Wants To Rule The World by Tears For Fears plays.

Unfortunately they couldn’t do much. God decided she needed to live. And they worship God.

Joe Kennedy Junior sings Everybody Wants To Rule The World. Dim as a burnt out Christmas tree light.

“So you want to rule the world?” asks Lem of Joe.

“Yeah!” said JFK, grinning.

“Yup! And we’re going to do it!” said Bobby Kennedy Senior.

“Hey! Wanna watch? We’re awesome.” said Joe Kennedy Senior, laughing in joy at the unfolding glory of his own genius.

And like The Partridge Family of politics…The Kennedys…beat out a real zinger. They’re good with dancing bears and tambourines. And they are willing to work with the traveling circus too. It was quite a production.

“They had craic!” says an Irishman to Lacey.

“Yes! They did!” says Lacey.

“I wasn’t a craic addict.” says Lem.

“No. You may or may not have done crack. But I try to believe you. …Still…they are wildly entertaining.” says Lacey.

“I AM NOT IRISH!” said Joe Kennedy Senior. “IT IS NOT JUST CRAIC!”

“No. You’re just Irish. …And you’re just…Irish.” says Lacey. “That’s all. You’re just Irish and intelligent. That’s all. That’s your secret.”

“Fine.” said Joe Kennedy Senior to Lacey.

They stood in awkward silence.

“Too bad I was so evil. I like you.” said Joe Kennedy Senior to Lacey Banks.

“Yes. Dammit!” says F. Scott Fitzgerald.

“So…how much longer is this going to take?” asked Mel’s supposedly evil overlord British father. “Can we take Lacey to Heaven now?”

“Not yet.” said God in 2000.

“WHEN?!?” the British man yelled.

“I’m getting irritated too.” said Roger Schurke who had died recently.

Drops of Jupiter by Train plays.

“Heaven is far from overrated.” says Lacey in 2000.

In 2004 she was confused. And this morning she had a conversation with Jesus about why He didn’t kill her in 2005.

“Something was supposed to happen. And it didn’t happen.” says Bill Rhea on behalf of God.

“Heaven is dancing along the light of day, you idiot!” says Lacey to Train. “Literally.”

“I’m not an idiot. Sorry. It’s…about being happy while you’re alive.” says Train.

“But you make so many fucking references to me. And my imaginary life.” says Lem.

“Sorry.” says Train.

“Heaven is not overrated. But I think I might understand your concept.” says Lacey to Train.

“Yeah. It’s not meant to be taken literally in that way.” says Train.

“Well…I did like that song.” says Lacey, apologizing.

Bobby Kennedy Senior dances at a rave with Mary Richardson in Purgatory. I Love It by Icona Pop plays.

“There’s your hot news for the day! They fucked.” says Lacey, in exasperation.

“Lacey don’t say that.” say the living Kennedys.

“Why not?” asks Lacey.

“It’s offensive.” they say, very intensely and seriously.

“Why?” asks Lacey.

“You’re an idiot!” they yell at Lacey.

“Why?” asks Lacey.

“I’m gonna kill her!!” yells Bobby. He’s restrained.

“When?” asks Mel’s father of God.

In Ear Park by Department of Eagles plays.

“I just don’t see the point. Obviously I’m staying alive for my kids now…but if my whole family could die…it’d be marvelous.” says Lacey to God.

“What if there’s no afterlife!!?” says Bill Gates in grave concern.

“True. And that’s obviously a consideration!” says Lacey. She thinks. “But…if there’s an afterlife…and God Himself could kill us…which is my premise…then…I’m beyond excited to die. And I don’t see the point of many of us being alive anymore.”

“Actually…I hear you. But are you a rare exception…or a common experience?” asks Bill Gates.

“What’s going on!? I’m so confused guys.” says Bobby Kennedy Junior, in a panic. “Dammit Cheryl. I can’t find it on my phone.”

“Find what!?” asks Cheryl in her whiny nasal voice. “Find what, baby?”

“What the hell is Bill talking about!? Cheryl! What the fuck is Bill talking about!??” whines Bobby, throwing his phone.

“What? Like…it’s not Nihilism. Or necessarily population control. But like…it’s like…a combination…sort of. Don’t worry. I’ve got this.” she says. “CHILL!”

Therapy Car Noise plays.

“So what was the point?” Lacey asks God, trying not to be hateful towards Him. Or completely annihilate Him in her mind.

“Who hates my daughter so much?” asks Mel.

“We’re trying to take her home.” says Mel’s dad. “But we have to be able to bring with your grandchildren.”

“And Mark!” says Mel.

“Yes. You understand!” says Mel’s dad.

“Dad, what happened!?!” asks Mel.

“Sin. That’s the easiest answer. …But…Bill Rhea is right. God had a plan. But it didn’t happen. He can’t control us. Free will.” says Mel’s dad.

Lem weeps.

“Why the fuck…are you so damn arrogant?” Mel’s father asks Lem.

Lem stops crying. Goes into a profound shock.

“Lem you left Lacey holding the whole damn world together with her sheer force of will. Right?” asks God.

Therapy Car Noise plays over.

“Lacey doesn’t know who she belongs to. And you have to be far stronger than that. Or you lose.” says Mel.

“Maybe he doesn’t care anyway.” says Lacey, lovingly.

“Jack Kennedy was Lem’s false flame? Or Jack Kennedy was worse than Lem’s false flame?” asks a reader of God.

“Oh my god. I wrote a fake love story celebrating false flames?” thinks David Pitts. “Or was it worse than that?”

“That’s a laugh.” says Bobby. “It’s all a lie.”

“What’s the truth then?” asks Mary Richardson.

“There is no truth. It’s a mystery.” says Bobby, with a deep, passive violence.

“That’s bullshit.” says Mary Richardson.

“No. No. You’re bullshit.” says Bobby.

“Am I real?” asks Mary Richardson.

“Yeah. Maybe. No. See! It’s a mystery.” says Bobby.

“No. It’s not. You just hate the truth.” says Mary Richardson.

Love Again by Dua Lipa plays.

“Hey! Are you…feeling borderline? Wanna fuck?” Bobby asks Mary Richardson.

“No. …I just reminded you of Lem. And Jackie. And Lacey. And your dad. And yourself. …But I’m none of those people.” says Mary Richardson.

“So that’s a yes?” says Bobby.

“No. It’s a no.” says Mary Richardson. “Bobby…I hung myself.”

“So? You’re talking to me. Big deal.” says Bobby.

“Bobby…death is still real.” says Mary Richardson.

Move Ya Body by Nina Sky plays.

“But you’re talking to me.” says Bobby, confused.

“Yes! Through Lacey.” says Mary Richardson.

“So!? She’s racist!” says Bobby.

“What does that have to do with anything?” asks Mary Richardson.

“So…I win.” says Bobby.

“How the hell did you ever win any court case? If there’s an Illuminati…you’re far too stupid to be a successful lawyer.” says Lacey to Bobby, in genuine awe and confusion.

“You really do think highly of yourself!” says Bobby like an idiot to Lacey.

“That’s a dumb response. Quit wasting my time. Answer me. How the fuck are you successful? You’re a total fucking idiot!” says Lacey.

“No. I’m smart in a way you can’t tell.” says Bobby to Lacey.

“Explain it then!” says Lacey.

“You know…if I am dumb…you might be hurting my feelings!” says Bobby to Lacey.

“Yeah right! You have nothing! You’re a worm!” growls Lacey at Bobby.

“You’re mean.” says Bobby to Lacey.

“No. You’re an insane psychopath. And you’d possibly be better off dead.” says Lacey.

“I’m not stupid.” says Bobby.

“No. I think you have good instincts. But so did most people in your family. You’re all very gifted intuitively. …But you seem…so…illogical. I’m sorry, sweetie.” says Lacey.

And at that Bobby cries. In the afterlife.

“Oh my god. She’s right.” he says to his dad in the afterlife.

“It’s alright. Except it’s not. Because we’re in trouble. And you’re not capable of keeping us afloat. We’re going to drown Bobby.” says Lacey, calmly.

“Why the fuck am I in charge?!?” he yelled in 1994 in his spirit and Lacey heard him.

“Well…upon further investigation…the good news is that the Kennedy myth was…just a myth. And…all good fake stories…have to end. They’re just fairytales. Real fairytales. Not really. Isn’t that sad? …Okay. So you don’t understand why that’s sad…in the way I do. Fine. …The point is…it’s just a myth. And it’s dead. Mostly.” says Lacey.

“Did Lem understand that?” asks Bobby.

“No. He thought your family was a movement. A historic revolution. And that’s quite rational. Given what he understood. But…he was wrong.” says Lacey.

“So…we’re just a myth.” says Bobby.

“Your family’s inability to truly join the old money elite…is…why you’re a myth…but also happened because you’re all just a myth. You all don’t fit in with us. …And that’s fine. But…it ruined your story’s ability to be fact.” says Lacey.

“So we’re just historic rich people.” says Bobby about his family.

“Yeah! And that’s cool. …You’re all still surprisingly and not surprisingly relatable.” says Lacey.

“We’re historic, rich-people, generational wealth.” says Bobby.

“Yes! Which is actually very cool. Very chic. But…it’s not…what you’re advertised as being.” says Lacey.

“Hey. Sorry you don’t get to be one of us.” says Bobby to Lacey in the afterlife.

“Yeah. I’m getting over it.” says Lacey.

“She was my soulmate. For real.” says Joe Kennedy Senior. “Just look at the numbers. And grow-up.”

“He’s right. Bobby wasn’t given a chance.” says F. Scott Fitzgerald.

“He was blind. And bound to make a fool of himself with all of you being his accountants.” says Zelda to the evil Illuminati.

“But we were in love.” says Joe Kennedy Junior. “I’m a loser. …And I love Pat Wilson. But we were in love. I ruined my father’s already impossible odds. …And…I didn’t know.”

“I was…too blind myself to handle it all.” says Joe Kennedy Senior.

“But…he might not have won her anyway.” says Michael Rockefeller.

“I’d like to have had a chance!!!” screams Joe Kennedy Senior in tears.

Road To Perdition, Rock Island by Thomas Newman plays.

“I went to prison while your son…ruined my daughter’s life. You ruined your chance, JP. I’m sorry.” says Thomas Banks.

“I’d still like to have had a chance. I know I ruined it.” says Joe Kennedy Senior.

“That’s how it goes.” says Tom.

“I was pure evil.” says Joe in horror.

“Your ruined your own soul.” says Tom.

“Yes, and that’s all very necessary possibly to say for someone’s sake but I’d like to know why it is that Lacey has to deal with all of this and still be alive. I’d like an explanation.” says Mel’s father to God.

“Agreed!” says Lacey.

Seconds later.

“She was supposed to be happy…and loved…and help people.” says God.

“Nah. See….this is not how this whole thing was supposed to work out!” says a living black woman.

“What specifically happened?!?” yells Mel’s father at God.

Our Reflection by Max Richter plays.

The song plays.

And plays.

“Michael died.” says God, crying.

And at that Mary cries in her heart.

“I wanted her to marry Michael. I knew she was likely to be born…even as he died. That’s where the tragedy really took off, so to speak.

After she was…three…it was an uphill battle. Gruesome. Bloody. Horrific.

But I still had hope. Because I know her. She’s impossible when she relies on me. Totally impossible.

She loves to fight. Until the end of the world. She’ll love a glorious, virtuous bloodbath. It’s just blood.

There…will…be blood. Until the end. And when it spills…in righteous battle…it’s beautiful. It’s red. And elegant. And…human.

Death. Sex. Life. Victory.

Her love for battle is sublime. There isn’t an ounce of masculinity, of stupidity or of anything crass about it at all. It’s worship of me.

C. S. Lewis wrote about it in The Chronicles of Narnia. Lacey, Susan and Lucy. They all fight.

In Great Britain…they understood war.

Michael…was supposed to be her…salvation. Not as my son Jesus is her one salvation. But as a representation of that glorious final sacrifice in a fallen world. As a man. …He was supposed to protect her!

Because Lem was…destroyed. Lem…was…all shot up. He had been ambushed. Slaughtered. Beaten to a bloody pulp and sent to Hell with cheers from the Kennedys.

But then Michael died. And in a way…Lacey almost died that day too.

What happened…after 2005…was…Israel.

Of course I still love the Jews. But…they…ruined her. Not all of them. And they’ve tried to rescue her since. But…in 2007…one MessiaMessiah College professor destroyed her life. She’s gotten married and had kids. But he left her for dead.

He relished throwing his evil sword, given to him from Satan, into her heart. Twisting it. Pulling it out. And then perversely shoving it back into her again. Until she bled for him. He hated her existence because she challenged his arrogance in my name and he- He believes he speaks for me. He believes he owns my name. Like he owns his intellectual property. And it’s evil, but it’s also a sort of insanity. And both Lacey and I feel grief for him.

There’s a difference between being mine…and claiming the world on my behalf…as my child…rightfully…and believing you OWN ME. I’m not a slave. I’m not a thing. You cannot possess me…like you possess your house in vain. I created everyone. I created your house. No man…however intellectually correct…is me or is my equal. I have no other gods before me, much less men. This man refused to accept that as his premise as a teacher.

And because she has no one defending her…alive…on a deep, soul level of awareness…he told her…Michael Rockefeller was in Hell. And that she was just like him. Worthless. Disgusting. Useless. Meaningless.

And so a black man drowned. Because the mafia is loyal. And sometimes they honor me. He drowned in a beautiful sea…off the coast of Spain…out of solidarity for Tom’s daughter. It was a glorious end. And his ghost…haunted Lacey on the campus of Messiah College after he died. He looked at her and laughed. Because to him…death had become a beautiful joke. He walked out of the same door Lacey walked out of that day on campus when she was sold-out by the Messianic Jews. They betrayed her. …I take myself seriously.

Lacey was dedicated as a baby by her parents at a Messianic Jewish Church. She was taught to be a fervent, unassailable Zionist zealot. And yet in her genius she understood the limitations of Zionism. Just as she understood the limitations of all Earthly loyalties. Just as she understood the profound significance and glory of Christ-redeemed loyalty.

But that wasn’t enough for Dr. Evil. That wasn’t enough for Dr. Messianic. A short, hyper, intelligent man…who felt being Jewish made him cool. Cooler than you. Cooler than most people.

Some Messianic Jews are like that. They are very vain. Pearl Grossman was too. She was the Messianic Jew who violently demanded Lacey love her like an aunt. And Lacey did her best in her own sweet, innocent way until Pearl decided she hated Lacey out of the blue in Lacey’s late 20’s. But that was after Lacey married a handsome, successful Jew. And Pearl had had one bad marriage to a Jew and no others. It was heartless. And yet of course Pearl claimed my authority. ‘God told me I needed to stop talking to you.’ she wrote Lacey. Before then she’d been sent photos of Lacey with Mark in Switzerland. ‘Oh! You look so pretty! You’re so pretty. …You know I went to Switzerland too.’ And then the next thing Lacey knew Pearl was basically disowning her. With no explanation as to why.

Pearl may have had dementia. But I know what really happened in her heart…all those years.

Was Pearl…swayed…in the breeze? By a force created from Dr. Evil’s own violence? Yes. Pacts do matter. However they work out. Everything matters.

Lacey loves Israel. Don’t keep questioning that. But she loves me first.

She was abused. Neglected. And then left for dead.

I’ve had lots of great plans for her. But I have yet to see one come to fruition. NOT EVEN ONE. And no, unfortunately for the vain and the desperate, it’s not her fault.

And the British know that. They too can see how badly it’s going. They too can see how worthless her life has been to her if she could have had her kids in Heaven. No. She’s not Jack reincarnated. That’s unspeakably vile that you’d even suggest that to her or to yourself at this point as a possibility. She’s never been a man. She’s never had a man’s body at any time anywhere ever. That she has ever been a man in any even slight way, shape or form is more impossible than impossible.

The British…know how badly this is going. And so they ask me, ‘God why? Why is she alive? Why are her kids alive?’ No, it’s not because of a curse from Ireland. No, it’s not because she has ever been heartless or stupid about Africa, or India or Asia. No. I’ve had plans.

But each day that she languishes in torment…and each day that she falls asleep too unloved and sad to cry…with my provision of mercy in the form of Lem’s love allowed to just her…withheld from her viciously I come closer to letting her die in her sleep with her kids and Mark, and giving them their forever. Not your forever. I’ve never thought you were her. You can’t fool me.

Her legal husband is my servant. And I will honor him. He worships me.

If I choose to take them to be with me in their sleep I can. You can’t stop me. Nothing and no one can. It just hasn’t been time yet.

Recently I had plans to let her be strong enough to see her daughter in the Christmas Pageant. She would have loved that. But evil on Earth prevented that. And she choked down the soup she lovingly made for her family on Christmas Eve with Becca’s family coldly deciding that Lacey’s life was Hell bent and vile in a twisted view of their own sin. I’m profoundly disappointed and angry with Becca right now and when she dies she will have her eyes and mouth gouged out by rats from Hell unless she fervently repents. And that’s just the beginning of her reward for her bad choices as my daughter. If she doesn’t go to Hell she’ll be thankful and asking for more pain when she recognizes what she done. Her sisters and brother are no different. And their reward will be doled out accordingly as well if they don’t repent. …You can’t lie to me. And I’m a just God not only a merciful God. They don’t want to die for a reason. But they should really just repent. I can forgive them. I can save them. But they have to humble themselves before me. …I won’t punish them for anything they don’t deserve to be punished for ever and they’ll be saved as they receive salvation through Jesus in faith.” says God.

“Shoot! They sound worse off than me.” says Bobby Kennedy Junior at age eight in the afterlife.

“Why did you all decide Lacey Banks sucked shit? We wanted to send her to Hell. But…that was for petty reasons and because of Ireland. …She beats the shit out of us. Literally. But…it’s out of love. And we start the fight. Really. Why don’t you listen to her warnings? Because I know she’s warned you all.” says Kick Kennedy. “Why don’t you want your salvation?”

“We don’t go straight to Heaven? I’ve been believing for that. …I can sin. And it’s magically gone in an instant. I just keep believing in Jesus and it’s gone. It’s like magic. Poof!” says Becca.

“Yeah! That’s right. Poof!” says Jonah Wiley.

“Yup. And on Earth…we find happiness. Because who knows what happens when we die? No. It’s just not in the text. And you can’t read whatever you want into the text.” says Dr. Moritz. “You have to be faithful to what’s there. You can’t be a traitor to Christ.”

Miss You by The Rolling Stones plays.