Jeremy Robinson - The Didymus Contingency

After snagging two syringes, Sally put them in her pocket and stepped over Jake, who was still writhing on the floor. Sally smiled. She was going to make it. Getting out should be no problem without the guards at the door.

“GUARDS!” Jake’s throat had opened up momentarily and his lungs managed to take in enough air to get out one loud scream.

Sally glared at Jake and he crawled backward, away from her rage, away from those eyes. His face was two shades of crimson as he struggled to suck in another breath. The door to the office was kicked open as Sean and Chuck burst in, weapons drawn. Sally was caught.

“Freeze!” Sean yelled.

“Move and you’re dead!” Chuck shouted, as his sweaty index finger twitched nervously on the trigger of his gun.

Sally’s mind raced for a solution. She knew it was only a matter of seconds before she would be killed.

Jesus had led the disciples clear out of the region called Judea, where he believed their lives to be at risk. He made it clear that it was not his time to die and the entire group, including Tom and David, retreated to the region of Samaria, just north of Judea. Rather than stay in a city, the group had set up shop under the stars and had been camping for a week.

Tom and Judas lay in the grass, far enough away from the campfire to see the bright stars above. The conversation around the fire that night hadn’t been as jovial as Tom would have liked. In fact, everything since leaving Judea had seemed more somber, more serious. Tom and Judas had tired of the seriousness and left the group to talk about the future.

David joined them soon after, waiting just long enough, Tom suspected, so that it wouldn’t seem obvious that he was keeping tabs on him and Judas. Tom knew the name Judas held negative connotations in the future, something to do with betrayal, but that was about as believable as Jesus being the Son of God. David sat on the grass next to Tom and looked up at the sky.

“They’re beautiful aren’t they? Like sparkling gems floating in the sky,” Judas said with a smile.

Tom chuckled. He couldn’t help himself.

“What’s so funny?” Judas asked. “What do you think they are?”

David cleared his throat and gave Tom a look that said: Don’t you dare.

“I think,” Tom started with a semi-sarcastic tone. “I think they are a gift from God, to light our path at night.”

“The truest words to exit your mouth yet,” Jesus said, as he approached from the campfire. “Are you not cold over here, away from the fire?”

“We’re fine,” David said.

Judas sat up and perched himself on his elbows. “It was getting too hot by the fire.”

“And the conversation was dull,” Tom said with a smirk.

Jesus smiled. “I fear it will be the last dull moment for some time to come.”

“Are we leaving?” Tom asked.

“Not yet,” Jesus answered.

“Jesus!” yelled a voice from the dark.

A single torch light cut through the darkness as an out of breath man ran toward the group. “I’m looking for the one called Jesus. Have any of you seen him?”

Jesus walked to the man. “I am Jesus.”

“Master, I have been sent to you from Bethany, from the home of your friend Lazarus,” the man said.

Jesus’s face sank. “He has fallen ill?”

The man looked surprised, “Yes, his sisters sent me to you so that you might come to Bethany and heal him.”

“Go then,” Jesus said. “Tell them I am coming.”

“Yes, Master,” said the man, who then returned to the darkness from which he came.

Tom had heard the whole conversation and walked to Jesus. He saw the look on Jesus’s face and realized something wasn’t quite right. “We’re not going to Bethany, are we?”

“Not yet.”

“But you just told him-”

“Mary is a strong woman. Do not worry about her.”

“I didn’t say-”

“Your eyes say enough.”

“We can’t just let them wait,” Tom said, trying not to appear overly irritated.

“Thomas, his sickness will not end in death. The glory will be to God when His son is glorified through it,” said Jesus.

David approached Tom as Jesus returned to the fire. “What a load of crap!” Tom said in hushed English.

David pulled Tom further away from the fire and listening ears.

“Can you believe this?” Tom asked, returning to Aramaic.

“I can believe lots of things.” “You’re not worried about Lazarus?”

“No.”

Tom scrutinized David’s face, looking for answers. Then his jaw dropped open as he came to a realization. “You know what’s going to happen. You know everything that’s going to happen. But you’re not just guessing, you actually know. Don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“How?” Tom wasn’t asking. He was demanding.

“It’s all in the Bible.”

“Tonight was in the Bible?”

“Yes.”

“And whatever it is that happens with Lazarus, you know the outcome?”

“Yes.”

“Great. Next you’re going to tell me there was a disciple named Tom in the Bible.”

“Actually…”

“Not funny.”

“And I’m not joking, Thomas,” David said.

“Thomas?”

“That’s what you’re called in the Bible.”

Tom’s jaw clenched shut for a moment, grinding his teeth. “David, really. This isn’t funny.”

“Actually, I think you might be the only disciple in the Bible who actually had a nickname.”

Tom stared at David, his mind racing with thoughts.

“Do you know how your name translates into Greek?”

Tom didn’t reply. He knew David was going to tell him.

David smiled. “Didymus…remarkable coincidence. Now you see why it is so funny that they call you that. Not only did we look like twins, but your name translates to the Greek word for twin, Didymus.”

Tom sat down. “I’m in the Bible?”

David nodded happily. “And every Christian child has grown up hearing stories about you.”

What David was saying made no sense, but Tom knew he wouldn’t lie about something like this. “That doesn’t make them true,” Tom said.

“But it makes the Bible accurate.”

Tom closed his eyes in thought, “What else do you know about me? About what’s going to happen?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why not?”

“It might affect the decisions you make.”

“You know what happens in the next week?”

“Yes.”

“A month from now?”

“Yes.”

“How I live? How I die?”

“Tom-”

“You know what happens to Mary?”

David is thrown by the question. “I…no, I don’t.”

Tom looked away, trying to hide any concerned look on his face that might give his feelings away. But it was too late. David noticed.

“Tom, do you?” David asked suspiciously.

Tom shook his head. “Don’t ask me how, but yes.”

David couldn’t help but smile. He put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “That’s great.”

“Is it really?” Tom turned around and looked at the stars, trying desperately not to make eye contact with David.

David stood next to Tom and gazed at the glowing night sky. “I promise you. There isn’t any other person alive today or tomorrow that Megan would be happier to see you with.”

Tom smiled and glanced at David. “What about you?”

“What do you mean?” David asked.

“The woman who inexplicably holds your heart is two thousand years in the future.”

David smiled, “A minute won’t pass for Sally. I’ve been gone for years, but to her it will only be a minute.”

“It’s hard to be away from someone you love for that long. I know.”

David nodded. “I miss her smile. Granted, I only saw it a few times in all the years we’ve known her, but when I did…there was nothing better,” David said.