Chapter 4: Elizabeth

Chapter 4: Elizabeth

On any given night, one can see many of the generation Xers doing their usual activities that would make many of the later generations either turn their nose in disgust or ignore them completely. But not all generation Xers are cut from the same clothe. Which is where we find one in particular doing what most probably wouldn’t do given the chance: staying at home reading the bible. Such is the case with this cute little girl.
Being of only 20 years of age yet looking like that of child does little to diminish her quiet demeanor. To many on lookers she hardly seems to fit the row of a young woman. More so is the evident of her room decor. Everything in pastel pinks and other girly colors that would long ago abandon the tastes of most modern youths.
Again hardly is the case with this little woman. She has long put aside the conquests of appearance and gives into the temptations of the mental and spiritual. What are looks when it’s what inside that count? Granted she still cuts a cute figure in her purple dress with white turtleneck. Given the brand of a bookworm in college, she still maintains a physic that would merit any gym class major. She is an able runner with small legs that can kick when need to. The rest of her fits well with the outlooks being that of a bookworm. The only exception being she had abandoned her glass of high school and taken on the concept of corrective contacts. With her glasses gone, her face has a more open look and allows more of her Asian side to show, her eyes being the natural look of shaped almonds. Along with that appearance it gives her the look of less than a child then that of a mature woman, height not withstanding. Even when calling into exception the length of her hair. Any longer and it could be mistaken for a cloak, jet black and luscious. Being just shy of 5 ft she at times feels exactly want she looks: a little woman. Still a woman regardless, given the ampleness in the chest region. Given the proper clothing she could deck herself out to be quite the looker. But instead of picking and choose outfits that best suit her figure, she decides to wear outfits that just feel comfortable. Besides, there’s a modesty factor at play. Even when she goes out in swimsuit, she does her best not to be around men for fear of them looking at her exposed chest....
and besides, thinks this little woman. Looks are only skin deep when the soul is what's more important. Unlike most of her generation, she is a devoted Christian. More so than others by some standards. Given a choice she would rather watch or do something that would benefit God’s work than the norm for most of her age. Sure she’ll enjoy a “nerdy” activity like watch some sci-fi show and do the natural girl activities like shopping. But never at the stores that show clothing that cover less than what they mean to. Despite her wearing a dress this night of nights, she wears it like the rest of them. Long and to the ankle. “Skin is sin” was her motto. She could not bear the thought that even herself could lead a man down the path of damnation by just the sight of her smooth, shapely legs....
Again, she was what they call, hardcore Christian. Down to the core. Very few understood her devotion to God and all his greatness. More also understood why she didn’t do normal things outside of the church and just chill. What they didn’t understand was that this was her idea of chilling. She finds joy in helping younger kids learn the ways of God and teaching them about his righteousness. She sings with all her heart in Sunday services. And studies the bible with a passion one would think is reserved for those that read trashy romance novels. In the end very few understood her and her godly ways. Even when she was friends back in the Christian school she once attended. Sure they could commune with the word but they don’t fully divulge themselves into his teachings. If only they devoted themselves she would always think they could become more than what they realize. The thrill of being able to not only know the Lord’s plan but also have a speaking communion with him made her heart race, her soul to sing out and openly praise God for the gifts he has given her.
She gave herself completely to God so that she may do his works and be used in whatever task he asked of her. Some might see this as religious zealotry or blind devotion. But unlike other religions that demand total obedience or indeed blind devotion to a bygone faith. Her God has given her the choice of free will; to do as she saw fit for not just herself but for her walk with God. Everyone has there own way of praising God; this little woman has her way not unlike others. She sometimes wonders if her strong faith is because not only of her youth and upbringing but also because of her ancestral past of being connected to Buddha. Though she’s never worshipped Buddha before, she knows that her ancestors once did. Being of Laos/Chinese descent didn’t make her an immediate convert to Buddhism. Like she said, she was a free human being. And she was grateful to be born, and all the more grateful to be able to choose between the two. IN her heart and mind’s eye: God was in control.
As always, even in college her beliefs were very different from those around here. If not more so, she found that her faith and deep devotion was very much in the minority. She met people that really need the Lord to work thru them and others that didn’t even care about him. So many religions and so many unbelievers almost made her weep during her first week. But she merely put that sadness to God so that he can work thru her if only to be a shining beacon of what God can accomplish in one’s life. She had already shown the way to three students this very semester.
So unlike most her age and gender, she found herself sitting at her pink desk, reading her King James Bible. On quiet nights like these she enjoyed the atmosphere the most. All was quiet and she felt that the words would literally leap out at her as she read them. But for some reason the words were not speaking to her tonight. She read the words like she usually did but she got nothing out of them. It was like she was reading something over and over again till it sounded like gibberish. The little woman thought she was just exhausted given how her college studies kept her busy. But even still she always made time to read her bible before she went to bed and said her prayers. How odd it was for her to not feel sleep yet be tired of the bible!
She looked around the moon to see if anything was amiss. The only thing she noticed out of the ordinary was the how the moon shined thru her basement window. She didn’t realize that the moon was to be full and shiny tonight of al nights. Again she tried to read her bible but the words just wouldn’t take any meaning. The Little woman thought that perhaps some fresh air would do her some good. So with that in mind, she made her way to her window and opened the slide door. Once the window was opened, a ferocious wind blew thru the opening, practically knocking her onto her pink bed and making her school work papers spin out of control. She spent a good while gathering up her homework once the wind died down. She found it very odd that it should happen to blow just when she opened her window. After all the news reports said it was suppose to be a quiet night with clear skies. But that moon...
Once she got her work back in order she went back to her table to try to read her bible once more. To her surprise she found that the pages in her bible had changed. Instead of reading in her daily devotional section, it was now set to the final chapter in the bible.
The book of revelations.
The little woman was never one to think of ill omens, more so given that her soul belonged to God, but she found it strange that her bible would happen to be there. Then she remembered the gust of wind that came thru her window a few moments ago. Just the wind thought the little woman. It was nothing to really get worked up about. She’d just turn back to her devotional page. But as she began to turn the page, a particular verse in revelations jumped out at her.

“The third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.”

She looked at the verse and it was 16:4. How odd thought the little woman. She didn’t know why such a verse would speak to her at this time of night. She wasn’t much for a studier of the end times. But she looked back on the beginning of the chapter to find that it was the chapter that spoke of God releasing his final wrath on the people of earth who had allied themselves with the Anti-Christ. There was a reason why she didn’t like to dwell too much on the back of the book. Sure it tells of how God will triumph over the antichrist, but all those poor people. Even if they had turned their backs on God, it was still heartbreaking to read what was to become of them. Aching sores, blinding burns, total darkness and bitter pain. It was a warning to those that were to decide on who's side they would choose. But the little woman still saw them as brothers and sisters in agony for their folly. It hurt and touched her so that at times during her readings she would cry in pain for those lost souls, only to cry for joy when God returns to set up his New Kingdom.
But tonight, instead of following the mindset of praising God upon learning of the end of evil, the little woman is racked with guilt and feels a heavy weight on her heart. It strikes her like a solid blow to the chest. She can’t help but double over and begin to weep upon her open bible. She beings to cry, but not just cry for crying sake, but real wailing and flows of tears. As if she is not only crying for the poor souls lost to God but for every single person on the planet at this very moment who was unsaved and walking the path of sin. She cried for the unborn that were killed for the sake of pro-choice. She cried for those on their deathbeds that would not know the joy of believing in Jesus and having everlasting life, she cried for all of those who fought and died in wars that had know meaning, she cried for every family that lost a loved one thru decease and once that hardened their hearts with hate. She cried for the killers that knew not how to forgive and for those that unwittingly lead their fellow man into sin.
Most of all, she cried for her very generation.
The little woman was rack with such heavy sobs it hurt to exhale. When she thought she was finished with her tears, more of them would come forth like a mid spring rain. She didn’t know why she felt this all of a sudden and why it came to pass. She was heavy with such grief it was as if the entire sins of man were laid upon her. She took the place of those that could not or would not cry, and it nearly broke her heart, it was like losing a love she had never known. It cut into her soul so deeply she felt that it would take a miracle for God to heal her wounded heart. She prayed to God and asked him to take this horrible pain from her and help her to overcome it. In time her sniffling ceased and it hurt less to breathe. She didn’t know what came over her as she tried to dry away her tears.
It wasn’t until she noticed that her bible was wet that she knew something was wrong. She’d cried on her bible before in the past but instead of seeing watermarks on the pages, she saw black blotches; as if someone had used an old fashion ink pin and made drops marks on the written word. She also noticed that it was very hard to see and it hurt terribly to open her eyes. When she could she felt a stinging pain and saw red overshadowing all she look upon. The little woman looked at her shirtsleeves and saw they too were stained with black splotches. The color looking more stark on her white turtleneck. Slowly she made her way to the bathroom to splash some cool water on her face and help with the stinging she felt. The water ran from the faucet as she took handfuls of water into her cupped hands and began to wash her face and eyes. She didn’t know why but it still hurt just to squint let alone open her eyes up wind. She wondered if her eyes were having an adverse effect to the new contact lens prescription. Thru the pain she lifted her face from the sink and opened her eyes wide to see if there was any redness in them.
What she saw made her freeze in her tracks.
In the reflection of the mirror she saw a blond woman standing behind her. She saw this stranger had long blonde hair with ringlets framing her white, moon shaped face. Her eyes were dark and black rimmed with some sort of makeup. Her mouth was a shade darker than her complexion. But most shocking of all was how big her eyes were, and how they seemed to take in all that they could from the little woman’s reflection.
The little woman took in all of what she saw in the seconds it took for her to realize that in her reflection that her eyes were not only bloodshot but bleeding.
The Little woman was crying tears of blood.
The little woman screamed so loud and so long that it took all the members of her family calm her down. They found her hiding the bathroom bathtub and even then they had to break down the door to get to her. Once they found her, the little woman kept saying that her eyes were bleeding and that some blonde woman was in the house. Over and over again she would say this and would not stop till her older brother searched the house and the outside to prove to her that there were no intruders. When she cried out that she was bleeding and her eyes hurt, her family tried to show her that the sink, the towels she used to dry this blood were not bloody at all. That the only liquid that was on her cheeks, on her bible and wetting the towels was her very own salty tears. And that the very pain she felt was nothing more than her crying for a long time. That the reason why her face was red rimmed, puffy and bloodshot was because of her excessive crying.
That night, Elizabeth Omiko Tzu, could not sleep in her room. She stayed up all night sitting on the family couch with her eyes squeezed shut. She knew what she saw but couldn’t understood why only she could see such. That night, as she kept her eyes shut, she grabbed her gold cross that hung around her neck and prayed to God for understanding and protection. A prayer that she performed for the rest of the night. If only she had dared open her eyes at all during what remained of the sleepless night, and had the courage to go back into the room she fled from, she would’ve seen a blood red moon shining down thru here open window. And if her room door wasn’t closed, she could’ve also heard the laughter of a sinister man from the shadows.