should be obvious, Jack. This whole lifestyle change isn’t working out.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“All our friends – my friends – are in London, and we’ve moved further away from my family. And... you seem obsessed with this whole living more naturally stuff.”
“But we agreed that’s what we wanted?”
“I agreed to something, yes. But I didn’t agree to this... Eating good food and living more sustainably, I’m OK with. But all of this nonsense about following exactly the day-night cycle and not heating the house when it’s cold is ridiculous.”
“I only wanted to experiment with those things. I never said everyone else had to do the same as me. The kids like it.”
“The kids think everything is fun.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. But we’ve got to be honest with each other and admit this change was our last attempt to repair something between us.”
Jack just looked at Sarah without replying, and eventually Sarah turned around and walked away to be on her own.
Jack watched Sarah walk away. He turned back to look at the kids and then followed them. He walked for some time, watching the kids and thinking about his relationship with Sarah. Eventually, he decided to sit on a bench nearby and wait for Sarah to catch up with him.
As Jack approached the bench, the sight of it abruptly caused him to feel overcome with memories of the Rapture. Instead of sitting down, he stood in front of the bench and stared at a small, bronze memorial plaque placed on the backrest. The light shone on the surface of the plaque, which made Jack have flashbacks to the Rapture. He had an intense feeling he was recalling an important memory, but not one that was his own. This memory seemed to take control of his mind, so that he felt unable to resist as he dropped to his knees in front of the bench. Jack put his hands on the bench and felt the wood while staring at the bronze plaque. A sound, smell and taste filled his mind.
“Jack,” shouted Sarah as she approached him.
Jack turned his head and stared at Sarah. The kids ran over and held onto her. The expression of shock and fear on the children’s faces broke through Jack’s strange state, and he fell backwards onto the ground.
Jack sat on the ground breathing quickly, with an expression of shock. He looked up to see Ella crying, Dylan looking scared, and Sarah covering her face with her hand. People walking along the cliff path had stopped and were watching them from a distance. Jack stood up and said to his family,
“Can we go... I need to go.”
*****
9:47am (UK); 7:47pm (Papua New Guinea)
“OK, on air in 5, 4, 3...”
Jeremy smiled at the camera. “Good morning, and welcome back to 24/7 News. Now, since yesterday we have been working on an important development in relation to the Rapture. Our reporter Ruth Merry is currently in Papua New Guinea, and she’ll be able to fill us in.”
Jeremy turned to a large TV screen.
“Ruth, thanks for joining us. Can you tell us the story you’ve uncovered over there?”
“Hi, Jeremy – good to be with you. The story that’s emerging here is that a group of villagers have started to form a new religion. They believe the trees have come alive and have developed a new ceremony to reflect this.”
“Why do they believe the trees have come alive?”
“Apparently, they think a spirit from within the ground has caused it.”
“This is fascinating, Ruth. But we haven’t seen this anywhere else, have we?”
“No, it’s unique to these villagers. But, and this is very important, as part of their new ceremony they point at the ground, and we believe we have seen this in other parts of the world, even the West. We have a montage of videos that can illustrate this fascinating development.”
The TV screen split into two halves, with Ruth on one side and the video showing people pointing on the other.
Ruth provided the commentary. “As you can see, in the crowds that