How to Survive in the Roanoke Colony-Chapter 203 - R.I.P My Friend (2)
203: R.I.P My Friend (2)
203: R.I.P My Friend (2)
Just as Apostle Peter voluntarily asked to be crucified upside down for the Lord, just as countless martyrs simply obeyed the approaching calamity.
Thinking this, White closed his eyes again.
He tried to hold back the tears that were flowing.
Then the darkness lurking beneath his eyelids pounced on him.
“Ugh, aaagh!”
“Ah, Dad?
Are you alright?
Nemo will be here soon!
So don’t worry…”
“N-no…
No…”
He had achieved everything he wanted to achieve in his life.
He wanted to establish an English colony in Chesapeake Bay, and today thousands of English people live in this land.
He desired glory that would continue after his death, and now he was a knight.
He became Sir John White.
He wanted his daughter and granddaughter to live happily, and now Virginia had grown into an excellent young woman.
But…
still…
He was afraid.
Afraid that this flesh would rot and crumble.
Afraid that this earthly life would end just like this.
It’s truly, truly strange.
Having lived a life of devotion and with heaven soon awaiting, what is there to fear…?
Perhaps his feeling of fear is a sign that he won’t go to heaven?
Is it proof that he won’t be saved?
With that thought, a chill ran down his spine and tears flowed from his eyes.
Everyone gathered there stirred in confusion.
His daughter and granddaughter cried together.
Still, White couldn’t contain this sadness and fear.
His hands trembled.
If only, if only all this would end right now.
If only the Lord would take his life without him even feeling it…
Bang!
As the door opened, the noise instantly ceased.
Everyone naturally stepped aside, creating a path between White and the door.
The man who opened the door walks forward, receiving the twilight sunlight from behind.
Towards White, who was wailing while firmly gripping Eleanor’s hand.
And.
Rustle.
“Mr.
White.”
He grips his shoulder.
“It’s me.”
That one phrase was enough.
White calmed his trembling body and, following the man’s breathing, took deep breaths in and out to settle his mind.
Throughout all these moments, ‘He’ was looking straight into White’s eyes.
“Y-yes…
N-Ne-mo…”
“Shh.
It’s alright.
You don’t need to raise yourself to greet me.”
At those words, White suddenly realized what unseemly behavior he was displaying and blushed.
What had he done?
Hadn’t he been crying, clutching his daughter’s hand, saying he didn’t want to die in front of everyone?
How shameful and…
“…Is it blasphemous?”
“What?”
“How…
shameful and blasphemous is this…?
To fear…
the end so much…”
He glances at Eleanor and gestures for her to step back.
As his daughter hesitantly withdraws, he takes her place and holds White’s hand.
“C-can you tell me if I can be saved?
That I’ll meet my wife and someday happily walk in His courts with everyone here under God’s authority…”
“…”
“…”
“…Ah, I know.
I know how foolish I sound.
Only the Lord knows who will be saved, so how dare I ask you, His messenger?
B-but…
I’m so afraid…”
“P-perhaps, I might go to hell.
I haven’t always lived so righteously.
That’s why I’m so afraid.
I’m s-so afraid…”
White whimpered like a child and thought he would be scolded.
Yet he couldn’t stop speaking.
“…”
As he poured all this out while looking into His face, he couldn’t read the emotions on His face.
He couldn’t find anything beyond the usual calmness.
He couldn’t tell whether He secretly despised White, or mocked him, or was angry with him, or pitied him.
Therefore, White was afraid.
Because he couldn’t know.
Because he couldn’t know what comes after death, he was afraid.
Now Nemo is opening his mouth.
White was afraid because he didn’t know what words would come from his mouth.
And He speaks.
“…I do not know.”
“What?”
“I do not know if you will be saved.”
“…”
At the answer that came so naturally, White’s tension suddenly released.
As his upper body was about to fall backward, He supported White’s shoulder with a firm arm.
“I, I know too.
I know that I too must submit to death…”
“Is that important?”
“…What?”
“Is it important whether you go to heaven or hell?”
“…”
“…”
“…”
White was about to faint at the words coming from the angel’s mouth.
Is that important?
Is it important to go to heaven, to head towards the Lord’s side and be saved on the final day?
What in the world could be more important than that…
“Do not fear hell.”
At that moment, everyone’s breath stopped.
==
Silence.
But not a sharp silence; rather, a warm silence like freshly squeezed milk.
In that silence, He speaks again.
In such a gentle voice.
In a tone as firm as rock and full of conviction.
He speaks.
“Also, do not hope for heaven.”
In the quiet silence, he spoke like gentle waves.
But the content of his words was a wave as big as a house.
Everyone was astonished at the seemingly blasphemous words and kept their mouths shut.
White wished he could close his eyes and ears.
Words he never expected to come from an angel’s mouth were pouring out.
“What do you mean?”
White squeezes out his voice painfully with his eyes tightly closed.
Then His hand brushes White’s forehead, full of cold sweat.
“I know that you have lived an excellent life.
Remember only that.”
“H-how could that be more valuable than eternal life…”
“Because it is momentary, it is more valuable than eternity.”
At those words, White’s eyes open.
Because the being before him lives in eternity, because it is coming from such a being.
“Remember only that.
You have lived an excellent life, so you just need to remember that.”
At those words, White was speechless.
“Your tombstone will say that you were an excellent father and grandfather.
I will engrave it myself.”
Between White’s tearful gaze, someone’s smile shone.
It was an angel’s smile.
“It’s natural to fear death.
Some call those who are confident of heaven and willingly embrace death faithful.
That may be so.
But my thought is different.”
Clearly.
Precisely.
Each syllable from His lips falls in drops into the heart.
“Death cannot but be feared.”
His words that fell on the heart seep under the skin.
They pass through bones and blood vessels and reach the heart.
“So, I will stay by your side.
As your neighbor.”
The heart, soaked with His words…
slowly begins to beat.
The focus of both eyes blurs.
Don’t worry.
I will be by your side.
Those words did not…
melt away the fear.
It was still fearful and terrible.
This body will rot and crumble until the final day.
But.
“Ah.”
White blinks to shed tears.
And in the clear vision, he sees.
The neighbors of Croatoan.
The community people who were indebted to him. novelbuddy.cσ๓
The apostles.
Eleanor.
Virginia.
And.
Ah.
Ah.
The light can be seen.
==
The eyes of a man lying down closed for the last time.
They never opened again.
==
“Haha, ha…”
The eyes of a woman leaning against the wall, secretly eavesdropping, trembled.
Her two eyes trembled frantically.
The Queen had ‘heard.’
