Contemned, is the story of a scorned woman named Genesis and her revelation after she missed the rapture. The revelation of true evil lying in wait to expose itself within each and every one left on earth. Genesis thought she was a Christian and knew she would be saved. She attended church every Sunday. She is a divorced mother of two kids, a teenage boy called BJ and an eight year old daughter called JoJo. Gen is a hard worker with an average social life. Upon her mother's request, she opened her home to her sister and her two younger children. She thought she was handling the stress just fine. She hadn't killed her ex-husband and his Bimbo Barbie's and her estranged, man-hungry, unsocialable, not quite divorced yet sister who was driving her insane daily. She even sung in the choir at her church, but none of that mattered. She still missed the rapture. It was an average day. Genesis was looking forward to the night. She and her girlfriends were going to DJ's Blue Note Café to listen to the poetic sound of spoken words by the featured spoken word artists. It was the true blues scene, the bass player wearing his dark shades, the sax player, oh my God that man is hot, the drummer, and the artists expressing the inner feelings and thoughts she dare not say. Mix the element with a couple of glasses of White Zinfandel and maybe a shot of Patron or E&J, depending on the mood and it becomes chill time. It wasn't until the next morning when her son rushed into their home asking, screaming that she realizes something is terribly wrong. "Why didn't God take us Mom, why?" BJ kept repeating. The rapture had come and gone and questions are overwhelming her ability to think. What happens next is the only thought on Genesis mind. Her curiosity of why she was not taken haunted her soul. Her mother had been her link to heaven, and now her mother, JoJo and Bri's kids were gone. Follow them through their struggle with self-identity and trials and tribulations to escape from a satanic world. The mark of the beast is all around them as they attempt to travel from Texas to Israel. How will they survive and will they make it?
CONTEMNED
By M. LEWIS RYANAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2011 M. LEWIS RYAN
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4634-1659-1Contents
CHAPTER I THE RAPTURE: Like a thief in the night.........................................1CHAPTER II THE DENIAL: Sheep without a shepherd..........................................30CHAPTER III THE LEAP YEAR DAD: I know you NOT............................................44CHAPTER IV THE JOURNEY BEGINS: Take up your cross and follow me..........................65CHAPTER V THE CAPTAIN: Captain, my captain...............................................75CHAPTER VI THE JOURNEY THROUGH EUROPE: Big brother is watching...........................91CHAPTER VII THE ANSWER: ISRAEL...........................................................100CHAPTER VIII THE BEGINNING: For I am the beginning and the end...........................111APPENDIX THE POST RAPTURE SURVIVAL GUIDE: A Message from Kurt Seland.....................117ABOUT THE AUTHOR.........................................................................135
Chapter One
It was a long hot summer's day today, in Houston, Texas. The land that God blessed with his own hands seemed to be the vacation spot for Satan and his crew. The temperature kept rising and so did everyone's temper. Driving home is like going on an adventure with all the traffic and road repairs there are around town. More and more people are moving to Houston every day. I know the city isn't fixing all the roads at the same time. It takes them three years, just to complete one, and with all of the layoffs, there are not enough employees to do the necessary repairs. Why can't anyone find a job these days? I passed five people under the age of twenty seven living beneath the freeway overpasses asking for money at the stop lights today. What is this world coming to that it hasn't reached?
Finally, I've made it home, thank you God. It is a blessing to have a home to come to. There are so many people losing their homes to eviction and foreclosures today more than ever. However, I can't park in my driveway and open my door before the neighborhood crack head comes asking me for money. Who do these people think I am? I won the Range Rover in the divorce, along with the house and everything in it, including the kids. That's what happens when you catch your husband cheating on you. I guess I understand why they think I have something.
Oh, I knew I should have stopped and gotten a pizza. No one has cooked a thing as usual. Well, it is a macaroni and cheese night tonight. I am so tired of grownups not being responsible! Why must I come home every day to a dirty house? Probably because they know that I will clean it again and again.
At least the house is quiet for once. It hasn't been this quiet in a while. I may as well turn on the news. I call it my daily soap opera. It always has something intriguing to see and hear. It has all the elements, murder, theft, drunk drivers, car chases, shoot outs, tornados, hurricanes, floods and fires.
What? No news today. Oh, our President is making yet another speech. These days I can't get away from him and his speeches. They pop up on my computer when I check my email, and I receive emails from him. Before he became President, I didn't even know his name.
I never have thought much about the political scene. All I see is the President making promises, and never delivering positive results. He uses the media to make the public think the way he wants us to think and to see only what he wants us to see. He has more broken promises on his record than my leap year dad. I call my dad leap year because I only heard from him every four years. He would make a promise and never keep it. He must have died. It's been seven years now since I heard from him. I don't think I told him about my kids, his grand kids. I wouldn't have wanted him appearing in their lives only to disappear again, leaving me with all the broken promises that he would never have kept anyway.
Awe! Once again the President is promising jobs. I wish I could afford to live in the dream state where he resides and I am not talking about Washington DC. Pretty soon, there won't be anyone left in the city that will need a job because they are all going to kill one another. There are so many people dying from the heat in their homes because they are too old to live alone and it cost too much for them to move to one of those senior living centers. The young ones are running amuck, they have absolutely no direction and no sense of pride. They will rob you while you're taking out your trash. The only good thing is you have time to shoot them while they are trying to escape because their pants are too low for them to run. There may as well be jeans made with boxers already attached. I wonder if anyone has thought about that as a money maker yet.
It would be nice to have new jobs. If my pay decreases any more from pay cuts, I will be paying the transit center to work. I swear it feels like I should be allowed to claim my job as a dependent. I have been a bus driver for seventeen years and I never remember it being as hard as it is now. The new insurance plan is coming up with some type of monitoring device. They say it's as simple as getting a flu shot. The only bad thing is it leaves a mark like the smallpox vaccine does. It looks like three tear drops kind of in a circle. I don't want it. I hate needles. HR says everyone will have to get it soon for identification. There are so many people stealing identities these days.
I already gave up driving on the holidays because of the law that says if you refuse a breathalyzer the police have the right to take your blood. I know I didn't vote for that so it was obviously squeezed in on me. I wonder what new bill became a law while I slept last night. What's the deal with needles, geez? Yeah that is my real objection, the needles. Why can't they make vaccines in pill form?
God I am tired. I don't know if it's from the heat of the sun or the continuous driving. That bus door opens and closes all day long and the wheels on the bus go round and round. If I hear another kid singing that song I swear I'll commit harry-carry like a Japanese Warrior.
I have too much to do before I go to bed tonight. Today was a full day, but every Monday is a full day in this house. In the morning I thank God for a new morning and for the new chance to live a sin-free life. I pray every day for same thing. It seems like I learn something I thought I already knew each new day. I can't help but wonder where have I been all of my life? I know that sounds crazy, but I also realize I am not the only one who wonders that same thing. I hear preachers talking on television about the end of the world coming. The weather is bad everywhere and there is more and more corruption, confusion and wars than ever before. I go to church and do my best to be a Christian.
I try to make each day sin free and I fall short most days. I cannot make it through driving to work without cursing at someone and then asking for forgiveness. I am usually in a rush and I have absolutely no time for some slow driver. Besides that, my air went out in my car and it is going to cost an arm and a leg to get it fixed. Don't get me started on the price of gas! My alarm sounds at 5:30AM Monday through Friday. I roll out of bed and onto my knees to pray. By the time I am showered and out of the house my morning prayer turns into: Stop riding my ass! Get out of my way! Bright lights, Are you serious!!! Then I have to pray again, because my thoughts for the other drivers on the road are anything but nice and Christ-like. Satan is busy at work on me in a hot car with temperatures close to 100 degrees and a slow ass driver in the front of me. See what I mean, I lose my temper just thinking about them. I want to go to heaven in the rapture. I really want to be one of God's chosen people. It seems like life keeps getting in my way.
My name is Genesis and I live in Houston, Texas, better known as H-Town. I work at Sacred Seniors Adult Day Care part-time to increase my monthly income. I am a Metro Bus Driver full-time. I recently divorced my cheating husband or he divorced me, but who cares about the details. All I know is I am working my behind off to try to stay afloat. Maybe I should have stayed married to his trifling ass. Oops, there I go, Lord forgive me! My blood pressure rises just thinking about the man!
Look at this house. Nothing would ever get done around here without me. The highlight of my day is going out with my girls for our little nightly get together after work.
We go to DJ's Blue Note Café and listen to the poets do their spoken word. My favorites are Liquid Poetry and Eboni Skye. They set that place off talking about some real smooth stuff with the blues playing in the background. It's a classy little joint where professional singles meet. Who knows, I might hit the jackpot and find Mr. Right there tonight. Even Mr. Right Now would be okay for me. It has been too long since I was in a decent relationship with benefits. Those benefits that make your toes curl and send your body on trips of unknown horizons of ecstasy. Yep, that is what I am missing in my life. I am off tomorrow and my daughter is at my mother's house, so I can party tonight as long as I want. Who knows, I might visit a new horizon myself tonight.
I have my rules. I don't mess with married men. Obviously, my ex-best friend did not share my feelings. She had an affair with my husband. I was the last one to find out about it. The church members knew, my friends knew and my family. I guess I really played the fool for at least thirteen of the seventeen years I spent believing in my man and trying to make it work. I only loved him in a godly way and had to learn how to do that, so no sweat off my back. He apologized, but it wasn't the first time he cheated, it would however be the last time for him to cheat on me. If a man can cheat on you with your best friend, you need to let him go.
Since it takes two to tangle, it was just as much her fault as it was his. I wished them happiness together and sent them both packing out of my life. At least I thought it would be that easy, but life is not always fair.
She had been my friend since we were in high school together. She was like my sister because of our closeness. I mean she practically grew up in my house. She said she had a weak moment and that she was going through a lot at time she backstabbed me. Well, she didn't use the words backstab, but it meant the same. I was too occupied with school and marriage, kids plus work to hear what she was going through so she decided to talk to my husband and one thing led to another were her exact words.
It felt like the scene from the Jerry Springer Show was being played in slow motion over and over again in my head. The words just kept repeating and there was no way to block it out of my mind. We had met for lunch near the Galleria at a little deli as we had many times before and she told me she slept with Bryan. I must be a sheltered dreamer because I actually asked, Bryan who? I say a sheltered dreamer because I romanticize everything from the lack of romance in my life. Not to mention that I would never have even considered she could and would hurt me so badly; especially not her, the person I would have given up my life to protect. Wow, it still hurts. Enough of dwelling on the past cause it just doesn't matter anymore. The funny thing is she didn't even want him. She was just jealous of what she thought I had with him. Really, she was jealous of nothing, but everything happens for a reason. I don't think I know what love is all about. Not the true stuff. I mean those relationships that last for years and years. Are those people insane and can't make it without each other or did they meet their soul mate? Is there really such a thing as a soul mate? I need to stop day dreaming and start cleaning.
How can so many things need to be done in a house of six people and only three of them are kids. My sister and her two kids are living here with me for now and she doesn't have a job. The kids are two and four years old and obviously my responsibility in this house. My sixteen year old son's only responsibilities are attending school, keeping his room clean, playing sports and bugging me about buying him a car. He has two out of four of those down to a tee. And then there is my wonder child. She is my seven year old helpmate when she is not spending the night at my mothers.
Okay, the mac is cooked, the house is organized and that means I am finished with the daily routine. It's party time!
I need to hurry and get dressed because the girls will be here soon. I can hear them complaining already. It is always the same routine. Sandra is the clueless nymphomaniac and Tonya is the down to earth best friend that is hiding from love. Oops, there's the car horn. I have to hurry!
~DJ'S BLUE NOTE CAFÉ~
Monday Night Features: Liquid Poetry and Eboni Skye
Why do we always have to be late? There are no seats close to the stage left. Sandra complained about the same thing every week. We arrived right in time to hear Liquid Poetry.
Girl that man melts my heart, said Tonya.
We were all glued to his sleek style. There is nothing like a redbone with black pride, soul and substance. I had been a fan of his for a few years now and kind of followed his artistic life. I guess my inner thought wondered why I couldn't have married someone like him, handsome, educated and reserved. A man, who desires his family, loves his wife and yet shares his love and passion in his art with the world.
Everyone started whistling and then there was complete silence and the lights went dimmer. The bass player and drummer started and that was when Liquid Poetry began to speak:
THE FEATHERS OF MA 'AT I Heard Her Calling Me Away From The Edge,
As I Leaned Forward Into The Abyss ...
She Could Have Let Me Fall,
But Saved My Life With A Kiss ...
I Could Have Surrendered Them All—
The Past Lives I Used To Live.
Too Many Bruises On My Heart—
Not Enough Faith Left To Forgive!
Not Enough Strength Left To Keep On Fighting,
With Fists That Were Made Of Flesh And Bone ...
At 5 a.m. ... The Taxi Pulls Way ...
No One Even Notices That I've Left Home.
No One Notices The New Sun Rising
Over The Deepest Regret Of My Life ...
For Seven More Years I Still Wore My Wedding Ring
Even Though SHE Was No Longer My Wife!
But The Ultimate Reward Of TRUE Sacrifice
Can Only Be Known By A Crown Of Thorns ...
Can Only Be Appreciated By Hands That Embrace Nails
And Flesh Allowing Itself To Be Torn ...
By A Lover Who Loves SO Deeply,
That, In Spite Of His Own Demise,
In Order To Save One Soul,
He Embraces All Of The Lies ...
He Embraces All Of The Sin,
With Arms Created To Truly Forgive ...
So I Willingly Surrender THIS Son Of Man,
Knowing HER World Will Live.
But Time Is Relative
In The Shadows Of A Tomb ...
Where Mortal Flesh Is Devoured,
My Soul Would Not Be Consumed ...
My Hearts Desire Would Not Be Extinguished,
Before The Sight Of Bridges Burning ...
Instead My Eyes Embraced The Flames
That Left The Blind And Forever Yearning!
My Lips Embraced The Whispers
Of A Poets Dream, Deferred ...
But My Prayers were Never Answered—
Maybe They Were Never Heard?
Maybe I Was Never Worthy?
Never Meant To Touch The Son?
Never Meant to Know The Voice
That Called Me HOME To Eden?
Never Meant To Know A Love
That Was So Much Deeper Than My Shame?
I Thought Paradise Was Lost, To Me, Forever,
Until SHE Called My Name!
Until She Took My Pain
And The Sum Of All My Fears ...
Anointed My Lips With Her Kiss ...
Washed My Feet With Her Tears ...
Ignited My Soul With A Passion
That Another Lovers Touch Could Not ...
Then Weighted My Heart On The Scales
Against The Feathers Of Ma 'at.
She Said, "If You Will Be My King,
Then Baby I Will Be Your Queen.
Together We Can Show These Streets A Love
That They Ain't Never Seen ...
Together We Can Pierce The Heavens
And Shake The World When We Touch ...
Then Smile At Our Haters—
Go Ahead, Envy Us!
In God We Trust,
As We Re-Trace The Steps,
That Lead Us Back To Our Beginnings,
In The Garden, Where We Slept ...
...Before The Betrayals And Lies,
When You And I Still Believed ...
When You Were The Image Of God,
And I Was The Image Of Eve ..."
She Spoke To Me In The Spirit Words
That Were Written On My Soul.
She Said, "You Are The Missing Piece Of Me,
Only, Together, Can We Be Whole!"
She Knew Why I Had Been Running,
For So Long, To Escape My Past ...
That We Were Both Children Of Eden,
Duly Judged And Outcast ...
But That Our Sin Had Been Forgiven,
By One Perfect Sacrifice.
She Said, "I Open Myself To You, Again,
Now Let Me Show You Paradise!"
—LiquidPoetry
Wow, that man knows what a woman wants to hear and what a woman needs to hear. He is so deep! Everyone was knocking and snapping in the club.
Sandra decided she was going to give him her phone number this time and I snatched it out of her hand. "He's married with a newborn son, I said, so back off." I really don't like home wreckers looking for the loose screw in someone's relationship. If they look long and hard enough, they always find it. Even if it was only loose for a moment. He definitely does have a way with words though. By the time he finishes his set, this place is going to be all steamed up! Definitely Sandra will be loose and out of control as usual. People in-love will be snuggled tightly together, singles will start to prowl and the recently separated, divorced or widowed will quietly drop a tear in their glass as they reminisce of past love.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from CONTEMNEDby M. LEWIS RYAN Copyright © 2011 by M. LEWIS RYAN. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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