Chapter 20

The First Day

12:00:03 AM

The sound seemed to come from very far away, although the horn was just across the street. On all seven continents, those who remained claimed to have heard the piercing blast. Stripped of earthly trappings, the Angel Gabriel was light, sound, and energy. His appearance was glorious beyond the descriptive skills of even the world's most talented, prophetic painters.

The sky changed in an instant.

Pitch-black clouds and blizzard were transformed into sunshine so brilliant no human could look upon it.

Snow vanished as concrete and asphalt cracked, splintered, and disappeared. The whole block, like the rest of the world, seemed to vibrate as Gabriel's Horn sounded in terrifying clarity.

The world seemed to stand still for an instant, then—taking the horn from his mouth and sweeping his eyes in every direction—Gabriel brought the horn to his lips again after silent communication with certain persons. Once more, he blew his horn, this time so hard that scores of people were caught in its intensity and blown out of sight.

The sound of Gabriel's Horn exploded through the diner so suddenly that few had time to react before the walls blew out. Before the stunned diners could cover their heads in anticipation of the roof's collapse, it was sucked away by a frightful gale. Screams were cut short. Cries went unheard, and bodies seemed to glow before vanishing in the cold night air.

Blinding light turned into tumultuous screaming.

Tumultuous screaming gave way to tortured silence.

Those who witnessed the end would never be the same.

Some would claim that an alien spacecraft descended into the diner and abducted half the patrons. Others, less imaginative, would swear that there was an earthquake so destructive that folks vanished into a huge crack in the earth that closed up over them.

Their story never got much credence, as there was no evidence of seismic cracks in the tectonic plates under Bethlehem.

When the blistering lights went out and the diner lighting was restored, the one thing everyone would agree upon was that there were a lot of people missing. In tears, many would recount who was where and with whom when it all happened.

On the night that everything happened at once...

the clock blinked 12:00...