Ghost Town

The following short story is meant to illustrate the absurd dilemma that comes about by denying the interconnectedness of persons (Totus Christus) argument for universalism.

“Sed nolo saluus sine uobis.”

“But I dont want to be saved without you all.” — Saint Augustine to his congregation shortly before his death

In November of 1879, there had been murmurs of a strange town west of Midland filled with even stranger people. Ben Fellers, a man who was a cowboy very stereotypical of the time, claimed to have passed through there two weeks ago and hadn’t been quite the same since returning. It was not that he was scared of the town, but rather bewildered (though, if he had stayed there longer, his bewilderment may have easily turned into terror). He told the story of his experience of the town to whomever would listen, with a sense of wonder and mystification. He would recount his feelings of uneasiness and would tell the story of seeing Mrs. Alice Jones, the widow of Mr. Thomas who had passed away from pneumonia three years earlier. Alice had three sons, one of whom died during childbirth, and the other two were a set of twins; George and Arthur. She had moved from Midland with them a year after Mr. Thomas’ passing to try to find new opportunities westward. Alice had remembered Ben, but when asked about her twins, she had no recollection. “George and Arthur? No, Mr. Ben, I had one son with James, but he passed shortly after birth. But twins? You must be mistaking me for someone else.” Rather than arguing with her, he simply apologized for asking, though he knew she did indeed have twins, for they would often cause a raucous at the stables in Midland. Ben was also perturbed by the fact that there was no post office, jail, or courthouse anywhere in the town. The locals at the saloon had also told Ben that visitors like him were extremely rare. One had said that no one had visited there in weeks, another said months, yet another said it had been over 4 years. No one could seem to remember exactly when the last visitor had arrived, but they all agreed that it was rare. Ben, getting more anxious by the minute, ordered a shot of whiskey, downed it, and set out to return to Midland. 

In the two weeks since Ben had returned, talk about the mysterious town had grown by the day. Sam Daniels, an explorer enamored with the idea of manifest destiny, had especially been enraptured with Ben’s story. Once Ben had finished telling his story, Sam approached him with more questions. After gathering the necessary information, Sam decided to set out for the town the next morning. Ben had given him a map pointing out where the town was. On the map, there was no town when Ben had said, though this particular map was from 1870. The town was about 90 miles northwest of Midland, and Sam had planned to make it there in three days. 

The following morning, Sam saddled up his horse, Shamrock, took the necessary equipment and departed. The journey itself was uneventful, at least by Sam’s standards. Upon his arrival, the first person to see him greeted him with joy, recounting that they rarely ever received visitors and that it had been nearly seven months since the town had received a visitor. Sam, knowing that Ben had been there just two weeks ago, found this strange. At least, he thought to himself, he had made it to the right town. Sam asked him what his name was. “Peter”, he said. After introducing himself to Peter, he asked what the town’s name was. “Vestige”, said Peter. He inquired if there were any places where he could stay for a few days. Peter said that since the town rarely gets visitors, there was no inn, but that he could stay at his place for a while since he lived alone. Sam happily agreed. Peter led Sam to his house and showed him the room he could stay. Sam asked Peter whether or not he had ever been married or had children. “No sir. A few years ago I fell in love with a woman, but she left town suddenly before I could propose.” 

“I’m sorry about that.”

“Oh, no worries. No need to cry over spilled milk.”

After showing him around the house some more, Peter left Sam be and returned to what he had been doing. Sam, tired from the journey, decided to go to sleep for the night, though it was only about 8:30. 

Sam had woken up to the smell of Peter cooking bacon. After enjoying it with him, Sam had decided to explore the town some more, for his questions were growing by the second. “Is there a mayor of Vestige?” Sam asked. 

“Yes! Mr. Eli. He’s also the town’s pastor and sheriff, though there has been no crime in this town in the past decade. The people of vestige love him. He was the one who founded our small town three decades ago.”

“Is there any way that I could meet Eli?”

“Absolutely! He lives in the rectory and loves visitors. I’ll bring you to him now if you’d like.”

Sam joyfully accepted. Once they reached the rectory, Eli was standing outside, as if he were expecting them. “Welcome to Vestige!” Eli jubilantly exclaimed, “We love visitors, though few have found our gem of a town.”

“The name’s Sam,” he said, as he shook Eli’s hand. “Quite a town you’ve got here. What’s the important history of it?”

“Oh, no need for a lesson on that. Would you like a tour of the town?”

Sam agreed though he thought it strange that Eli was not interested in giving any history of the town whatsoever. Eli showed him the church, then the bank, the blacksmith, the grocery store, the saloon, and finally, a cafe, where they sat and chatted for a short while. A few minutes into their conversation, Sam caught a glimpse of a familiar face in his periphery. It was his cousin, Henry, with whom he was quite close as a teenager. “Henry!” he exclaimed, “It’s been too long! I heard that you were moved north, towards Lubbock. What are you doing here?” Henry stared at Sam with confused anger and said: “Who the hell are you, and how do you know my name?”

“It’s me, Sam Daniels, your first cousin. I know it's been about six years since we last saw each other, but how do you not remember me? Your mother is my aunt, Sandra. We even used to live together for a few months, and slept in the same room.”

“I never had a mother. And I surely don't know you. Where the hell did you come from, anyway?”

“Don’t have a mother? We all have mothers, Henry. What are you talking about?”

“Now, gentlemen” intruded Eli. “Let’s calm down. Henry, Sam is a visitor from a nearby town. Maybe he has you confused with someone else.”

“Nonsense” exclaimed Sam. “That’s Henry Richards, my first cousin.”

Eli leaned into Sam’s ear and said “Just… let it go. Trust me.”

This confused Sam, but he listened to Eli and then apologized to Henry and they didn’t talk for the rest of the time that they were in the cafe. Once they left the cafe, Sam decided to go back to his room at Peter’s to contemplate the strange experiences he had so far today. As he lay there thinking, the more confused he became. There was a small drawer to the left of his bed. Normally, he wouldn’t look at people’s items, but his wondering got the best of him. “Whose room was this for, anyway?”, he thought to himself. He looked in the drawer and found a framed picture. It was Peter standing near a woman and holding what looked to be a two-year-old girl. This not only puzzled but disturbed Sam, for Peter had told him that he had never been married and never had a child. He wanted desperately to ask Peter about the picture but was worried about how he would react. “Would he deny the existence of those people, too?” Becoming more distressed by the passing seconds, Sam got up and walked around the town. It was now the early afternoon, and he was getting hungry. He went to the grocery store to grab some crackers. As he passed by the rectory on his way back to Peter’s house, he heard a strange noise that seemed to be coming from underneath the rectory. At first, he thought that it was some nearby animal crying, but, upon closer inspection, he discovered that it was human groaning. Though there were other people in Vestige walking around, no one seemed to hear what he was hearing. He became frightened and knocked on the door of the rectory. Eli answered. “Ahh Mr. Daniels! How has your afternoon been? Sorry about Henry earlier, he hasn’t been himself lately.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, no need to go into that now.”

“I actually think now is the perfect time to get into that. What sort of town is this and who are you?” 

“What do you mean? This is Vestige and I’m Eli.”

“Eli who?”

“Eli… why must you know anything else?”

By now, Sam’s confusion and anger had grown, but he knew that his line of questioning wouldn’t get him anywhere, and knew that asking about the groans might even cause trouble. “Sorry, Mr. Eli, I’ve been pretty tired today, anyway. Perhaps I should go back To Peter’s and take a nap.” This was a lie, for Sam well rested from the large amount of sleep that he had gotten from the night before. 

“That sounds like a great idea! We’re having a prayer service at the Church this evening at 6 if you’d like to join.”

Sam wasn’t a very religious man, but he told Eli he would attend, though he had different intentions. Sam had decided to go to the saloon for an early evening drink instead of going back to Peter’s. While there, he saw Alice, whom Ben had seen a few weeks earlier. Rather than question her as Ben did, he decided to sit there. He had the feeling, or, rather, knew that he would get more of the same. She would claim that she didn’t have twins, though Sam knew this to be false. He didn’t have the energy for more of those types of conversations. What really consumed Sam’s thoughts were the sounds he had heard earlier. He sat there, contemplating what they might be. He had devised a plan to try and break into the rectory, assuming that out would be locked, during the service and find out what the hell those moans were. 

Five after Six, Sam left the saloon and went towards the rectory. To his surprise, it wasn’t locked, so he walked right in. No one was there. Eli was leading the service next door at the church, and no one else lived in the house with him. After wandering about for five or so minutes, Sam heard more groaning, this time louder. He discovered that its origin was somewhere in the living room. He searched some more and found out that the moans were coming from underneath a large dresser. He could make out what appeared to be a hatch with a small iron handle underneath the dresser. The dresser was heavy, but not too heavy for him to move. Once he had moved it, he stared at the hatch for about a minute, trying to prepare himself for whatever was down there. He opened it and descended. It was completely dark. There seemed to be some sort of invisible roadblock keeping the light from above from reaching downwards. Thankfully, Sam had matches. He sparked and lit one. Once the light emerged, he saw where the groans were coming from. About ten or so people were chained to the walls with their mouths tied shut. They were scantly clothed and all were in a state of absolute terror. Once they saw Sam, they all screamed in delight and tears streamed from their eyes. Sam could even make out two faces; George and Arthur Jones, the twin children of Alice. Sam was in a state of absolute shock. He stood there, motionless for a few moments. It wasn’t until the match’s flame had reached his fingers that he had come back to himself. He quickly lit another. He told the prisoners that he would set them free, but that they had to be quiet to not cause an uproar. Once he had done this, he asked the twins how they’d gotten down here. “Eli brought us here! We’ve been chained in here for God knows how long!”

“How long ago did he bring you down here, and why?

“One day George and I were fighting, so mama took us to talk to Eli. He said that there are consequences for our actions. We thought that he’d just have us clean around the church or something, but no. He told mama that he would take care of it and sent her away. Once she was gone, he took us and brought us down here, without any explanation and against our will. We have no idea how long we’ve been down here, or when we’ll get out. Eli feeds us… but that’s about it. All the others were already here once we arrived.”

Sam stood there silently, dwelling on what had just been revealed to him. At that moment, he didn’t know what to say. He felt the only appropriate action was to embrace to boys and show his compassion that way. So he did. He embraced them, one with each arm. He embraced them and wept. They wept as well. They wept over the torments they had endured, over the confusion as to why they were placed here in the first place, with no opportunity to leave, over why their dear mother had not come to rescue them, and, finally, they wept that they had, at last, been set free. The others who had been set free also wept. Among them, is a woman with a small girl. The woman told the story of how she and her child had been put here after she had been caught working on the Sabbath. When Sam asked who her husband was, she said that it was Peter Williams. It suddenly hit Sam. All these people were in some way related to the natives of Vestige, though their loved ones had somehow forgotten of their existence. Sam, without much deliberation, decided not to tell them that he knew their loved ones, though he wasn’t entirely sure that this was the correct thing to do. He quickly devised a plan. He planned to lead them all to the church where their loved ones were so that they could all be reunited. He was not very confident that this would work, but he couldn’t think of anything else, and he knew he had to act quickly. He told them his plan, and they all agreed. They had no idea what to expect, so feelings of happiness, confusion, anger, and the like came upon each of them. After gathering themselves, they ascended, led by Sam. They walked right out of the rectory and headed towards the church. Once they reached the church doors, they paused. Sam felt the sudden urge to pray with them before entering. Though he wasn’t a churchgoer, he still had the Lord’s Prayer memorized from youth, so he led them in its recitation. A peace then fell upon Sam and the others. They then stopped, composed themselves, and entered the church.

As they burst through the door, the congregants gasped. Eli stood there stunned but quickly tried to assure them that everything was fine. “Be calm and fear not! Mr. Sam, who are these scantly clothed people you bring into the Lord’s house? Answer!”

“No, Eli, you answer. These people were being held captive underneath the rectory, and you put them there! People of Vestige, they are your loved ones—your children, your spouses, though you say you do not know them. Look at them and see. See not only them but yourselves in them. Remind yourselves this day of the former loves and joys you experienced with them. Wake up from this hellish nightmare and remember who you are!”

Sam’s words cut to the congregation, who had all seemed as if they had fallen out of a trance. “George! Arthur!” yelled Alice, whose face streamed with tears of joy as she ran to embrace her twins boys. 

“Mama!” they exclaimed in unison, rushing towards her with the same joy. 

“Victoria! My love! And Mary! My love!” Shouted Peter as he remembered them. 

All the others present acted similarly. After a brief reconciliation, all turned towards Eli. They burned with rage. Before they could say or do anything, Eli snapped his fingers. The rage ceased. It went from a rage against Eli to a rage against those who had been set free. 

“What are you all doing up here? You should be down there! You did wrong!” said Alice, shedding the embrace with which she had just held them. 

“Victoria? You’ve done wrong! Leave and take that child with you!” Peter angrily shouted.

The people’s rage burned not only against the former prisoners but now also against Sam. In a frenzy, they bound him along with the prisoners and took them away. The screams of the prisoners intensified, but somehow this only seemed to intensify the happiness of their captors. “Justice!” They shouted together as they threw them down into the cellar, one by one. Sam was the last to be thrown. Once they were all in there, the hatch was closed shut and it was nothing but total darkness. Darkness and screams. Screams of hopelessness and final defeat. Sam lay there helpless, wondering to himself what type of town this was, and what kind of persons—if they can even be said to be persons—inhabited it. He thought of praying but knew that would be useless. He knew, though he didn’t want to, that he had to abandon all hope.