Read The Revelation of Gabriel Adam for Free Online

million cars in the city and finding a parking space is akin to winning the lottery.” He laughed. “We’ll have to go to England someday. I think you’d enjoy it.”
    A moment passed, the only sound from the radio and the intermittent swish of the windshield wipers.
    “Do you miss it?” Gabe finally asked, uncomfortable with the silence between them.
    “What? England? Occasionally, I suppose. Oddly enough, it’s proper English breakfasts that I miss most of all. You haven’t started a day right until you’ve had a morning fry-up. Mushrooms, tomatoes, baked beans, along with the usual eggs, toast, and bacon. Make that real bacon. Even after all these years, I’ve yet to become accustomed to the crispy sort they serve here in the States. But I don’t miss the weather there, so I suppose it all evens out. Although . . .” His dad looked up through the windshield at the large flakes falling outside.
    Gabe looked out into the night as somber thoughts pressed at the walls of his mind. “I feel lost,” he said, almost an afterthought, and then turned to his father. “Like my life is out of my control.”
    The lines on his father’s face contorted, and his brow scrunched together as if his seat had become uncomfortable. “Our lives are never truly beyond our control, Son. Certainly, circumstances may dictate what our choices are, but we make those decisions, and they carry us forward. You aren’t lost. You’re just a teenager with a big, wide world in front of you. It can be scary. I remember feeling the same when I was your age, stumbling through life, with no direction.
    “I think that’s why I found the structure of the church so appealing. It offered a foundation from which I could find stability and thus, happiness. My parents didn’t mind the decision, either.”
    “I’m not going into the seminary.”
    “That’s not what I mean. Your path is your path. How you are to walk it is up to you.”
    Fragmented images tore through Gabe’s mind. Everywhere he looked, he could see flame. “What if in the end the things you do make no difference? What if everything is predestined and what happens is going to happen no matter what?”
    “God gave us free will, the opportunity to be whom or what we choose to be. Good. Evil. Both. This is the human experience, what this whole life on Earth is all about. I certainly don’t regret the choices I’ve made. I never would have been in a position to adopt you had I not chosen to be a part of the church. Just because you can’t see the path ahead doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. You’ll find yours.”
    Gabe thought of the nightmare and wondered if he had seen his path, but saying it out loud would only make it more real. More insane. He wanted to forget everything about the night, get it behind him, and feel better. He tried to think of something, anything else that would distract his worries. “Do you think my diagnosis will affect my NYU admission?”
    “No, but what is important right now is that you get better. University concerns will take care of themselves.”
    A moment of silence lingered between them.
    “You wanted to see the ball drop in Times Square, did you not?” his father asked.
    “Yeah, but there isn’t time. And there’s no way we could get there, especially in this traffic.”
    “Well, we could do the next best thing,” he said and turned up the volume on the radio. “Just use your imagination.”
    Gabe nodded, forcing a smile.
    The shouts of laughter and cheers on the radio once again filled the car. As they drove, the radio frequency dropped slightly, making a hissing static sound.
    Gabe felt the beating of his heart triple. His mind filled with images of the burning city. The sound of the crowd on the radio warped, their joyous outburst turning shrill. Their laughter became screams of pain.
    A cold sweat moved over his skin, and he began to breathe heavily.
    “You feeling okay?” his dad asked.
    “I did see something when I was