The next day, social media was all abuzz about the freak accident. A few mentioned seeing a face in the clouds, but no one believed them.
A former employee of the Wellses, Jonathan Bailey, remembered how mean and stingy the two were, always paying him the minimum to slave away in a kitchen cooking for them, washing their dishes, taking out the garbage, and helping with the cleaning up of the mansion in general.
In his comments on the news story, he stressed the connection between their business, a weapons manufacturing company, and how the military is the world’s worst polluter and contributor to climate change.
“I’m not shedding one tear for them,” he commented. “Their death tells us that, apparently, there is a God.”
“Or that there are many gods,” Michelle replied to his comment.
“My comment was just meant as an expression,” Jonathan replied to her. “I don’t believe in any gods. The world’s too cruel a place to believe in any kind of divine justice.”
“Mine was literal,” she said. “In fact, I have a friend living in the area who claims she saw a face in the clouds during and after the thunderstorm.”
“If so, then I’d say I need to find her dealer,” he said in the comments with a lol. “I’ll bet she gets some good shit from him.”
She responded with a lol of her own. “Is there anyone else out there, a part of this discussion, who saw the face, or who knows someone who claims to have seen the face? I’d really like to know, for confirmation of my friend’s report.”
No replies.
“Anyone at all?”
Still no replies.
Finally, Gary said, “I don’t know anybody who does, Michelle, but I’m a neopagan like you (I assume), and I’ll ask around the neopagan community, online and irl, if anyone else has seen, or knows anyone who’s seen, a face in the clouds that night.”
“Thanks, Gary,” she said. “I appreciate it. Add me as a Facebook friend, and if you know any others, we can discuss what happened from our perspective.”
“Cool,” Gary said. “I’ll be glad to help, and to friend you.”
Five minutes later, not only were Michelle and Gary Facebook friends, they were also engaging in a private message about the divine phenomena.
“A funny thing happened to me, several nights before that thunderstorm,” Michelle said. “I had a dream about the gods assembled in a dark…cave, or something, and they were all discussing how fed up they were with the wickedness of man, and they were planning to wipe out such men, while also giving warnings to everyone, though the wicked would never heed the warning.”
Gary paused with a gasp before typing his reply. “Did the gods discuss the ecological degradation, the endless wars, the war-god never getting a chance to sleep because of the wars, and the earth goddess weeping over these evils?”
Now, Michelle was the one gasping before replying. “My God, yes! Those exact things happened in my dream. Did you dream the same thing, around the same time as I did?”
“Not only did I have such a dream, like you, about two or three nights before the thunderstorm,” Gary typed. “So did a number of friends of mine, and other members of the neopagan community.”
Now both of them were gasping, and for a dozen seconds, they were unable to think about what to type next.
“Do you think there could be a connection between our shared dream and what happened to the Wellses, Gary?” Michelle asked.
“Let’s not jump to any hasty conclusions for now,” he answered. “Let’s wait and see if any more ‘freak accidents’ like that happen over the next few weeks or so.”
Infinite Ocean 