The Time Stone, Third Edition (Extended Version)

The winds blew over the country field in the evening hours near the farm on the outskirts of town, as Juan Carlos met up with several friends who were wearing the usual farm hand clothes, overalls and plaid shirts.

“So, JC are we going to do this or what?” speaks one farm hand with a pair of coveralls on.

“I am thinking Pablo. You say this would be something that could help our future, but it’s basically a cult, isn’t it?” Juan Carlos Says.

“Well, you in or out?” Pablo uttered.

“My mom goes to church. I’m Catholic. I can’t join a cult.” says Juan Carlos.

“You aren’t doing that. You got to be down with us. Put this on.” Pablo throws Juan Carlos a black robe and outer garment with reddish ties. “Put it on.” He smirks and Juan Carlos holds the suit in his hands and realizes his oldest friend is right. He will don the suit and join their group.

“Sometimes a man has to choose his own way and make a big difference in his own life and the ones he cares about.” Juan Carlos searched the depths of his soul and piloted his own consciousness into the reality that is his physical self-embodiment while in his bedroom that night, pacing back and forth, until finally he broke and thought about his mother and what she would think. Then he thought about Mercedes and a possible future with her even though they just met and has not really connected. “Could he be a good husband and father as a member of a group of radical religious fanatics?” He thought to himself. “I just want to feel like somebody again.”

“Hey,” Mercedes interrupted him in his room.

“Hey,” he whispered sitting down in only his underwear and not caring if she saw.

“I just want to say, everything you’ve done for me… how I feel about us… what I want and what I think you want…” she broke up her thoughts before him.

“I know,” he uttered. “I want you too, but there is something bigger than us and I can’t fight it. I feel I want to belong to a bigger organization with a deeper meaning.”

“Nothing wrong with that, is there?” She smiles sheepishly.

“What I am going to do may seem wrong to most people, but it is the right thing for me to do! I want you… but” he beckons for her and she sits down on the bed beside him. “I want you to know that I cherish you and want you to remember me as you knew me.” They stared at one another and into one another’s eyes, into their souls. “I want you to remember me for who I am before you now, no matter what happens.”

She shakes her head, but then shed a tear as she held his hands in hers and clutched them tightly. She knew he couldn’t tell her more specifically what he meant and she is fine with it. “I’ll always stand by you!” She says.

He nodded in return hoping she meant it because his new allegiance could be very costly.