The Tunic (part 10)

(The Tunic is a fictional story based on the Passion of Jesus. The story began on post March 18, 2019.)



  That night Cato tossed and turned in his sleep. He kept seeing images of Jesus as he slept. His hands, His feet, the blood running down his face. In the dream he would look at the crowd and all he could see was the woman's eyes.  The pain in her eyes seemed to mirror Jesus' eyes. Behind the cross he could see the white tunic blowing in the wind.  Cato fell to the ground and cried out in sorrow, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.  I didn't know what I was doing." Cato woke up trembling.  His heart was racing. The dream had seemed far too real.
   After he calmed down, Cato convinced himself to fall back to sleep.  This time his dream contained a brilliant flash of white. Now Jesus was no longer on the cross. He was standing in front of a large crowd. He saw Livia and Remus in the crowd kneeling in front of Jesus.  They were worshipping Jesus. He just stood there watching, when suddenly Remus started shouting, "Papa join us.  Believe Papa, believe."  When Cato looked back at Jesus, he was again hanging from the cross. Afraid, Cato turned his gaze away from Jesus. He looked down at his own feet and that's when he saw it.  He was holding the tunic in one hand and a bag of coins in the other.  Cato began sobbing uncontrollably.
  "Cato, Cato, wake up.  You are having a bad dream."  Livia looked concerned.
  Cato opened his eyes and looked around. He let out a big sigh.  It was just a dream. "I'm sorry I woke you up.  Go back to sleep, Livia. I'm fine."  That's what Cato said, but he knew he wasn't. He couldn't make sense out of anything.  His guilt laid heavily on his chest and pressed against his thoughts. Falling back to sleep became impossible.  He just laid there for a long time. His thoughts bounced back and forth in his head.  He tried to remember exactly what was said about Jesus. He wished he would have paid closer attention. When the sun finally spilled its light across the room, Cato decided to get up and begin the day.

(to be continued...)

-Susan