That Leper; Chapter 2

 

That Leper; Chapter 2

© 2025 by Amber Wright

Date: AD 30

Place: Jerusalem

Leper was my name.

Leper was my title.

Leper—one of the many, that was all.

I was nothing. A title. A name. A fear to the citizen. A haunt to the city. A part of the Valley. I was a leper who was spotted indeed. And as each day passed I could tell I was getting worse. How could I get better here?

Every time a person died within my quarters, I helped drag them further into the cave for a burial. I couldn’t let the vultures get them. My eyes could not stand the sight of those fowls digging into the flesh of my fellow leper. I would help them...even if it meant me getting worse.

One day, after I had helped “bury” someone, I looked up at the blue sky from a seat of stone outside the cave, where my living quarters were. The woman we had just buried was so rotten in the flesh and smelled so foul I had to get out into the fresh air outside.

But even this fresh air reeked with the odor from the open tombs.

That death smell.

I looked up into the clear blue sky overhead and questioned silently, God of our fathers, how long will I be delivered?

I am so sore and so broken.

My flesh is rotting as each day passes.

My name stings my ears—when I remember it.

A silent blue sky stared down at me, listening, waiting to hear what I would say.

Oh Adonai, where is the joy of life? Have I any reason to live another day—in this place of the dead?

The silent sky listened on.

I am unclean.

A leper.

I make my bed with the despised, the unwanted, the outcasts of this earth.

I spoke on to the sky above.

I did not want to become a leper but I had no choice.

I became one.

I don’t understand why I am…

Total silence.

My God, I only want to know if You are up there listening!

Not a cloud passed.

I don't have to know all the reasons why. I don't have to know! I only know what my mother taught me about You before she died—before she became a leper and died in this same Valley.

A breeze began to stir.

I took a deep breath, longing for the air to fill my weak lungs. To make my red spots go away. To make my skin to be smooth again. To make my polluted blood to be clean again.

Please give me the strength to die.

A tree on a distant hill began to sway and sunlight shone through its branches.

Adonai, let Your light strengthen me in my darkest valley. Help me if You will...if You care...and if You don’t, I’ll understand. Amen.

When I focused my eyes again, I saw a bright color on the bluff above me. It was next to the trail where I had come down the first day here.

It was a soldier's red cloak.

The Roman was waving, trying to catch my attention.

I waved back, feeling a little better now that some human was acknowledging me in this world again.

The Roman motioned for me to come over to him. So I walked over to the bluff where he was perched, holding something.

I was shocked to see it was the same soldier who had escorted me to the Valley of the Lepers so many months ago.

“Are you the soldier who escorted me here?” I asked him, and it hurt to crane my neck back to look up at him.

The Roman was kneeling on the sandy Judean ground, his upper body leaning forward over the bluff so he could speak to me without shouting.

“The very same,” he answered and leaned forward even more. In his hands was what I thought was a pretty blue sack.

“Be careful!” I warned him. “You might fall.”

The Roman shrugged. “No loss. I would be better off.”

I stared at him. Better off dead than be a Roman, a conqueror? My ears must be playing tricks on me.

“What brings you here to...to this place?” I wanted to know.

“Nothing,” he stared down at his fists that held the sack.

“Have you a pleasant view up there?” I ventured another question.

His dark eyes snapped moodily, I noticed even from my distance below. He clenched his jaws and looked above me. Finally, he looked down again...at me and the Valley.

The Valley where people walked around wrapped closely in veils to conceal their deteriorating bodies where the flesh was rotting away.

At that thought, I crossed my arms and tried to hide my spots. But not before the Roman had looked at my swollen red arms and gulped with a pained expression.

My face, I could feel, was the only flesh on my body where it was not red and swollen. My face only had a few spots on it, thankfully.

I tried to smile cheerfully but a sigh escaped my lips before I could stop it.

“Why do you sigh?” the Roman half barked, half groaned.

“Because I see you,” I shrugged, “and it reminds me how I used to kneel on that same bluff when my mother came here—when I was well.”

I stopped then. Had I said too much?

The Roman was staring moodily at his fists again and clenching his jaws.

“Did I say something...?” I looked up at him, fearfully.

“No!” the Roman snapped and aimed to throw his sack at me.

I stepped back, startled.

“Catch it!” he said in a hoarse whisper. “It’s for you.”

He threw the bundle and I caught it with a wondering mind. As it tumbled softly into my hands, I realized it wasn’t a sack. The blue wad soon unfolded and I found a beautiful new robe and veil in my hands.

I looked down at my red swollen arms and breathed a silent prayer of thanks. Those will be covered, I thought joyfully. I looked back up at the Roman to thank him.

But the kind Roman was gone.

I hugged my new robe and veil. It felt so lovely and cool against my face. Ah! I thought, walking back to my quarters. Maybe there’s hope for this leper yet.

Just maybe, I may be human yet.

Only God knows.

I smiled...for the first time since I had come down here into this Valley of Lepers.

I felt the spots on my heart start to heal.

It would take a miracle to do the rest.

But I would wait for my transformation however long it would take.