Veronica

The cross is high above the village.
Everyone is talking, everyone is looking.
People are flocking top the top of the hill.
A woman at the front of the crowd stares in horror.
Her gaze travels up the wood and comes to a stop at the closed eyes.

Suddenly...

Her mind is blowing up.
Visions cloud her thought.
An invisible force arches her back
She falls to her knees in a bow.
Explosions.
Horrible images dash across her struggling face.
War, blood, poverty, disaster, death
Her head is thrown back
And the sky materializes.

She is alone.
A white man in silken clothing floats above her.
The man on the cross.
He speaks five words to her:
"You have seen the future."

Everything is black.
The woman wakes from her nightmare,
With something she had not held when she fell asleep.
Clutched in her white fingers is a rosary.
She turns it over
Engraved on the back are the words:
'You will know.'