The high priest looked in my eyes, "You will be sacrificed to the Gods. We will be in their favour again."

I screamed no. I did not believe they would kill a child, I could see the high priest raising a knife. Then I shouted that "I should have listened in history class."

Before the priest could kill me. The clouds went very dark. It was like nighttime.

Everything went black.

When I woke up, I was so happy that I was not dead. However, I was not home.

I was standing in the middle of a large crowd. I looked around and thought the buildings and the way the people were dressed was from an old Hollywood movie about the Romans. I knew that I was not at home. I must be in Roman times. At least there would be no dinosaurs or witch doctors here that hated me. 

Let me remind you of how strange my life was. I was a normal girl that lived in 2020. I had a perfect life and a perfect family. The problem was that my history teacher thought I never paid attention in class. She gave me this old book about history. This was no ordinary book. It threw me back in history. I was a cave girl until now. I tried everything to get back home, but it appears as if that cruel book decides when I am ready to go on in history. 

Now I would experience Rome. I must admit that I always loved Roman films. Roman princesses had the nicest clothes and flowers in their hair and slaves and servants to do everything. I knew that I was no princess. I had an old linen dress and a head veil. I was barefoot. I looked around to see if I had a family. I was hungry! The problem is how I would recognize my family in such a large crowd. The smart thing was to wait in one place and wait for my family to come to me. 

There was a Roman man standing and trying to talk with the crowd. Beside him, two men were standing in chains. One of them was strong and looked like he could be in action films. The other one looked weaker and was covered in blood. He had thorns on his head. I thought he could be Jesus himself, but this man did not look like anything I have seen in movies and paintings. He was not that tall and his skin was dark and he was not that good looking!

The Roman asked who should be set free, and the people started shouting "Barbados". The Roman looked like he was in doubt and kept asking the people if they were sure. The crowd got angrier and angrier and demanded that Barbados would be set free. It was scary. The crowd was fanatic as they raised their fists and demanding that the man with the crown of thorns would be executed. At one stage, the Roman soldiers came in and hid behind their shields. It looked as if they would attack the crowd at any second. I will admit, that I was afraid. The crowd did not seem afraid. They held on to their demand. 

The Roman did not care. He washed his hands and told the crowd that he was not responsible. He told the crowd that Jesus would be crucified. 

I slumped to the ground. I remember this from the film I saw about Jesus. He would be hung on a cross and have so much pain. He would know that I did not shout his name, My silence helped his verdict of death on the cross. 

I must have fainted as this older girl asked me if I was ok. She asked me was I hurt and led me away from the crowd. She took me to what appeared to be a shack outside town. There were other children there. I was confused and did not recognize any of them. They all started asking questions at once, which made things more confusing. They asked if I was hurt.. do I remember this place... do I remember the children here... do I remember my own name? I just stood and the only thing I could say was "Jesus". 

The other children thought I lost my memory. They told me that my name was Stephanie and I was a Jewish orphan. They were also orphans so we moved around wherever we could find shelter. We begged and stole to survive. One of the girls said that I was their leader. This made me smile. At least I was not at the bottom of the hierarchy as I was with the cave people. I looked around and figured when I had time, I had to find a better place to live. 

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There were 9 children, including me. There was 2 the same age as me and the rest of them were younger. For street children, they looked very clean although they needed new clothes. The little hut where we were was dirty and dark. No one would ever think humans would live in such a place. It would be hard to find us here. 

I told them that a man was about to be crucified. This made them laugh and remind me that someone was crucified every day. I was not smiling. I told them that this man was Jesus. He was the son of God and came here to save us from her sins. He did not deserve to die. 

After I said this, they all went silent. One of the older children looked at me looking as they were mad. She warned me not to let anyone hear what I just said. It was blasphemous and I would be in real trouble. She said that if people thought I was a follower then they would arrest me, maybe torture me and who knows what punishment I would get. I could even be sold as a slave!

I looked at her thinking that children cannot be punished and then I remembered that the cave people wanted to sacrifice me. 

I told the children I would be back and started to go back to town.

I have seen a crowd around the gate and went closer. Jesus was carrying this heavy cross. It looked so heavy and he could hardly carry it. The Romans must have had the same thoughts, as when Jesus fell, a man was told to help Jesus carry the cross. Even with help, you could see the pain and agony in Jesus' face. He must have been so afraid. He knew that he would die on the same cross he was carrying. There was no Amnesty International to help him. I wished that I could help in some way. To be honest I was afraid that everyone would see that I followed Jesus. I did not want to be sold as a slave. 

I followed the procession and decided I would keep Jesus company, so at least he was not alone! 

It was hard to look at. Jesus was struggling with his cross and he was getting weaker and weaker for every step he took. When Jesus fell again, I collapsed to the ground and started crying. I whimpered that they did not know what they were doing. Everything was too much for me. I always believed in God. I didn't pray that much, but I tried to speak with him once in a while. Now it was too hard to see the son of God suffering and about to die. 

As the Roman soldiers were whipping Jesus to get back up, some people were asking me if I was one of his followers. I didn't answer. I just cried. They were shouting that I should be arrested. I was not even afraid of this. I was just thinking about the pain and humiliation that Jesus was going through. 

As people started to try and grab me, this old woman appeared and told them to be ashamed and reminded them that I was a child! She took my hand and led me away from the group. She gave me a hug and told me that I had to be strong.

Jesus passed where we were standing and looked at the old woman. It was then that I realized that she was his mother. She looked older than the statues of her that I have seen at the church. I could see how hard it was for her. The son that she loved was now about to die in the worse possible way. This was the son that she took care of as a baby, comforted, and sang songs to. He was her pride and joy and now she had to experience his death. Mary had to look at her son in so much pain and humiliation.

I gave Mary a hug.

We arrived at a hill they called Golgotha. Jesus was hanging on the cross. I saw the crucifixion in movies and on crosses, but the reality was far worse, People were teasing and telling him if he was God's son, he could just get off. They were mocking him as he just hung there. You could hear that Jesus was fighting for every breath. He seemed like he was afraid. He was in pain, a pain that no one could imagine. 

I wanted to help him but did not know what to do. 

Were you there when they crucified my Lord? (Were you there?)

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Were you there when they nail'd him to the cross? (Were you there?)

Were you there when they nail'd him to the cross?

O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!

Were you there when they nail'd him to the cross?

Were you there when they pierced him in the side? (Were you there?)

Were you there when they pierced him in the side?

O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!

Were you there when they pierced him in the side?

Were you there when the sun refused to shine? (Were you there?)

Were you there when the sun refused to shine?

O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!

Were you there when the sun refused to shine? 

( Composed by enslaved African-Americans in the 19th century)

When I was done, I saw Jesus look down at me and smile a bit

Then he let out a long moan of agony and shouted, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: ... "

We could hear the last breath of Jesus and then silence.