From somewhere below the ground, a giant crevice began to open up in the earth, it began to shake at first slowly, but then fiercely. We began to run, in fear we might be swallowed up, and sucked into the never ending void . The ground opened up, like a giant sucking orifice, seeking to devour us whole. We ran as fast as we could, but there was no escape.
Powerless against a more powerful force than our frail spirit beings we fell tumbling into the void. Fire and smoke billowed up obstructing our view of the hideous land we were being hurled into, it was hell, we were sure of that. We careened for what seemed like an eternity, round and round, the heat intensifying as our journey to the pit continued.
Was this a nightmare? Was this our first test?
When all of sudden we stopped. There was quiet, but not a peaceful quiet, a tense foreboding quiet. We were in an enclosed box, all that could be seen was our breath in the cold, white hot stifling air. The atmosphere was thick, suffocating, putrid, like the smell of dead animals, their rotting flesh filling our every breath. The air seemed to dwindle with each breath that we took, the space tightening in on us, squeezing the very life out of our frail beings.
Just when we thought we could stand no more of such torture, the door of the box we had been imprisoned in flew open and two gargantuan creatures wearing hideous macabre masks, and flailing chains about, snatched us up from the tombs, like we were mere rag dolls, and they were giant children.
Monica and I were bound and gagged and put on some type of conveyor. It ran on tracks that creaked eerily as we made our way towards an unknown destination. To our left and right we could see many others similarly confined, each one with a more terrified look on their faces than the next.
Up ahead was the master of this domain, and it had become evident that we had somehow entered hell. Flames began to lick us, as we approached a creature so horrible, words could not describe him. He was fire. His body was flames , his eyes were burning embers, he was the embodiment of eternal damnation.
As those sentenced to damnation arrived at the master, they were ripped into pieces, and devoured by the creature who seemed to have no end to his appetite for damned souls. We moved ever closer, closer, then we were next. No, it can't end this way for us, I was thinking but couldn't speak. Then I saw it. Somehow, I guess since we were kindred spirits, Monica saw it at the same time. A ladder hung down, and when we looked up, it appeared to reach all the way to Heaven. Remembering that these were just dreams and most of it wasn't real, we reached up and grabbed onto the ladder, our restraints dropping off and disappearing into the world below us. We climbed and climbed and soon we were back on green earth, breathing clean crisp air, and enjoying the sun and a beautiful blue sky.
Do we dare tarry here? Is the green grass and blue skies real or are they a part of the dream world? Just as we were catching our breath, the earth began to move. No not move, the once green earth we sat upon began to slither. The beautiful grass was now grayish brown scales, rough to the touch and pungent in odor. We could not move for a giant snake was coiled around us, his eyes evil, his fangs dripping venom as he squeezed our frail spirit beings.
Is this how the game would end? I yelled at Monica, “What should we do? I know this is not real, but what is real?”
“You and I are real, of that we are certain. The giant snake is not real, however his venom can still poison us and he can still squeeze the last breath out of us.”
“So what do we do? How can we escape?”
“We will simply sit down and will the terrible creature to go away, and wish we were again sitting on the beautiful green grass, enjoying the blue skies. If our love is strong and our belief is even stronger, we will triumph.”
We held hands and sat, and imagined we were back sitting on that green grass, enjoying a gorgeous sunny day. We felt the warm sunshine on our faces, we felt like young lovers do when they go for a picnic in the park. Love overwhelmed us, and through that love we could conquer all enemies.
We felt the grip of the venomous snake start to loosen. His hideous fangs ceased dripping poison, and he began to disappear, along with the other snakes. The green grass and blue skies reappeared.
“We did it!” I yelled and hugged Monica as tightly as possible.
“Yes, we did. I knew our love was strong.”
Our triumph was short lived.
Abruptly our whole world morphed into a hideous dream, lights flashed as the firmament whirled, contorted into a nightmarish catacomb through which we were being swept by a powerful wind. All along the way were repulsive caricatures of human creatures that had been long since dead but were still quite alive. Their heads turned and their mouths moved but they did not speak, only howled, and snapped at us with long jagged teeth as we sailed by.
Doom and gloom music from a horror motive, emitting from a scary pipe organ, suddenly began to play. Just as suddenly was a piercing scream, as a giant mouth opened up like we were being swallowed by a giant. Maybe it was a giant and we were Jack and Jill, being whirled round and round and down a hill.
There was total darkness and deafening silence.
I was alone, Monica was gone.
A powerful sleep overcame me as if I were drugged. When I awoke I was in a field of the greenest grass I had ever seen. I marveled at it momentarily, but abruptly I was aware of the new and odd situation in which I found myself. I was in a gray uniform, a rebel uniform to be exact, holding a musket with bayonet in my hand. I was in a line of similarly attired soldiers facing an enemy, I presumed was the Yankees, dressed in blue, standing in a line some fifty yards from where we stood.
“Charge,” yelled a man on horseback with a long flowing yellow beard and hair to match. We ran towards the sea of blue and they ran towards us as well. Behind the line of Yankees was a line of cannons, hurling huge metal balls in our direction. Most just whirled on by us, hitting trees and fracturing limbs. But then the Yankee cannons found their range and began to devastate our ranks, blowing heads off of soldiers like they were pumpkins, as we ran with all our might towards the enemy.
Then we upon each other, blue and gray, clashing in that splendid field of green. Shooting and stabbing with bayonets as the cannon ball barrage continued reeking havoc.
I felt the piercing as the bayonet of steel entered my soft flesh, the air immediately depleted from my lung, I gasped and fell to one knee. The Yankee pummeled me in the head with the butt of his musket, I was down on the ground and with one more stab of his bayonet I ceased to exist. My soul left my body and drifted above the battlefield.
It seemed to drift into outer space, I felt cold and alone in the darkness, lit up dimly by millions of stars that seemed millions of miles away. “Heaven,” I thought, “I m on the way to Heaven.” I held on to this beautiful thought for a minute, thinking it must be true. I had surely died in that field of battle and now was ascending to meet God in the hereafter. I felt great peace. I felt love as I floated upwards, weightless in the universe that engulfed me.
But then something very bizarre happened. I began to descend rapidly back down to earth, hurling at a tremendous speed as my body careened uncontrollably downward. I hit the ground and was knocked out cold, but I was alive again.
This time I found myself in a deep ditch so high I couldn't see the top, a trench was what it was. Beside me was a soldier with a dough-boy helmet on his head, on his face a gas mask. A mortar round whistled over our heads, I could hear the sound of machine gun fire from a distance. The man next to me in the hole screamed out in terror, as another mortar round flew, this time landing in the hole and blowing the head off of one the soldiers two men down, his helmet minus his head rolled eerily on the ground.
This went on for what seemed like hours. The suddenly a soldier yelled, “Gas!” A cloud of noxious fumes engulfed us so thick we could barely see. Some of the men who weren't wearing their masks quickly put them on, yelling at me to do the same. Which I did, choking on the putrid fumes that suffocate
d us. Then out of nowhere an artillery round appeared. I heard it coming seconds before I saw it. There was nothing we could but cover our heads and pray. The round scored a direct hit on our bunker, blowing four of us to smithereens.
The spirit once again floated above the battlefield. Drifting at first aimlessly without a purpose, but soon it seemed to pick up speed, like it was being sucked into a giant vortex, faster and faster.
There was a flash of light. Then I was in a hospital room, my beautiful wife Monica was holding my hand and crying.
“Oh my God, you came back to me!” She exclaimed. “They said you were dead. But I wouldn't believe them.”
Boy, did I have a story to tell her when I was able to speak. But for now, sleep.
The End
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