Here is a dream I had the other night..


i had been wanting to play baseball forever and when my mom mentioned that her job had a sports league i jumped at the chance. so i took some neighborhood friends who wanted to play also to signups. when we got there we were greeted by a tall lanky man who introduced himself as Fred. he told us all the exciting things about the league and what to expect, and really made it out to sound great. right when we were going to sign our names to the papers, he told us that first we must agree to go to employments church for a day. i kind of thought it was weird at first but knowing that the company and founders were highly religious, i didnt think any more of it and finally agreed to go.

the bus picked me up later the next week. when i got on i noticed the bus was full but since i didnt know anyone i kept my head down walked to the nearest open seat. i had a chance to notice that my friends who went with me to the signups were on as well. i waved to them and for the most part sat quietly for the remainder of the ride. after a 30 minutes of driving the bus driver said he was running late and that he was going to take a shortcut. there had been no other stops after me since that point.

suddenly the the driver ran across and intersection in the road and and the bus made a huge thud. everyone screamed. the driver told everyone to hold on. we were going on the wrong side of the road! up ahead was an old beetle bug car and we were heading straight for it. the bus veered right but it was too late. we hit the bug straight on. the bus gave a gigantic jerk and passengers bodies jolted forward in their seats. if it wasnt for the seatbelts they probably would have landed in the aisle and out of the windows. is everyone okay? the driver asked over the intercom. there were a few panicked people but noone was seriously hurt.

the bus continued to roll on. the driver was fidgeting with the gears and stomping on the brakes but it would not stop. now it was the driver who was panicking. he yelled that something was wrong with the bus and that it wouldnt stop. a small bridge was ahead that had a creek underneath it. the bus was off the road completely and heading for the side of the bridge. everyone had time to cower in their seats and scream before it took the embankment and started rolling down the side into the creek. tree branches scraped the sides of the bus and water splashed on the windows. up until this point it had been a dangerous ride but noone had gotten hurt. i wouldnt want to speak for anyone else when i say that some of them, if not only me was kind of enjoying it. still, it was amazing that everyone had remained unscathed. all doubt was quickly removed though when the driver switched a button on his dashboard and the bus started to levitate from the creek and ascend in the air. or seemingly so anyway. at first the passengers were wide-eyed at the prospect of flying through the air, but that only lasted a few seconds. reality told them something was afoul. indeed. it wasnt just an ordinary bus, it had a few gadgets..a special effects screen on the windshield and every window, a surround sound system, and for the bumps and grinds along the way..yeah, you guessed it. hydraulics.

the bus came down and to a stop at the church. it looked more like a university campus with a succesion of other buses lined up. everyone unloaded from the buses and at that point were divided into groups. women into one, children into another. i was grouped with a bunch of boys that were in the 18-21 range. we all filed into the main worship hall. the first thing i noticed besides the vast expanse of the place (it was enormous), was that there were 3 or 4 different podiums for speakers on the stage and they were huge as well. the next thing i picked out on the stage was a statue of a person. it could have been a depiction of Jesus but it kind of looked oriental and the person was overweight. i would have guessed it was a buddah but im not really sure. i was seated in back of the row, a third of a way back from the entire room. i sat down on the bench that didnt have a backing to it and noticed that my childhood buddy from another baseball league was in the pew infront of me. he didnt see me.

service soon began and it started with hymns that i was not familiar with. i was agitated to be honest. the lack of a back to my bench was discomforting. i kept turning in my seat until one of the church officials asked the people in the pew ahead of me to scoot down. he asked if i wanted to sit on the end and i kindly accepted. so there i was sitting beside my friend as the hymns were being sang. i leaned over and asked him if there was any accompanying literature i could read the words off of and he shook his head, no.

i couldnt really tell you what the the songs were about because i could barely understand them. the auditorium was full of people singing them and it didnt help that they werent the worlds best singers. still, i caught some words and lines of the songs and they seemed kind of out of place for traditional church music. that is to say ive never heard gospels that did not strictly adhere to the praising and worship of God. some things just seemed out of place and unwarranted. finally, after the music stopped the preaching began. this is where i realized these people danced to the beat of their own drum. im not going to mention what all they talked about but ill just say that the main focus was satisfying their own needs and agendas. apparently the withholdings of their employees went to "bonify the magnificent workings of the church and people". at least this is one of things i heard from the preacher as he pointed at the statues and other ornant objects around him. meanwhile the offering plate was being passed around and a few feet away from me.

ive never walked out of a bad movie and i wasnt going to walk out on this but i was definitely going to tell my parents what their hard earned money was going to. and as for playing baseball for them, there was no way. the preaching droned on for what seemed hours. the regular crowd sat and seemed to lap the concoctive vile up while the visitors were paying attention but not entirely convinced despite the preaching being directly aimed at them. the preaching was about to be wrapped up i sensed. and in like every sermon the goal of the congregation was about to come out full force. that is to say they are going to bring the point home and try to suade you into their line of thinking. i held out hope (a very thin hope) that they were going to have an alteration and mention the grace of God through this madness. What kind of God, who knows? after this show I wasnt really sure, but I knew something was going to happen. but i was never expecting what happened next. all i remember was the preacher asking 'what are you going to do' and suddenly the entire auditorium went black and without warning a huge explosion erupted in the hall. i was taken aback unexpectedly as glass from windows shattered over me. the preacher's voice came on again and said something about the end has come. fires were burning around the room. people of all ages scrambled to the doors in attempts to flee but they were locked. i looked up the aisle and there was man engulfed in flames. someone ran to the wall for a fire extinguisher and sprayed him and he collapsed in a circle of smoke. i couldnt see a thing except fire and smoke and the voice of the preacher screaming for people to come to the church. the end has come.

more people were running around on fire and disappeared from my sight. the fires were getting closer too and the heat began to increase until i couldnt open my eyes. i could feel my clothes start to scorch and the heat was immense now. again the preacher said give your life to the church before its too late. i quenched tightly and waited for the end. finally the chaos stopped and i opened my eyes to a teenage girl who was crying. i had tears in my eyes too, but i wasnt crying. we sat starring at each other for a few seconds, tears in both of our eyes until a look of hatred came on her face. i saw the look for a half a second and looked away. i should have known from the start that it was just a sequel from the bus incident, an elborate hoax, but this time there wasnt a measure of suspicion in that it was done perfectly.

then the questions began. i was asked my name:bart; where do you live: which i replied, my heavenly home or earthly home? but they hurriedly asked me again..when were you born? then i asked which time. then they said you've been born more than once? and i said, yeah ive been born twice and when you're born twice you only die once but when you're born once you die twice..

then they stopped and i asked them where my friends that came with me were. then i laughed. i laughed like a maniac. it was a good laugh. then i asked if they kidnapped them...