Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Empty and Full (06/04/09)
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TITLE: We Survive | Previous Challenge Entry
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06/11/09 -
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Nothing.
Tomorrow, when my children wake up, you know where they’ll go?
Nowhere.
We were all promised lots of things by books, TV and movies. That there would be a war to end all wars. That there would be an end. That there would be salvation. But, you know how many wars ended? How much salvation came?
None.
***
The bombs shook everything for miles around. The stained-glass windows shattered, crumbling to the ground. The pastor shouted directions to the congregation. Everyone followed him. They climbed under the pews, clutching their families and Bibles. Screaming and crying, no one knew what to expect.
The pastor stood on the stage. “Do not be afraid! This is what we were waiting for! The Lord is coming back! The Rapture is happening!”
Full of hope and faith, the congregation prayed. Waiting for their savior to return.
***
When the mushroom clouds lined the horizon, the hobos were out on the street corners with their sandwich boards. “Jesus is coming.”
When the ash fell on the town and blotted out the sun, the church sign read, “Have no fear, Jesus is near.”
We held out for this savior to appear, to save us from the mayhem. To save us from the Apocalypse. To save us from the roving gangs that quickly looted and pillaged our homes. Just like our movies had foretold. Our books. All of them said we’d be gone for this. All of this…
Our doors and windows are boarded. Our children sleep in the closet so they’re safe. But, they’re not safe. None of us are. For our whole lives, we secretly hoped that books, movies and television were right. That Christians were right. That when it came down to the end, the Apocalypse, Armageddon, God wouldn’t allow us to go through it. We hoped that life wouldn’t be based on survival. That the empty hope we fed our children every day was true. That we believed in hope.
But, we can’t.
I can’t.
Soon, someone smashed the church sign. Someone else painted the words “We’re all in Hell” over the church name.
There is no sun. There is no war. There is no order. There is no salvation.
The world doesn’t come to an end like we were all told. No, unfortunately, it survives. We survive. Like a horse with a broken leg, but no owner to put us out of our misery. This is how we will die. Hiding. Cowering.
No “triumphant entry”.
***
Five months after the bombs, the sun stabbed through the clouds of ash and soot. One stream of light fired down through the darkness. Amidst all the wind and rain, that light never wavered. And against all the odds, that light fell on one thing.
The cross.
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