Tomorrow didn't come

and so didn't my second chance

Note: I don’t think it’s THAT gory, but it would be fair to warn y’all. Beware, it is a bit gory. Also, this is my first time writing something like this so I hope that y’all enjoy and that everything makes sense, if not, gosh I’m sorry.

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As I make my way to the store, I come across a man carrying a sandwich board on his body and on it I find the words, ”Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven has come near”. I go on about my day without giving much mind to it, after all, this happens every few years. After having, and mostly surviving the day, I formulate multiple ideas on how to unwind and I settled on the least demanding one which was scrolling on my phone. A few scrolls down the line my entire feed, on different platforms, became saturated with urgent prophecies, warnings, signs and the like, all narrowing down to one message: Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is near. Sleep wrestled with me and I didn’t fight back.

My dreams carried images of general unrest, darkened skies and terror playing at people’s faces. Still in my bed, I check the time and it reads 03:04…which is weird because my curtains illuminate a red/orange hue. With an urge for warmth, I cover myself with the first outfit I find, which conveniently enough, is sweatpants and a hoodie. I make way towards my window to try and gauge the situation and as I near it, about to pull back the curtains, I catch a shadow of a creature that shouldn’t even be earthly possible. Towering over even streetlights, it walks with a faltering pace. Stopping a few steps from my window, I see it turn its face towards me which doesn’t make more freaking sense because I’m situated roughly 600 cm off the ground. Seeming like it senses me and my inability to comprehend its existence, it approaches my window, stretches its hands and shatters my window.

With shock rendering me useless, I try to find shelter in the deep corners of my apartment building but like a dog with a bone (I’m the bone, in case you were wondering) the creature’s hand pursues me and finds me, making a ridicule at my futile attempt of self preservation. In the first attempts it made to get me, it created a gaping hole and that allowed me to do what I initially intended to do — gauge the situation. Outside I see the havoc, devastation and catastrophe, all taking form throughout the city, and possibly even further. Cars are upturned, buildings are broken, fires are spreading and human bodies are reaching heights unfathomable without gear. Bodies slam onto the ground and make food for carnivores. I see dogs that don’t look like dogs dragging pieces of human flesh into the dark corners of the street.

I somehow break free from the clutches of the creature and with terror overtaking my logic, I take my keys, run out of my apartment into the elevator and press the ground floor. Immediately upon arrival, I search for my car and head towards it with hopes of getting to the next city. Oh and how futile my efforts were; refusing to accept defeat, I turn my key again and once more, I’m met with silence. I get out of the car and head back to the elevator and press the 7th floor. When the elevator doors opened, I am sure, with every cell in my body, that my heart abandoned my body and made a pact with the floor. What I see, or rather what I’m processing at the moment is a man, that is not a man.

Oh, pardon my vague description, let me put that clearly. What lies before me is a thing with two legs, two arms and a face, oh but here comes the twist. Where the texture of its skin should, at the very least, resemble mine, it carries charred skin infested with maggots. Its skin is red/pinkish everywhere, resembling exposed flesh, save for the areas where it leaks green, cream and black coloured liquids. It wears little to no clothes, but enough that I don’t know its gender and I’m pretty sure you’re thinking, “oh that shouldn’t be that hard”. Oh, trust me, it is and I’d rather leave it at that.

Taking more of it in, I notice that its limbs extend longer than necessary. So here I am, in an elevator, making eye contact with a creature that looks like it belongs in the darkest realms of the underworld. So, to catch you up with the thing I’m looking at, we’re seeing charred skin with maggots, liquids coming out from places I’d rather leave unidentified, long limbs, bald head… did I mention it’s bald? Anyway, back to the description, it has large insect-like eyes, namely, a fly. Its nose barely has structure as all I see are two holes, its lips are somehow chapped but never minding that, it has dots lined on its upper and bottom lip like they were previously sewn shut.

Moving down to below the head, it featured a long neck and sickishly thin shoulders. The rest of its body followed that structure, except for its hands, it had unnaturally large hands and feet and both were webbed. Oh, that is an interesting anatomy…so is it part fish, part insect and part human? I wonder what it eats, does it crave burgers? I wonder if it rubs its hands like flies do before they do whatever they do. So, does it have shark frie — like it was sensing my dimming terror and growing curiosity, it extended its arm aiming for my head but I ducked and made a beeline for the stairs that were situated right behind it. But of course, unnatural anatomy, unnatural speed.

It caught up to me before I could make it down my first flight of stairs, held me by my neck, and pressed down, hard. I felt penetrations moving toward my trachea and pull against it. Then, there in its hands lay my trachea and not believing what I’m seeing, my body provides credibility by sending me torrents of pain and the last thing I saw before I took my last breath was my prematurely evicted trachea entering the mouth of that thing.

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I open my eyes and the first thing I notice is my intact trachea. Not understanding what’s happening I search my surroundings in hopes of a clue and there, seated directly in front of me, is the biggest clue. I see the thing again and it stalks towards me. Changing my colours to confused, I look to its webbed hands in search of my blood, and truly, there on its hands, is my blood and not only on its hands but on the floor as well, which pegs the question, what the heck is going on? Not allowing me to ponder anymore on the question, the thing now sprints towards me, and true to its aim like the last time, it rips my trachea out. I feel the pain all over again and just like the last time, I see my trachea enter its mouth. That whole experience kept on happening again and again and again and again and again, until I lost count, until it felt like eternity.

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I wake up with a jolt and my hands immediately fly to my neck, relieved with my neck in one piece and thankful to find out it was all a dream, I check my surroundings for any things and my search comes up void. What I do find is my phone and on it reads a text: Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven has come near. I switch it off and zone out and in that moment, I recall hearing the words “rapture” and “left behind”. I start to feel uneasy but all of that ceases when I hear a voice, calm as quiet waters, warm as a fire and kind as words of comfort in times of despair, whispering into the night, telling me to come home. So I do the thing that seems logical at the moment, I get off my bed, kneel by my bedside, clasps my hands together and pray.

I don’t know how to pray, so I say the only prayer I remember, a prayer I was taught and it goes like this. Our Father Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. As soon as I got to the end of the prayer, a peace beyond understanding overflowed into my apartment and there in that vulnerability, a man I didn’t know met me where I was and told me His name was Jesus.