I was at church, and it was Christmas. I was supposed to be singing in the choir, but I was in bed sick. I was so tired. I was lying on my right side, and I saw Fr. Justin reading Gospels. The church was very brightly lit, all white inside, and beautiful. I almost cried. I turned onto my left side and saw the choir, singing. I felt ashamed that I wasn't able to get out of bed and help, and I closed my eyes and listened.
After that we were all sitting and eating like we do after the liturgy. I stood up and declared loudly, "I have to go home!" I made to leave, and several people urged me to stay. "It's Christmas," I said, "and I haven't even seen my family. I have to go." I departed reluctantly.
On the way home I cut across a parking lot. A marching band was marching through, part of a Christmas parade. I ran quickly between the ranks and almost knocked down a trombone player. I had to get home. I came to a steep ravine that I had to climb. I climbed it with difficulty, and finally reached the top, only to find that I was at the bottom again. I climbed up again, and the same thing happened... I wound up at the bottom. I started climbing again, and I was suddenly lifted up by a kindly, generic looking young man. I was alarmed and struggled a bit, and he said, "It's ok, I just want to help you." He put me down halfway up the ravine, and I started to climb again. When I was almost to the top, I couldn't climb the rest of the way, and he lifted me again. The very top of the ravine was the roof of a house, and he started to deposit me onto it. I protested and struggled again. I was terrified of being set down on the roof. He set me down on the ground and I was finally at the top of the ravine. I started running again.
It had gotten dark. I had to get home quickly, because I knew that a demon was waiting out in the field. It's name was the Starflyer, and the name filled me with terror. I had three blue candles... I had to get home and light them, they were the only thing that could stop it. Something about the ritual, some holy quality to it, would stop the Starflyer. I got home and set up the candles on the back porch. Through the screen I could see far away, across the field, three red glowing eyes, arranged like a pyramid, staring at me, surrounded by blackness. I quickly set up the candles... they were wet. I tried to light them, and they were difficult to get going. I finally got all of them lit, and I shouted, "There, I did it! Go away! Leave, you can't be here!" The glowing red eyes didn't leave, and structure began to form around them in the blackness. More red eyes appeared, hundreds, smaller and dimmer, all around the first three. Silver webs connected them, which shined and seemed to flicker in and out of existence. Then I saw a hoard approaching, running, coming forward. Running towards the house. Demons dressed in plate mail with square iron masks with no eye holes that covered the entire head. Thousands of them, coming for me. I didn't understand. I heard them outside and ran to the back door and locked it. Their voices were a quiet constant babble that didn't make any sense. The door knob rattled and the lock began to turn. I held the knob and the lock tightly. I could see through the windows that the hoard was everywhere, streaming around the house like a flood of water, everywhere, millions and billions of them, covering the Earth. I ran to the front door and bolted outside. I was caught up in the stream of them and carried along.
Later everything was gray and there was no color in the world, and I was walking through desolate and deserted city streets. I didn't see any demons, but I knew they were still here somewhere. Someone was walking with me. He was dressed in rags and bandages, and he said to me, "If you want to live through this, you'll have to wait it out in a cell, with the others."
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