Bogleech.com's 2013 Horror Write-off:

"Getting Closer"

Submitted by Ryan Oleynik

    We await His arrival, as we have before. He will come and deliver to us His gifts. We wait for Him. We wait for God.
   
    We lived in the darkness, lives of shadow and disbelief. Life was hard, food was scarce and many of us suffered. We searched the land for any hope, for something that would help us through these tough times. That is when we found the book, the Holy Book. It spoke of a God, one who rewarded those who believed in Him. He fed those who had nothing, and freed those who lived in chains. Surely if He could do that, He could save us. We prayed for Him, prayed for His help and His love. For many days we relied on our faith to save us, praying every chance we got. Some doubted, they said such a being didn’t exist. As more of us died, we began to think the same. Until one day, we heard thunder in the sky. It was a sign of His coming.

    He came down from a light, one so bright that it burned our eyes and sent us running for cover. We did not expect Him to come to our land, especially with that entrance. He stood there in His brilliance and looked upon our land. He raised His hand, and in an instant our world was bathed in light. Our Lord had brought the sun to our world, and ridded the shadows that we once lived in. We should have rejoiced at His coming, we should have rushed out to greet Him, but our fear was too great. Was this the giving God we had believed in? Or was it a being that would punish us with His great power? We did not know, so we hid from Him.     

    He had explored our land while we hid, and then He left us. When He returned to the heavens, He took His holy light with Him. For our cowardice, He took back the light that He gave us and we were ashamed. We had prayed for His presence and we fled when He answered us. What followers are we?
   
    He has returned and brought objects to our realm. These holy artifacts of His were signs that He knew of us. He has given us temples and idols to worship. Not only did He give us these, but He has shown us His good grace. As He traveled through our land one day, He made food fall from the heavens. We rushed out and took the food from His footsteps, bringing the blessed morsels back to our homes. We rejoiced at the feast that He had given us, and on that day, we promised that we would never doubt Him again.  
   
    We have witnessed His power today. What power He wields! When He came today, He activated one of his special artifacts that we have worshipped. It created a portal that allowed Him to see other lands and worlds! He watched others through his portal, no doubt watching over His subjects and listening to their prayers. Did He see us suffer through this portal? Is that why He came to save us? Perhaps He will go to help others, but I secretly wish that He does not. He has been good to us, and it would dishearten us to see Him leave.
   
    What have we done? What sin did we commit? He has come back and brought His light, but He brought more than that this time. We do not know what we have done to disappoint Him, but He has brought Death with Him this day. He rains burning poison down upon our heads, like one of the plagues that He brought to Egypt. Our homes were torn open and many of us were drenched by the lethal storm. His wrath tore through our land, striking down those who He found unworthy. When He ascended back to Heaven, many of our brethren lay dead. We wept for our fallen brothers, but we also prayed for His forgiveness. We do not know what we have done to incite His wrath so, but we promised to never do it again.

    He later returned to world, but He did not bring the rain again. Instead He took the bodies of our brethren and took them with Him into the light. Did He take them to Heaven? Or is He going to judge them and send them to Hell? I do not know, but I pray for their souls.
   
    He has come today and as He walked through our lands, food rained from the heavens again. He did not bring the burning rain with him, just food. Perhaps we are pleasing Him now?
   
    I do not know if this is blasphemy, but I wonder sometimes about our God. Why does He only walk upon two legs while we have six? Where is His dark shell to protect Him? Did He give us these on purpose? Did He give us these legs and shells as a gift? Perhaps His reasons are beyond our pitiful minds. Perhaps He had made choices that we could never understand.    
   
    One of our brothers has found something most interesting in the Holy Book today. He called us all over and told us the Word of God. We feel foolish for not noticing this earlier, how could we have missed a sacred ritual such as this? No wonder He has punished us, we have ignored His Words. Such ignorance is blasphemy! And such blasphemy must be punished! We must correct our errors and fulfill His wishes. We must cleanse our sins by following the path He has given us.

    We march to our Lord, every brother and sister is in our ranks. He is sitting upon His throne, watching over His many worlds. No doubt He is waiting for us to act, waiting for us to redeem ourselves. And we have come to do just that. We have read the Words and we know of the ritual. It is time to right our wrongs. It is time to become closer to God. As the Holy Book proclaims, “Take this and eat it. This is my body… All of you drink from it. This is my blood of the new covenant.”  His commands are clear, our destiny has been shown. He has offered Himself to us, and we shall accept it. For our Lord, our Savior.

    Praise be to God!

    Praise be to God!