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When the Bible bit me I knew it was the end.

I had woken from a sound sleep an hour ago, hearing alarms going off in the street and the first of the screams. The screams were gone now, receding in the distance as people ran trying to escape the hell that had come for them.
"You can run but you can't hide," I hysterically giggled.
It was Judgment Day. The mythical, superstitious nonsense that we all so cynically believed it to be was actually happening.

My house was destroyed. Big chunks of plaster and roofing were torn away to reveal a blackened, boiling sky above. I lay curled up under the bed. Isn't this where every man goes in times of extreme terror? In the span of seconds reverting back to childhood and this is the place we always seek first.

From where I lay I had a perfect bird's eye view of beneath my dresser and what I had carelessly shoved there. Covered in cobwebs and years of dust, the bible that my mother had given me. Was that 3 years ago? No matter, I remember at the time I could not keep the contempt from my face or my voice.

"Wow, Mom, Thanks. I'm going to get a lot of use out of this."

"Please, Christopher, don't go so far that you cannot come back. I know that things have happened in your life that made you turn from God and all that we taught you. You have to understand that these were lessons and God's Will. He works in mysterious ways."

I rolled my eyes at her then, something dark and twisted biting at me, making me take those jabs at her when I can tell she is already hurting.
"You have no idea what I have went through or what I have seen. What do you want me to come back to, Mother? The mass hysteria that your church uses to keep everyone in line?"
The pain shows in her face and I still cannot stop, not yet.
"I'm not a mindless follower, and I am not going to be taken in by the crap your preacher serves up every Sunday Morning. There is no God, Mom. No one up there that gives a damn about what we do to each other. If there is and he lets little kids be raped and beaten by their parents or wars that kill thousands of people then that's not someone I want to worship. I'd rather go to Hell, at least the Devil doesn't pretend to be something he isn't."
Tears welled up in her eyes. Mission accomplished! The darkness within me sated, at least for a while.

I shook the memory back; have to focus on what is happening now.
I reached for the Bible, my arm stretching as far as I could without losing the safety of the bed. My fingertips brushed it. Did it move?

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