The cold, wet, wind slithers through the small gaps in the window frame. Her warm hand feels the knife like a slice of the cold air. "The glass is frigid," she thinks tapping her finger in rhythm.

"FIRE!" "FIRE!" "FIRE!"

She runs to the door.

"Burn, Baby, Burn"

She feels the heat from the fire.

Not everybody makes it.

She makes it out!

She lives.

A new parent and a new last name.

And, a new home.

Yes, a better, bigger home.

Not so cold....

Darkness ...

As she tells her story and the end is the beginning ...

"Come on, David Michael, you are going with me," my mother tells me as she buttons my coat.

"Where are we going, Mommy?" I ask with a smile on my face.

"We are going to visit a friend and she has a daughter who is your age," she tells me.

A daughter, I have never played with a girl. My brother is older than me and he has friends that are always at the house. The brothers across the street are David and Michael. I heard talk that my brother named me after them. Oh, well ...

We drive for, maybe, fifteen minutes, and pull up to a really big old house. My mother helps me out of the car and I walk with her up to the large black door.

My mother rings the doorbell. I look around.

"Hi, Betty," a woman says greeting my mother.

"This is our son, David Michael," my mother proudly says.

"And this is Michelle," the lady introduces her daughter.

A glowing little girl awakes my eyes and emotions.

Amazing!

We enter the home and go up to Michelle's room to play.

I have found a playmate!

I am happy!

Michelle is fun!

I remember our visits.

I will never forget Michelle Freeze!

Happy with Michelle, at the age of three.

We never returned to the large old white house with the inviting black door.

Now the search is on to find a companion.

I need to fill the void.

At three, I feel something is missing.

At sixty, I feel something is missing.

As stated before, I thought I had found my mate numerous times.

In the end, the same story is repeated.

Same story, different characters.

Perhaps it is me.

I know what I desire in a female companion.

Pretty, witty and cute.

OR ...

House, job and car.

The best is all six attributes.

I left out the God component. "Equally yoked," the Bible expresses in detail.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth...."

This is the key number one reciprocating expression that sets the foundation. And, this needs to be a pathway the significant other has already grasped.

Leading a mate to the truth ... and letting them into the reality that they are number two is a dark pathway. Without prior teaching and discipline they may see themselves as number one and have no desire to relinquish their dominance to God!

The waking, last, absent thought of the day was all about her. She never became above God, but a parallel idol.

I created a lifelike sculpture of her and displayed it for all to see. Her spread wide, open inviting arms drawing in onlookers.

Is she my personification of the Messiah?

How can man put another above God?

Adolph Hitler was an extension of Satan, or a conduit of God, depending on one's viewpoint. Some believed Hitler was the way, truth and light and he, alone, was to lead the German people out of financial woes and into prosperity.

"Reject Jesus Christ or lose it!" The large man with the blood stained meat cleaver calls out to the shuffling line.

Two men grip. One man grabs the hand in a firm handshake the other man holds firm the shoulder, placing the wrist on a cutting board.

With a quick slice the hand is dismembered.

The flopping wrist is seared on a red hot plate of steel.

"Next," he calls out lifting the meat cleaver above his head.

The love of one's hand or the love of one's God....

A forthright, public decision for all to witness.

"And the believers will be caught up!"

The Rapture....

"Across the country and around the world people have vanished," the newscaster announces as multitudes gather to watch and listen.

Our world is in chaos.

Alien abduction ...

A vanishing mystery ...

A plague that consumes living tissue ...

All have an opinion, especially the church ... which assumes no responsibility.

Economic collapse paralyzes planet Earth.

Government leaders and religious leaders combine forces to help stabilize the mass chaos.

The Antichrist rises to power!

Some follow the Antichrist, some question.

The mark of the beast is implemented to distinguish the followers of the Antichrist.

The mark is needed for buying, selling, or transporting all, anything and everything.

Followers ban together and scrounge for food and a simple place to briefly rest.

Armageddon nears.

"It was the rapture I tell you," I state nodding my head.

"If you are so sure, then how come you were left," she snaps back with her sarcastic charm.

I know all of this is wrong. I know she is lost ... why did I decide to check on her after everyone vanished? I knew she would not be taken. I knew this for a fact! Again, I feel sorry for the damsel in distress and I get sucked into madness and insanity. The world is lost, and I am, too.

I have again taken up with a nonbeliever.

What kind of hypocrite am I?

Remember, I was left, too!

This is my punishment.

Eternal Damnation.

"Check the door locks, the wanderers are out," she says reminding me of what I know and another reason I am here.

After the rapture, looting became the national pastime. Living in the downtown, the street people seized my townhouse the third day. Those with guns lasted at the most five days.

My bow and eight arrows did come in handy, and, maybe, gave me six more hours. I hit four and missed four. The hits just got them really pissed off and I am lucky I escaped.

I am sure whoever is there now is enjoying the remnants of what was left.

The city has gone to Hell!

The county has gone to Hell!

The state has gone to Hell!

The United States has gone to Hell!

Our Earth is Hell!

"We must join together for the betterment of mankind."

"United we are one."

"I am the chosen one ... I am the one God spoke of ... I am the anointed one ... I will deliver you from darkness ..."

"United we are one."

"United we are one."

"United we are one."

Order and prophesy begin for those left behind.

Government and religion, who once prided themselves on the separation of church and state, become one.

I think back on Hitler, Gestapo, Jews and the Holocaust that was a preview of what was to transpire in the near future.

Yes, this is the end of time and I got sucked into it. And I can only blame myself for not standing my ground and not keeping my faith.

I believe in the Lord.

Just, not living for the Lord.

Out of the time, will, and place of God.

Left!

I see the future and it is bleak. All of this insanity will only become worse.

Nothing I can do about it now, I made bad choices!

"We need to go to the grocery store," she calls out.

"Sure," I reply leaning over.

Her smiles cease. Anger grows daily.

The grocery store is...