ratdick77
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I hope someone reads this through, cause idek why the fuck I wrote this, but I was hungover and drugged up and felt inspired.
“This is for Ekron… Ekron… This is for Ekron”...
“It’s just a finger… I’ll still have nine others... Seven actually... Because the thumb is not a finger! And thumbs are way more important! I just point with this finger. I can just point with my other hand”, I assured myself as my brain and heart raced each other.
I looked up at Mike and saw he was smiling, so I knew I was making Ekron very pleased. Mike receives the will of Ekron directly, so his smiling means Ekron is pleased. I calmed down a bit after realizing this.
“Be calm, don’t worry, this is the start of your path to Ekron’s kingdom”, Mike assured me. This was the first time I had ever been at the field table alone with just Mike; I felt so honored.
Mike allowed me to take a sip of his scotch that was poured into his large Circle-K Gas-Station soda cup. Drinking alcohol was not permitted, but in cases like this, it can be allowed with Ekron’s permission.
“A few more sips of this and you won't even fear nothin’, in fact, you might tell me to take another one off, kiddo”, Mike joked. I tried to force a laugh in response but only air, and the taste of the scotch I drank came out.
Actually... I don’t even know if the liquor was scotch. That was my first taste of alcohol. Before I ran off, my parents were very strict. I never had a chance to do anything they wouldn’t approve of. And once I joined Ekron’s worshippers, I learned only the Prophet was allowed to drink.
“Another sip”, Mike said, as he pointed to the cup. I took another sip, this time realizing how awful it tasted. I suppose I made a face or something because Mike started laughing at my response.
“You’ll gain more from this than that finger even mattered”, Mike explained. The statement wasn’t proper English, but I knew what he meant. Mike rarely spoke proper English, but when he gave speeches, or preached, or lectured, everybody was encapsulated, and everybody felt enlightened. He did not speak improperly due to a lack of intelligence, I knew that for sure, he was the smartest person I had ever met.
“Take another sip and tell me why you are doing this”, Mike requested.
If my last two sips were sips, this third one was a gulp. I gagged and felt the liquor hit my stomach. The feeling of burning in my stomach made me realize I had been too nervous to eat, ever since hearing Ekron’s decision regarding my atonement.
“I am doing this because I must atone!”
“Attone for what?”, Mike quickly asked.
“For 14 years of worshipping false gods! For responding to an outsider person while out on a hunt! For almost killing a fellow member of the future kingdom over a silly argument! And... And I'm forgetting the last word”.
“Blaspheme”, Mike reminded me.
Mike, who had been standing, sat at the table to get eye level with me. He put his hands on the table in a way seemingly to remind me he had given a finger as well.
“Ekron is fair. It is more than fair, by giving us the choice to even enter its kingdom. But if we do wrong... And it still gives us the gift of entrance without any atonement... Would that be fair?”, Mike asked me rhetorically.
Mike put his hand on the knife, and I saw Ekron’s symbol for peace that had been carved into the handle. I remembered everything I knew of reality; I started to gain clarity and my fear turned to peace.
One look at the symbol and I remembered I was saving this damned earth. All of the torture our planet has experienced as a byproduct of human greed, and I was only being asked to give up one finger. I realized I was being selfish the whole time I was worried about my finger.
Mike picks up the blade and starts reciting the prayer for atonement. I quickly joined in unison, even though I did not remember if I was supposed to say the prayer with him; I was just so moved by the situation; I felt compelled to say the prayer.
“Ekron gives, humans take. For there to be order, there must be balance. There must be a balance between what our world gives us and what we give it back. Before becoming a follower, we all took from our world. Ekron has taught us how to give back. Greed is something present in the outside, but will cease once Ekron’s kingdom is expanded through the entire world, through Ekron’s will. With this action I give back, to symbolize restoring order”.
I didn’t feel a thing at first, but I think that was mainly because I was only conscious for a handful of seconds after hearing the blade hit the table. When I came back to my senses, my finger was wrapped in a rag, and I was surrounded by my family. I was given praises, hugs, gifts, and even a pill bottle that had an Outsider’s name on it.
Substances that do not come from the earth are prohibited, however, Ekron hates suffering so much that in some cases he wants us to do anything we can to suffer less. It’s logic like that, that makes my love for Ekron even stronger. Other gods have rules that make no sense, and there are no exceptions to them. These supposed “Gods” instruct people to kill and call on people to worship them endlessly. Ekron only wants the best for the world. The sacrifice I made wasn’t even for Ekron, although we make things simpler to understand by announcing a sacrifice to Ekron. In reality, sacrifices ended up benefiting us, showing truly how selfless our God was.
After a few months, the wound had fully healed. There were no complications thanks to Ekron’s blessings. I was healed and able to hunt, build, gather, and contribute to the camp. I was even promoted by Mike to rank four, which is only two ranks behind the Chief Prophet himself. This means I could now accompany Mike if he needed me to go with him into the outside world.
I still couldn’t talk to people, or recruit, only the Chief Prophet can do that, but I was honored that Ekron trusted me enough to accompany the Chief Prophet on important outside world missions.
At the most recent bonfire, a lot was different than usual. Firstly, the prophet called the bonfire in the day, which he had never done before. In addition, we usually stould up for the Prophets' messages from Ekron, but this time he asked us to lay on our backs, and close our eyes.
“Children, Ekron loves you all... I love you all.”
I noticed the prophet sounded choked up. My stomach dropped because he rarely cries. He didn’t even cry when we had to give our sister Lucy to Ekron. I felt that something horrible may have happened. The long pause he took wasn’t helping my nerves until he proclaimed “The world has never been so close to healing!”.
I knew the prophet asked us to close our eyes, but I opened them to peak at his expression and took joy in seeing the prophet’s wide grin.
“I can finally announce to you all... that exactly two weeks ago... I had received the date for when Ekron’s kingdom will be built!”.
I thought to myself “I knew it!”. I was proud of my reasoning skills and ability to understand the prophet’s communication with Ekron. Traditionally, the Chief Prophet only takes a few minutes to receive bonfire plans from Ekron, but today it felt like he was listening for an hour. I figured he was gonna say something important, and I was right.
“March 28, 2108, that is when…” He paused... And then in an elated and booming voice, he exclaimed, “The earth will be healed in 100 years and 11 days”. Everyone, still laying with their eyes closed, responded “Praise Her Name!”; we use female pronouns for Ekron in the context of receiving blessings.
“But we! We will be joining Ekron in 11 days!”.
“Praise her name” everyone exclaims again.
I wondered what the prophet meant. I thought to myself “Could it be?”. I didn’t know what this meant, but I was getting excited about the prospect of joining Ekron along with my entire family. I didn’t know if the prophet was being literal, but I selfishly hoped he meant we were being allowed to pass on.
I also realized I had been tracking the date wrong. Nobody in camp really cares much about the date, since most days are essentially the same. In fact, this was the first time the prophet had ever mentioned a date. However, I saw the date on a banner outside a supply store where Mike spent the entire camp’s cash reserve on buying rope. I was instructed to wait in the truck, but Mike needed me to use my arm as a turn signal since one of them was broken.
I knew how important it was that Mike doesn’t get arrested. Ekron instructed him to pass himself on if an outsider police officer ever asked for his information. My job here was super important. Mike had a gun in the truck if officers unfortunately ever did ask for his identity, and I knew I would likely be joining The Prophet that same day if officers did bother him. Clearly, Ekron wanted no outsider to know the prophets' identity.
Interestingly, I figured I counted the date wrong because the date on the banner said it was March 3rd, and I miscounted that we were at the store 12 days ago. However, I realized that if the 28th is 11 days away, that meant we went to buy the rope exactly two weeks before.
Strangely, this bonfire I mentioned, was the longest ever remembered. We said five different prayers when we usually say three, and also had an open discussion, as usual. But the Prophet said he would not be answering questions regarding what joining Ekron meant. He did however, assure us that we would understand in two weeks.
After the bonfire, I got called upon by the prophet along with John, Sarah, and Alex, who all shared my rank. We were all about the same age, so we got along well. Alex was actually the oldest boy in the camp, he was 19 and he had 2 children with Sarah.
Usually, a girl like Sarah who had been in the camp ever since Mike rescued her from the outside world as just a baby, would be directly under The Prophet. However, she didn’t want to be promoted, because only girls can be the highest two ranks under The Prophet, but she wanted to share a rank with her husband Alex.
Out of the group of us called to assist The Prophet I had been in the camp the shortest time. However, the others never made me feel unwelcome. Interestingly, almost all of the camp was too young to remember life before being saved by Ekron.
This is why I am a rare occurrence in camp, I actually remember the people who birthed me. However, like everyone else in the camp, I feel Mike is my father, and Ekron is our ruler. I was 14 when Mike began visiting me at the forest area I hid at, he was much kinder than my birth parents who hurt me a lot. Mike only wanted to help me find peace, he would bring me food, tell me jokes, and most importantly teach me about Ekron. After a while he trusted me enough to enter the camp, and he took me on the hour drive and two-hour walk into my new life. And now there I was, standing with my brothers John and Alex, and my sister Sarah, about to aid our Father in carrying on Ekron's will.
Mike told us, “Children, me and the four aids to the prophet are gon’ go deep into the forest. First, it’s gonna take four hours to walk to the truck and back, ‘cause I need to get my gun ‘for we go. In total imma be gone the whole day, so I need the three of ya to deal with getting everyone lunch and dinner. Also, everyone under five needs to bathe today. There were 31 in camp at our bonfire today, there better be 31 when I get back”.
“And that was when you guys came back instead of him. That was two weeks ago.”
I can’t believe I actually told them all that to them but after hearing what Mike… Or I guess what Elliot Allen did to his family before starting the camp… He just couldn’t be my father….
“And can you just point to the man you call Mike for us?”.
“This is for Ekron… Ekron… This is for Ekron”...
“It’s just a finger… I’ll still have nine others... Seven actually... Because the thumb is not a finger! And thumbs are way more important! I just point with this finger. I can just point with my other hand”, I assured myself as my brain and heart raced each other.
I looked up at Mike and saw he was smiling, so I knew I was making Ekron very pleased. Mike receives the will of Ekron directly, so his smiling means Ekron is pleased. I calmed down a bit after realizing this.
“Be calm, don’t worry, this is the start of your path to Ekron’s kingdom”, Mike assured me. This was the first time I had ever been at the field table alone with just Mike; I felt so honored.
Mike allowed me to take a sip of his scotch that was poured into his large Circle-K Gas-Station soda cup. Drinking alcohol was not permitted, but in cases like this, it can be allowed with Ekron’s permission.
“A few more sips of this and you won't even fear nothin’, in fact, you might tell me to take another one off, kiddo”, Mike joked. I tried to force a laugh in response but only air, and the taste of the scotch I drank came out.
Actually... I don’t even know if the liquor was scotch. That was my first taste of alcohol. Before I ran off, my parents were very strict. I never had a chance to do anything they wouldn’t approve of. And once I joined Ekron’s worshippers, I learned only the Prophet was allowed to drink.
“Another sip”, Mike said, as he pointed to the cup. I took another sip, this time realizing how awful it tasted. I suppose I made a face or something because Mike started laughing at my response.
“You’ll gain more from this than that finger even mattered”, Mike explained. The statement wasn’t proper English, but I knew what he meant. Mike rarely spoke proper English, but when he gave speeches, or preached, or lectured, everybody was encapsulated, and everybody felt enlightened. He did not speak improperly due to a lack of intelligence, I knew that for sure, he was the smartest person I had ever met.
“Take another sip and tell me why you are doing this”, Mike requested.
If my last two sips were sips, this third one was a gulp. I gagged and felt the liquor hit my stomach. The feeling of burning in my stomach made me realize I had been too nervous to eat, ever since hearing Ekron’s decision regarding my atonement.
“I am doing this because I must atone!”
“Attone for what?”, Mike quickly asked.
“For 14 years of worshipping false gods! For responding to an outsider person while out on a hunt! For almost killing a fellow member of the future kingdom over a silly argument! And... And I'm forgetting the last word”.
“Blaspheme”, Mike reminded me.
Mike, who had been standing, sat at the table to get eye level with me. He put his hands on the table in a way seemingly to remind me he had given a finger as well.
“Ekron is fair. It is more than fair, by giving us the choice to even enter its kingdom. But if we do wrong... And it still gives us the gift of entrance without any atonement... Would that be fair?”, Mike asked me rhetorically.
Mike put his hand on the knife, and I saw Ekron’s symbol for peace that had been carved into the handle. I remembered everything I knew of reality; I started to gain clarity and my fear turned to peace.
One look at the symbol and I remembered I was saving this damned earth. All of the torture our planet has experienced as a byproduct of human greed, and I was only being asked to give up one finger. I realized I was being selfish the whole time I was worried about my finger.
Mike picks up the blade and starts reciting the prayer for atonement. I quickly joined in unison, even though I did not remember if I was supposed to say the prayer with him; I was just so moved by the situation; I felt compelled to say the prayer.
“Ekron gives, humans take. For there to be order, there must be balance. There must be a balance between what our world gives us and what we give it back. Before becoming a follower, we all took from our world. Ekron has taught us how to give back. Greed is something present in the outside, but will cease once Ekron’s kingdom is expanded through the entire world, through Ekron’s will. With this action I give back, to symbolize restoring order”.
I didn’t feel a thing at first, but I think that was mainly because I was only conscious for a handful of seconds after hearing the blade hit the table. When I came back to my senses, my finger was wrapped in a rag, and I was surrounded by my family. I was given praises, hugs, gifts, and even a pill bottle that had an Outsider’s name on it.
Substances that do not come from the earth are prohibited, however, Ekron hates suffering so much that in some cases he wants us to do anything we can to suffer less. It’s logic like that, that makes my love for Ekron even stronger. Other gods have rules that make no sense, and there are no exceptions to them. These supposed “Gods” instruct people to kill and call on people to worship them endlessly. Ekron only wants the best for the world. The sacrifice I made wasn’t even for Ekron, although we make things simpler to understand by announcing a sacrifice to Ekron. In reality, sacrifices ended up benefiting us, showing truly how selfless our God was.
After a few months, the wound had fully healed. There were no complications thanks to Ekron’s blessings. I was healed and able to hunt, build, gather, and contribute to the camp. I was even promoted by Mike to rank four, which is only two ranks behind the Chief Prophet himself. This means I could now accompany Mike if he needed me to go with him into the outside world.
I still couldn’t talk to people, or recruit, only the Chief Prophet can do that, but I was honored that Ekron trusted me enough to accompany the Chief Prophet on important outside world missions.
At the most recent bonfire, a lot was different than usual. Firstly, the prophet called the bonfire in the day, which he had never done before. In addition, we usually stould up for the Prophets' messages from Ekron, but this time he asked us to lay on our backs, and close our eyes.
“Children, Ekron loves you all... I love you all.”
I noticed the prophet sounded choked up. My stomach dropped because he rarely cries. He didn’t even cry when we had to give our sister Lucy to Ekron. I felt that something horrible may have happened. The long pause he took wasn’t helping my nerves until he proclaimed “The world has never been so close to healing!”.
I knew the prophet asked us to close our eyes, but I opened them to peak at his expression and took joy in seeing the prophet’s wide grin.
“I can finally announce to you all... that exactly two weeks ago... I had received the date for when Ekron’s kingdom will be built!”.
I thought to myself “I knew it!”. I was proud of my reasoning skills and ability to understand the prophet’s communication with Ekron. Traditionally, the Chief Prophet only takes a few minutes to receive bonfire plans from Ekron, but today it felt like he was listening for an hour. I figured he was gonna say something important, and I was right.
“March 28, 2108, that is when…” He paused... And then in an elated and booming voice, he exclaimed, “The earth will be healed in 100 years and 11 days”. Everyone, still laying with their eyes closed, responded “Praise Her Name!”; we use female pronouns for Ekron in the context of receiving blessings.
“But we! We will be joining Ekron in 11 days!”.
“Praise her name” everyone exclaims again.
I wondered what the prophet meant. I thought to myself “Could it be?”. I didn’t know what this meant, but I was getting excited about the prospect of joining Ekron along with my entire family. I didn’t know if the prophet was being literal, but I selfishly hoped he meant we were being allowed to pass on.
I also realized I had been tracking the date wrong. Nobody in camp really cares much about the date, since most days are essentially the same. In fact, this was the first time the prophet had ever mentioned a date. However, I saw the date on a banner outside a supply store where Mike spent the entire camp’s cash reserve on buying rope. I was instructed to wait in the truck, but Mike needed me to use my arm as a turn signal since one of them was broken.
I knew how important it was that Mike doesn’t get arrested. Ekron instructed him to pass himself on if an outsider police officer ever asked for his information. My job here was super important. Mike had a gun in the truck if officers unfortunately ever did ask for his identity, and I knew I would likely be joining The Prophet that same day if officers did bother him. Clearly, Ekron wanted no outsider to know the prophets' identity.
Interestingly, I figured I counted the date wrong because the date on the banner said it was March 3rd, and I miscounted that we were at the store 12 days ago. However, I realized that if the 28th is 11 days away, that meant we went to buy the rope exactly two weeks before.
Strangely, this bonfire I mentioned, was the longest ever remembered. We said five different prayers when we usually say three, and also had an open discussion, as usual. But the Prophet said he would not be answering questions regarding what joining Ekron meant. He did however, assure us that we would understand in two weeks.
After the bonfire, I got called upon by the prophet along with John, Sarah, and Alex, who all shared my rank. We were all about the same age, so we got along well. Alex was actually the oldest boy in the camp, he was 19 and he had 2 children with Sarah.
Usually, a girl like Sarah who had been in the camp ever since Mike rescued her from the outside world as just a baby, would be directly under The Prophet. However, she didn’t want to be promoted, because only girls can be the highest two ranks under The Prophet, but she wanted to share a rank with her husband Alex.
Out of the group of us called to assist The Prophet I had been in the camp the shortest time. However, the others never made me feel unwelcome. Interestingly, almost all of the camp was too young to remember life before being saved by Ekron.
This is why I am a rare occurrence in camp, I actually remember the people who birthed me. However, like everyone else in the camp, I feel Mike is my father, and Ekron is our ruler. I was 14 when Mike began visiting me at the forest area I hid at, he was much kinder than my birth parents who hurt me a lot. Mike only wanted to help me find peace, he would bring me food, tell me jokes, and most importantly teach me about Ekron. After a while he trusted me enough to enter the camp, and he took me on the hour drive and two-hour walk into my new life. And now there I was, standing with my brothers John and Alex, and my sister Sarah, about to aid our Father in carrying on Ekron's will.
Mike told us, “Children, me and the four aids to the prophet are gon’ go deep into the forest. First, it’s gonna take four hours to walk to the truck and back, ‘cause I need to get my gun ‘for we go. In total imma be gone the whole day, so I need the three of ya to deal with getting everyone lunch and dinner. Also, everyone under five needs to bathe today. There were 31 in camp at our bonfire today, there better be 31 when I get back”.
“And that was when you guys came back instead of him. That was two weeks ago.”
I can’t believe I actually told them all that to them but after hearing what Mike… Or I guess what Elliot Allen did to his family before starting the camp… He just couldn’t be my father….
“And can you just point to the man you call Mike for us?”.
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