Haiku
Jedi Master
I woke this morning, it seemed like a normal day to me. I got up and relieved myself in the restroom, disposing of all that badness from the day before. I stood up and stretched, then twisting myself one way then the other, a standard morning routine to get myself ready for the day. I dressed myself, then it was off to the kitchen for a tall cup of jo and a piece of toast with orange marmalade on it, a favorite. I didn’t want to wait for a pot to brew so I just made instant today, I turned on the electric tea kettle, it was only half full and it would heat in minutes to boiling. While I waited, I popped in two slices of bread into the toaster.
They both got done at the same time so I attacked the toast first as it would cool quicker. I slathered some butter on them and a smear of marmalade and set them on a napkin for eating. I looked in the coffee container and it was dry, the boy must have had a cup last night and drained my supply, then it was a cup of tea instead for this morning. The tea bags were on the counter behind me in a glass jar with a cover, as soon as I removed the cover, I heard a noise coming from it. I put my ear to the jar, I distinctly heard it say something on the line of, ‘Follow them’ and nothing else.
This was odd as it was just a bunch of tea bags in a glass jar, they never talked like this before. It was early and I was not awake, I must have just been hearing things. I pulled out a tea bag and covered it back up, I made my tea and took it and the toast which was now cold to the living room for some local news.
I turned on the TV and it was blank, no picture, no noise at all. I looked to see if the satellite was on and yes it was lit up like normal. So, I turned it to some local channels to see what the topic of the day was, but it too was blank, no news, not even a picture or God forbid an emergency warning signal, this was too odd. I started to roll up the channels and finally I got one that was showing something, it was a newsroom, the cameras were on and showing the news desk and their logo on the wall behind them, digitally inserted of course. But there were no people, it was like I got a feed of the stage before anyone got there, then who was running the cameras?
I thought, maybe it’s on mute so I turned up the volume to 40, it was quiet as a mouse, not even a noise of a mouse. I was about to change the channel again and I heard the words again, this time it was different, it said, ‘Don’t follow them’. I started to roll through the channels to see if there was any more but channel after channel was blank.
This was a little upsetting, so I went to the premium channels, there was always a movie on one of the numerous channels there. But they were all as blank as the others, it was like the world just stopped today. I turned it back to the one station with the newsroom that had something to see, to listen if there was any more words, there were none, this was definitely odd.
I grabbed my phone, it was still on the charger and was ready to go. It was internet first to read if there was some news on why the TV was so blank. But after site after site were opened, and they loaded right I made sure, they were as blank as the TV in front of me.
I had half the cup of tea down now and the juice woke up my mind for the day, so I started calling people I knew. I called my friend first and the phone rang and rang but no one picked it up, on top of that it never went to messaging, this was truly odd, never had it done that before. I continued calling people, my workers, my mother, all gave the same result, not even a message service.
A little fear came over me, not much but there was this feeling inside of me now, never before had I been so disconnected from this world. I got up abruptly and spilled my tea all over the coffee table soaking my already cold toast, it was way beyond eating now.
I pushed it off for the moment and went to the windows and opened the curtain, I was in shock as to what I was seeing. The people, everyone from my neighborhood were walking down the middle of the road. Men, women, even children and babies crawling away, all toward some unknow location south of me. They were not driving nor taking the bus, they were just heading south, and they all seemed to be in a trance.
I went to the door, since I was still barefoot, so I put on my furry crocks there and went outside. I recognized someone, it was Beth, the mom from the house down the street and I waited for her to walk to me. I waved to her to try to get her attention, but she just looked forward and walked right past me like everyone else here, they were truly in a trance.
I had to know what was going on, so I followed the people to some unseen and unknown location. Eventually everyone got into a single file line and then it slowed down to a snail’s crawl, it was moving but very slowly. But I followed and continued with the rest of the tranced souls here.
Then I noticed another up ahead, it was a woman, and she was looking around like me, I called out to here and said, “Hello, yes you way up there, do you know what this is all about?”
She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders as if she didn’t know either. She said, “I just saw these people and followed them. Do you know where we’re going?”
I said, “No, I’m just doing the same thing.” I tried to leave the single file lineup to join her and was unable to do it, there was some unseen force keeping us all in a line, at least for now.
We kept going forward, at least we were moving forward, albeit slowly but we were still moving. It was mid-day when the scene changed, up ahead was a football stadium sized structure, it was not part of the city here, in fact it looked like a football shape to me. And everybody was heading there as I saw other single file groups heading in the same direction.
Hours later we all joined and now there was a twenty wide group of people all heading toward the football shape ahead of us.
As you got closer you could see what was going on, a row of twenty seats were there, hundred rows of them. As the people came forward a row of seats came up out of the ground there and the front row of people sat down on them, and it shifted back to expose the next row. The seated rows behind were shifting backwards toward the football shape and the ones closest to it disappeared into it. Off to the side of us I could see the young, walking, crawling and some that were too young to move were floating as if some hidden monster was carrying them away an inch of the ground, they went straight into the football and were gone from sight.
But row after row of people came up to the seats and sat down, it was hundreds if not thousands of people all doing this same thing, all sliding backwards with the rest of the people.
Finally, it was my turn, the line of people was standing there about ten feet in front of the appearing seats and the first row advanced to sit down, I decided to follow and was the last one to sit down.
But the line of seats didn’t move like the rest of them, it just sat there.
There was a noise to my left, it was a man speaking, he had four people behind him, the last one was the woman that was waved to earlier. He said, “Hold it, we got another one, let me get them out of there.” He came over and stopped right in front of me and said, “Why don’t you people listen to me, I said not to follow them. And what do you do, you follow them. You need to get up, you’re not going this way.”
I got up and added to the short line behind him smiling to the lady at the end as she smiled back. The man took another out of the line and sat them down, then he took the five of us and we stepped out of the way and the process continued. And so did he as he said, “You five, go back home, now wait for us there and we’ll come and get you.”
We all looked at each other and followed his orders, then all went black …
I woke and sat straight upright, I felt my pillow, I had been sweating heavily. I sat there wondering what the dream might have meant, I wasn’t sure, but it seemed like I was not to go with those in the dream, the majority of the souls here, but what did it really mean?
I got up, I didn’t go to the restroom, I just put on clothes and went to the living room bypassing the kitchen all together. Everything looked normal, no spilled tea, no soaked toast. So, I turned on the TV hoping to see something other than a blank screen. But that was not to be as it was still blank. Then someone knocked on the door and everything went black again …
I woke up in bed once again, I felt my pillow and it was soaking wet with sweat …
Haiku, my last night’s dream …
They both got done at the same time so I attacked the toast first as it would cool quicker. I slathered some butter on them and a smear of marmalade and set them on a napkin for eating. I looked in the coffee container and it was dry, the boy must have had a cup last night and drained my supply, then it was a cup of tea instead for this morning. The tea bags were on the counter behind me in a glass jar with a cover, as soon as I removed the cover, I heard a noise coming from it. I put my ear to the jar, I distinctly heard it say something on the line of, ‘Follow them’ and nothing else.
This was odd as it was just a bunch of tea bags in a glass jar, they never talked like this before. It was early and I was not awake, I must have just been hearing things. I pulled out a tea bag and covered it back up, I made my tea and took it and the toast which was now cold to the living room for some local news.
I turned on the TV and it was blank, no picture, no noise at all. I looked to see if the satellite was on and yes it was lit up like normal. So, I turned it to some local channels to see what the topic of the day was, but it too was blank, no news, not even a picture or God forbid an emergency warning signal, this was too odd. I started to roll up the channels and finally I got one that was showing something, it was a newsroom, the cameras were on and showing the news desk and their logo on the wall behind them, digitally inserted of course. But there were no people, it was like I got a feed of the stage before anyone got there, then who was running the cameras?
I thought, maybe it’s on mute so I turned up the volume to 40, it was quiet as a mouse, not even a noise of a mouse. I was about to change the channel again and I heard the words again, this time it was different, it said, ‘Don’t follow them’. I started to roll through the channels to see if there was any more but channel after channel was blank.
This was a little upsetting, so I went to the premium channels, there was always a movie on one of the numerous channels there. But they were all as blank as the others, it was like the world just stopped today. I turned it back to the one station with the newsroom that had something to see, to listen if there was any more words, there were none, this was definitely odd.
I grabbed my phone, it was still on the charger and was ready to go. It was internet first to read if there was some news on why the TV was so blank. But after site after site were opened, and they loaded right I made sure, they were as blank as the TV in front of me.
I had half the cup of tea down now and the juice woke up my mind for the day, so I started calling people I knew. I called my friend first and the phone rang and rang but no one picked it up, on top of that it never went to messaging, this was truly odd, never had it done that before. I continued calling people, my workers, my mother, all gave the same result, not even a message service.
A little fear came over me, not much but there was this feeling inside of me now, never before had I been so disconnected from this world. I got up abruptly and spilled my tea all over the coffee table soaking my already cold toast, it was way beyond eating now.
I pushed it off for the moment and went to the windows and opened the curtain, I was in shock as to what I was seeing. The people, everyone from my neighborhood were walking down the middle of the road. Men, women, even children and babies crawling away, all toward some unknow location south of me. They were not driving nor taking the bus, they were just heading south, and they all seemed to be in a trance.
I went to the door, since I was still barefoot, so I put on my furry crocks there and went outside. I recognized someone, it was Beth, the mom from the house down the street and I waited for her to walk to me. I waved to her to try to get her attention, but she just looked forward and walked right past me like everyone else here, they were truly in a trance.
I had to know what was going on, so I followed the people to some unseen and unknown location. Eventually everyone got into a single file line and then it slowed down to a snail’s crawl, it was moving but very slowly. But I followed and continued with the rest of the tranced souls here.
Then I noticed another up ahead, it was a woman, and she was looking around like me, I called out to here and said, “Hello, yes you way up there, do you know what this is all about?”
She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders as if she didn’t know either. She said, “I just saw these people and followed them. Do you know where we’re going?”
I said, “No, I’m just doing the same thing.” I tried to leave the single file lineup to join her and was unable to do it, there was some unseen force keeping us all in a line, at least for now.
We kept going forward, at least we were moving forward, albeit slowly but we were still moving. It was mid-day when the scene changed, up ahead was a football stadium sized structure, it was not part of the city here, in fact it looked like a football shape to me. And everybody was heading there as I saw other single file groups heading in the same direction.
Hours later we all joined and now there was a twenty wide group of people all heading toward the football shape ahead of us.
As you got closer you could see what was going on, a row of twenty seats were there, hundred rows of them. As the people came forward a row of seats came up out of the ground there and the front row of people sat down on them, and it shifted back to expose the next row. The seated rows behind were shifting backwards toward the football shape and the ones closest to it disappeared into it. Off to the side of us I could see the young, walking, crawling and some that were too young to move were floating as if some hidden monster was carrying them away an inch of the ground, they went straight into the football and were gone from sight.
But row after row of people came up to the seats and sat down, it was hundreds if not thousands of people all doing this same thing, all sliding backwards with the rest of the people.
Finally, it was my turn, the line of people was standing there about ten feet in front of the appearing seats and the first row advanced to sit down, I decided to follow and was the last one to sit down.
But the line of seats didn’t move like the rest of them, it just sat there.
There was a noise to my left, it was a man speaking, he had four people behind him, the last one was the woman that was waved to earlier. He said, “Hold it, we got another one, let me get them out of there.” He came over and stopped right in front of me and said, “Why don’t you people listen to me, I said not to follow them. And what do you do, you follow them. You need to get up, you’re not going this way.”
I got up and added to the short line behind him smiling to the lady at the end as she smiled back. The man took another out of the line and sat them down, then he took the five of us and we stepped out of the way and the process continued. And so did he as he said, “You five, go back home, now wait for us there and we’ll come and get you.”
We all looked at each other and followed his orders, then all went black …
I woke and sat straight upright, I felt my pillow, I had been sweating heavily. I sat there wondering what the dream might have meant, I wasn’t sure, but it seemed like I was not to go with those in the dream, the majority of the souls here, but what did it really mean?
I got up, I didn’t go to the restroom, I just put on clothes and went to the living room bypassing the kitchen all together. Everything looked normal, no spilled tea, no soaked toast. So, I turned on the TV hoping to see something other than a blank screen. But that was not to be as it was still blank. Then someone knocked on the door and everything went black again …
I woke up in bed once again, I felt my pillow and it was soaking wet with sweat …
Haiku, my last night’s dream …