mission reunion

This past weekend I was so excited to be able to attend another mission reunion because I could see all of my old mission buddies. We love to talk about members and investigators that we taught, share humorous stories, and catch up on each others’ lives. This reunion was no different. Usually the reunions are held at a church building, but this year we all met at a fast food joint located in a mall. It was a little bit nicer than a Del Taco or McDonald’s and was a little like Chuck E. Cheese’s because there were video games, bowling, and Ski Ball behind the seating area.

Wally Doi and I were sitting catching up when we were ushered over to the Ski Ball area to play some video games. The seating area behind the Ski Ball lanes were staggered much like a bowling alley. Wally sat at the game console for our lane and I took the seat behind him. Each lane had its own console that looked like the front end of a Harley motorcycle, but the handle bars were much wider. Apparently whatever game we were to be playing (I assumed that it would be a racing game) used the handle bars for steering. There was also a laser pointer attached to the console via a curly plastic cord that would be used in the game for something. The cord was very tight and using it looked awkward. It reminded me of the wrist cords that you use when riding jet skis so that the ski stops when you fall off. The console in the lane next to us was out of order and the side panel was open, so I could see inside. All I saw was a standard, white-box PC that was used to drive the video game.

As I was taking in my surroundings, Kimberley Kettley came and sat on the ground by my feet facing me. As she was tapping my foot with her shoe, her mother came over and yelled at her, “You are not allowed to touch him! You cannot sit like that Kim. Here, turn around and slide over.” With that Sheri pulled Berley across the floor so that we were not in close proximity and walked away.

Next, a funny little man jumped up onto the Ski Ball lanes in front of us and told us to get ready for the greatest virtual reality video game on the market. A screen lowered behind him and he explained that we would be playing a first person shooter game that was more realistic than any we have ever seen. The handle bars of the "motorcycle" would steer our character and the laser pointer is what we could use to shoot. With that little introduction, he started the game. At first it looked like the movement of the character was difficult and the laser pointer on such a tight cord made it hard to aim and actually kill the enemies. I could see the screen in front of Wally and it looked like we were on one side of a wall with an opening directly in front of us. The two walls to our sides funneled toward the opening. Through the gap in the wall you could see an open field with men in the distance running toward us. They had little blue triangles floating above their heads much like any first person shooter to identify the team. Far to our right we could see the green team, but our main objective was to defend against the blue team, so we focused back on them. Wally walked right to the middle of the opening and started shooting the blue opponent. As he took a few indirect hits from the enemy, I told him that he needed to hide behind the wall on the right side for protection, peer around the corner, and pick enemies off one by one. As he was walking over there, he got hit with a head shot and blood oozed down our screen.

I could tell that Wally was going to need some help, so I sat in the open lane next to him. I rebooted that console and it began to work. I waited for the next round to begin and we started playing on the same team. I discovered the cord on my laser to be too tight, so I ripped it out of the console and found that it still worked for game play, but as I did this I felt myself being sucked into the video game. I was a character in the game and had a little laser pointer to wield against the enemy. As I saw the enemy approaching in the distance I dove behind the wall to the right. I peaked around the corner and started shooting the approaching blue team. I also found that I had grenades on my belt, so when they were within range I threw one killing half a dozen.

We exchanged gun fire for five minutes with men falling on both sides. Then there was a malfunction in the game and the digital world that was being projected ceased rendering. Everyone stopped and looked around as the lights came on in this world. All that was left of the walls were their frames and I could see that to my right past two walls was a large group of the yellow team hiding ready to ambush the greens. Then the game started up again, all projection returned and the gunfire resumed in full force. Because I knew where the yellow team was now located, I lobbed two grenades over the walls to where they were hiding and saw my kill count instantly increase by a baker’s dozen. Pleased with my cunning plan, I turned my attention back to the blue team as they drew closer. As I shot around the corner, two men climbed over the wall directly above me and luckily I got them before they got me.

As these two men fell from the wall, I stepped aside and another jumped over the wall and tackled me. It was Bridgette Briggs and she wrestled me to the ground trying to knock the laser out of my hand. As she reached for my weapon, I was able to grab her laser from her holster and shine it into her eyes. This stunned her and she stopped fighting me. Then, another female wearing a cat woman suit leapt over the wall. Lunging at me, I was able to grab my laser and shine it in her eyes just before she took me out. It seemed these lasers would not only stun, but also made the victim begin to go delirious. Their eyes grew large like a Japanese anime characters and they started to look loopy. They both began to plead for their lives and say that all they really wanted was a cigarette. They both said that if they could only have one smoke they would not try to kill me anymore and we would all be free to leave and to please just spare their lives.

did you read my first post?

As we were conversating, the world morphed back into reality and we all agreed that honestly was the most realistic video game that we had ever played.

curtains falling to a new world

I was out on the town with my friends and it started raining, so we decided to seek shelter at one of their houses. When we got there we climbed two flights of stairs and reached the deck of his house, which turned out to be a club and the deck was more or less the outside break area. By the looks of it, this was definitely a rave scene. The guard stopped me because I didn't have a ticket or my hand stamped, so I stood there just watching. I slowly inched past the guard to the overhang and out of the rain. Wondering where my friends were (because they already went inside), I observed that I couldn't hear any music, which is odd for a club. Then I saw someone I knew come out of the doors. Lindsay G., sloppy as usual, came out and did the strangest dance I have ever seen, quite jolty and indescribable, but definitely drunk. Then she went to the railing and tried to kiss some guy and he messed with her making her look stupid, so she left. Then some other girl came up to the guy next to him and lifted his legs up. She was hitting and tickling him frantically until he started going over the railing backwards and he fell back with her holding his ankles; then she let go and walked away. Everyone stopped to listen for the thud and it finally came about 7 seconds later; and then another kid sitting on the railing fell back and it took him forever to hit the ground. I didn't see it, but it sounded like they landed in trash bins, so I am sure they were alright.

By this time the guard wasn't paying attention to me, so I slipped inside. It was a regular college student living room with a small kitchen and a bedroom; junk strewn about, food here and there, some old guy kicking it on the sofa and a short hallway to the stairs downward. I could faintly hear music, but it definitely wasn't the entryway to the kind of clubs I'm used to. I saw all the food and asked the old man how it goes uneaten with hundreds and thousands of young men and women clubbers going through here every night; because if it was me, I'd definitely eat it. He wanted me to stay and talk and chill with him, but I was drawn to the stairwell because this was definitely the most mysterious club that I've ever been to. So I made some excuse to leave and started down those stairs. I went down a couple of flights and by then was well underground ... it turned into a maze of stairs, but all within a central area, which seemed like the inside of a hotel. A huge underground hotel ... there were some students in there studying, which was odd, but I was searching intently for the club, so I went on.

I found an elevator which Elder Edelman was standing by and as it opened, I ran in and said, "Ha! I'm smarter than you!" He stayed outside and as the doors closed he said, "That's what you think," in a kind of menacing way. I didn't really understand why he said it like that until a little bit later. I looked at the numbers and the 6 was already lit, so I went there. The doors opened and nothing. I could faintly hear music above, so I pushed 5 (because the further underground, the higher the number.) When it opened I saw a huge venue with a huge sign that said "Paul Oakenfold Forum." The only thing about it was that it was completely desolate of people, yet I could still only faintly hear the music. So into the elevator I went and this is where the mysteries of the club start unfolding or rather start folding back on themselves.

The elevator started changing floors on its own, but the display inside was changing so rapidly, I couldn't understand it and also most of the floors were either in the thousands or in gibberish. The doors would open and there would literally be nothing there, and then they would close and change floors rapidly; repeating this process faster and faster making me think about Willy Wonka's chocolate factory; and then it all stopped. The elevator went "Ding!" I looked down and the number 9 was lit up, the last number. I turned around to find that it was a glass elevator. I looked out and beheld a whole other world. It was quite evident that all in this world were white and Christian. Too my left was a huge statue of Christ with his arms stretched out. There were thousands of people all around. Across a little stream from me was a church and a bridge leading to it or rather leading the people to me. This wasn't a club. I pushed the number 8 and like a curtain drawn from top to bottom, the whole world in front of me changed, yet it was exactly the same; only now this world was Islamic and Arab and Muslim. The statue turned into a mosque and the people's clothes changed to black, traditional garb. It was the exact layout of the first world, but with the Islam's rules. So I pushed the 7 and once again it changed to the Chinese, Asian, Buddhist dominated world. Now a huge gold idol in the mosque's place, the people all Asian in their native wear; a huge Wat with statues and a procession on elephants coming toward me with tens of people surrounding them. Then I heard a woman speak saying, "ฝรั่งชอบ Disco-Tech!" and I realized that I could speak this woman's language and she obviously knew about a club, so I asked her. She said the name of the place, which I was unfamiliar with, so I asked her where that was and she pointed over the Wat, so I decided to go.

I got out of the elevator and crossed the bridge into the Wat to pass through it. I was walking on little footbridges, over little streams, under huge lion statues and in the pathway were real dogs, only they had stegosaurus tails. I carefully walked around them out to the back of the Wat. I came to a huge, yellow, grassy field and began to cross it and in the middle I met President Slater with a band of men running, searching frantically for people yet I was still unsure why. He asked if I was alone and had I seen anyone else and then I was separated from him and continued in the same direction across the field. I came to the back of a building and a little stream which I crossed and then found another elevator, which after I examined my surroundings, realized it was the same lift as before. When I talked to President Slater, I wasn't paying attention and had passed through a mirror into "another world," is what I realized. Now all I wanted was to get out.

I didn't care about the club anymore, so I got in the elevator, even though it was in the reflected dimension, to get home and it started doing the same old tricks; rapidly changing to random levels. A couple of time it opened and there were lost clubbers who couldn't find their way out either. The first two were girls who joined me in the elevator. A couple of stops later, one of them wanted to look at something as the doors opened, so she stepped outside and as the doors were closing we realized that if she didn't come back inside, we may never see her again because this was no ordinary elevator in no ordinary world. So we pulled her inside and after a couple most random stops of nothingness in the elevator, we found more missing clubbers who joined. We had about 16 including me. Then the elevator started showing some familiar signs. The 6 and the 5 lit up and we were back in the hotel. One of the members in the elevator started talking and it was Elder Edelman. He said how the club was on the 4th level underground and he always tries to get the elevator to go straight there by talking to it ... the only way, but the elevator really has a mind of its own and does what it wants; and then I realized why he spoke with that tone at the beginning.

Then the elevator stopped at the top ... home base ... but would not open. So they explained that the guys outside would open the doors by placing a glass panel in front and prying the doors open. This, I guess, is the only way. Then they put red tape in the shape of a box on the glass and we all had to run and jump through the glass at once before the doors shut on us, so we prepared. Then I realized President Slater's urgency because this was a reoccurring theme at the club. It happens every night and if there are too many lost, not all can dive through the glass at once. Without ever really seeing the club, I with the 15 others ran and dove through the glass panel with red tape, hand in hand, to safety and in passing through the red box, I awoke.