Carter's Illusion of Paradise

        Hi, this is Carter. Kat isn’t feeling too good, so she asked me to do her blog tonight. I told her that I would if she corrected my spelling and stuff before posting it.
        I have been following Kat’s blog, so I know what she has been telling you about our adventures.  She wanted me to talk about what happened to me in Paradise City. I’m not proud of how I acted there. As we traveled through Dearth, the dark land beyond the dead forest, we suffered many hardships and faced many terrifying dangers. So when I came to Paradise City, I thought it was Heaven! I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life. I had never tasted water so sweet or eaten food as delicious as I had in Paradise. And no matter how much I drank or ate, I never felt full. In fact there was always a twinge of hunger and thirst so that whenever you wanted something to eat or drink, you could consume as much as you wanted. 
        The apartments Kat and I stayed in were full of luxuries, entertainments, and rich refreshments. Oh yeah, the view from my balcony overlooking Paradise was breathtaking. When I first saw it, I literally stopped breathing.  The buildings were the most unusual designs and glowing with bright, beautiful colors. I could see parks, amusements, and wonders I cannot even describe. There was so much to explore so many things to experience and enjoy! I was filled with wonder and excitement, greedy to take it all in. I mean, who wouldn’t?
        Well, Kat wasn’t as sold as I was. She wanted to talk about finishing our quest. She wouldn’t stop bringing up the prophesy that some thought might involve us. She was so annoying. I didn’t want to leave Paradise. It was everything I ever imagined Heaven to be. I was done with prophecies and quests; even going home didn’t matter to me anymore. 
        Our first and last night in Paradise, Kat and I quarreled over dinner.  After eating bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, toast, and hash brown potatoes covered in ketchup, I ordered two extra-large meat pizzas. I ate both of them myself, and then I ate three hot fudge sundaes. Kat watched me eat all that food and finally got fed up with my attitude, and stormed out of the dining area declaring that she was going to bed.
        Talk about a buzz kill, but it was for the best. That was the first step in my wake up call. The second happened when I saw out of the corner of my eye a hideous, fleshless skeleton walking toward me. I nearly jumped out of my skin. But when I turned toward the skeleton, all I saw was my waitress bringing another pizza. When she saw that I was startled, I tried to explain that since I hadn’t ordered the pizza, that she just caught me by surprise. But she did not seem convinced, and her attitude turned cold and suspicious.
        I didn’t want the pizza she brought, but I decided to eat it and see if I could catch the vision of the skeleton again.  I had to know if it was my imagination or if there was something really wrong going on. When it happened again, I went to Kat’s room and told her what I had seen. Then it occurred to us that if the staff were not what they appeared to be then nothing in Paradise was what it appeared to be. It was all an illusion to keep us deluded and distracted until we died of thirst and hunger. It was a trap set by the Adversary to keep us from completing our quest.
        Whenever I think that I let the temptations of that illusion almost keep me from true paradise, I cannot help but think that our world is filled with all sorts of temptations that promise so much, but they are empty promises the Adversary uses to keep people occupied until their spirits starve to death and they miss true paradise.
        Even though I am not proud of how I acted in Paradise City, I am glad that I was able to learn from it and escape before it was too late. Is there something you need to escape from that is keeping you from completing your true purpose in life? I hope that you didn’t miss Kat too much. She should be back next week.

Kat’s Feeling Bad about Mother’s Day

        Hey everyone. It’s me again, Kat. I’m feeling a little bad about Mother’s Day. I guess I should have blogged about it last week instead of the scary incident that happened to Carter and me. I have to admit that it was partly rebellion on my side of it. Sometimes my mom makes me so mad! Okay, to be honest, I make her mad too—on purpose, sometimes.
        Not to give too much personal information away (That would really upset her and then she might make me quit the blog.) but when I was five years old, my dad moved us to this small community of eleven houses in the middle of the Texas wilderness. We have to drive four miles just to get to a gas station/convenience store/café. That’s our downtown. Then Dad just up and leaves us here. Oh he sends just enough money every month to pay the bills, but that’s all. It has been just me and my mother for seven years, and she is so unhappy. I at least have my best friend Carter. She has no one. I know she loves me, but she is so hurt and lonely. Sometimes it’s too much for her, and she lets it all out--usually on me.
        I love my mom, but I wish she could be more like the mother Carter and I met in Dearth (the dark land that lies beyond the dead forest). Now I know this is going to sound crazy, but this grown woman had twelve rag dolls that she believed were her children! And after what we experienced with her, they might have been! When I finish telling you what happened, you can be the judge.
        One night we came to this little one room cabin. We looked in the window and saw a woman sitting on her bed, hugging a bunch of rag dolls, crying, and saying, “My baby, my baby,” over and over again.
        We knocked and she let us in. Her name was Agaphy, and she told us that one of her babies was missing. She had torn her house apart looking for him, but she couldn’t find him. She was so distraught and full of anguish that it broke my heart to see her in such pain.
        Luckily, Carter found the little rag doll outside by a tree where the family had picnicked earlier that day. Later when I asked Carter how he found it, he told me that he heard something moving in a bush by the tree. When he looked to see what it was, he saw a little wad of rags and yarn. He brought it in the house and asked Agaphy if it was what she was looking for. She appeared to be as relieved as a real parent would be upon finding a lost child. Truthfully, the rag doll was the smallest most tattered of all the dolls. It was something that most people would just throw away.
        She was so happy that she insisted on having a party to celebrate. The woman placed the dolls around the table, and we ate cake and sang the “children’s” favorite songs. Of course the dolls just sat and stared at us. Agaphy made excuses for their lack of participation, saying that the “children” ate their cake while Carter and I went outside for a private chat. She told us that they were too shy to talk to strangers or sing in front of people. However, she assured us that once they got to know us, they would be all over us. Of course we didn’t believe any of it. That is until we went to bed and the lights went out.
        When it was time for bed, Agaphy kissed each one of the dolls and told them how much she loved them as she arranged them in her bed. Carter and I slept on the floor wrapped in our bedrolls. Once Agaphy blew out the candles we heard shuffling sounds and little clicking noises coming from all around us. It sounded like dozens of mice were moving about the room. When I felt something touch my cheek, I screamed. Carter sat up, grabbed our flashlight, and pointed the light around. The dolls were scattered about the room. Agaphy laughed and said that her children were just playing in the dark, and they would settle down when they got tired. Carter whispered to me that Agaphy must have thrown the dolls around room when the lights went out. But she heard him and insisted that she would never throw her children. As soon as we turned the light off, we heard what sounded like tiny voices laughing. Then there was a loud click followed by little voices laughing all around the room. Carter turned on the light again and we could see that the dolls had shifted locations in the dark. That was all we could take. Carter and I packed up our bedrolls and left the house.
        I have to say, even though that was one creepy night in Dearth, I saw unconditional love for the first time. Agaphy truly loved her “children.” And she loved the smallest, most pathetic little wad of rags as much, if not more, than all the others. To be loved like that would set you free.
        I’ll be talking to you again, soon. Night all.

The Kat Trap

        Hi everyone, sorry to be so late with my blog, but I have a good excuse. Something terrifying happened to Carter and me last week. I told Pastor Steve all about it and gave him permission to write it as a story. It took him longer than expected, but he finally got it done.
                                                       *****
        Kat’s green eyes flashed and her face turned as red as her hair. “Carter, this is one of the craziest things you have ever tried to rope me into. There’s a barbed wire fence around this pasture and No Trespassing signs posted every 30 feet!”
        “I know.” The blond haired boy said with a mischievous twinkle in his blue eyes. “But look at that tree in the middle of the field. Have you ever seen anything like it?”
        Kat calmed a bit and tried to focus on what Carter was pointing at. “That’s very odd, isn’t it? I’ve never seen a tree that has two trunks that become one halfway up. They aren’t just touching or entwined; they actually become a single tree.” Kat stepped onto the second of four strands of barbed wire on the fence. Carter held her waist from behind to steady her, and she used her hands to shield her eyes. “What’s that between the tree trunks? It looks like a mist.”
        “Pretty cool, huh?” Carter said. “The space between the trunks is like a triangular doorway with a misty curtain hiding what lies beyond.”
        “Here, help me down,” Kat said. “We’ll never know, will we? Mr. Dow said that if he caught us on his property again that he would call the Sheriff, and have our parents fined. I’d be grounded for a month! And if you will recall, we promised Mr. Dow that we would stay off his property; we gave our word.”
        “Yes, but that was before we knew there would be another invitation to places unknown. Don’t you see the connection between the dead forest attracting our curiosity to draw us into a quest, and this curiosity? They are both tree related. When we were here two months ago, there were no trees growing in this field. That strange oak appeared out of nowhere just as mysteriously as the dead forest. And FYI, I know for a fact that Mr. Dow took his family on a cruise to Panama. There’s no way we can get caught.”
        “How do you know he’s on a cruise?”
        “It doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t lie about this, Kat; trust me. We have to do this.”
        Kat looked around as if she were checking to make sure no one was watching them.
        “I had a dream last night about The Guardian,” Carter blurted out. (Carter and Kat met The Guardian on their adventures beyond the dead forest. He supported and guided them as they quested in the land of Dearth.)
        Kat turned to Carter, her eyes almost popped out of her head. “You dreamed about Guard? Did he say anything?”
        “He said, ‘When you are tempted, I will always make a way of escape.’ Then I woke up. Come on Kat, you know you want to check it out. I can see it all over you. This may begin a whole new adventure like when we went to the land of Dearth.”
       “Are you positive we won’t get caught?”
        Carter let out a WOOP of excitement. “Yes!” Grinning, he reached down and pulled a strand of barbed wire up so Kat could climb through. Once on the other side of the fence, they proceeded in silence focused on the strange object before them. When they arrived Carter said, “I can’t see anything through that stuff.”
        “Neither can I. There’s no sound coming through either,” Kat said.
        Carter put his hands on his hips and said, “Okay, you stay here while I go into the mist and see what I can find out. Then I’ll come back and report.”
        Kat shook her head. “No way, Carter, either we go in together or I’ll go in without you.”
        Carter opened his mouth as if to protest and then closed it, nodded, and shrugged.
        “No argument? Well that’s progress.” Kat smiled triumphantly. Before Carter could respond, she playfully punched him in the arm. “But you can go first.”
        “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” With that settled Carter grabbed Kat’s hand and pulled her into the mist.
        Caught by surprise Kat squealed, “Carter!” She expected that he would have tested the mist curtain by sticking a hand or a foot in first. She figured the abrupt act was punishment for not letting him have his way. Besides feeling surprised, she also felt an uncomfortable sense of being sucked into whatever was beyond the curtain. However, these unsettling sensations were nothing compared to what she experienced once she saw what was behind the curtain. Kat swooned with dizziness, felt sick to her stomach, and thought she was going insane.
        The two friends found themselves in a small cramped space shaped like the inside of a tin can. The ceiling was a mere four inches above their heads. The rounded wall that surrounded them, the floor and ceiling were a dull gray. Most shocking was the fact that they were not alone. Standing almost on top of them were three more Carters and Kats looking back at them!
        “What the…” Carter said with shock on his face.
        “I think I am going to be sick,” Kat said. 
        The Carter standing directly in front of them said, “Calm yourselves. You’re not going insane. You need to listen to me. Time is running out, and we are in mortal danger. You two are the fourth team of Carter and Kat to enter this trap set for us by the Adversary.” The Carter serving as spokesman touched the shoulder of the Kat standing to his right. “Kat and I were the first to enter, so we are Carter one and Kat one.” Pointing to the Carter and Kat standing to his right he said, “Two, and on my left is three. We are sealed inside a dimensional pocket where time moves at a different rate than in our world. When I entered, every two minutes that passed in here, was an hour in our world. Each time we enter this place the day resets, repeats, and time slows down in here which makes it appear that time speeds up in our world. As you can see, in this tiny dimensional pocket we continue to exist as separate individuals. When you two entered, time changed again. We are not sure by how much, but it’s possible that we only have about ten minutes before group five comes in. When five enters, we will be so tightly packed in here that we will barely be able to move. Then five or so minutes after that, team six will enter. When they do, we will be smashed in here so tightly that we will not be able to expand our chests to breathe, and we will suffocate. That leaves us only about fifteen minutes to figure this out. And before you ask, we have searched every inch of the floor, wall, and ceiling several times. There is no way out.”
        Carter four turned toward the entrance and said, “What about the doorwa…?” He expected to see the misty curtain blocking the doorway. Instead, he found a clear opening. Day had already turned to night and time seemed to be moving so fast that he could actually see the stars move across the sky.
        Carter one said, “It’s an invisible force field. We have pushed, kicked, pounded, and thrown our bodies against it. Trust me there is no way out.”
        “Then what?” asked Carter four. “What haven’t you tried? What’s left to try?”
        Carter one said, “We’ve been so focused on searching for a physical solution to this problem that we’re having a hard time switching gears. We are hoping that you can come up with a new approach. I’m turning leadership over to you.”
        Carter four knew that there was no use in arguing with Carter one, so he just nodded agreement. Then he turned to Kat four and asked, “What do you think? Any ideas come to mind?”
        “No ideas just a concern that when team five comes through they will find themselves crammed in here with four duplicates of themselves. When we came in, I was so shocked that I almost panicked. It will be worse for them, and I know me. Kat five will panic and maybe even go into shock.”
        Carter four said, “Kat, we need to focus on getting out of here. When five comes through, the time difference will be such that we may not even have time to explain the situation to them before the sixth team comes in and we all die!”
        After a bit more discussion on the matter Carter three shouted, “Look, the sun’s already up!”
        Carter four turned and looked out at the brightly lit field. “But how can that be? We’ve only been talking a few minutes. How long has the sun been up?”
        Kat four shrieked. “Team five’s already at the fence. Quick, everyone move back away from the doorway, look down, and cover your faces with your hands!” Kat again glanced through the doorway just in time to see team five stop before the curtain. She covered her face and yelled, “They’re coming now!”
        Carter and Kat five appeared in the small space left to them as expected. “What’s happening? I can’t move,” Carter five said. “Who are you people?”
        The teams with their faces covered did not respond. Kat five said, “Carter, look. They are all wearing the same clothes we are.”
        Carter four lifted his head and said, “Do not be afraid. I will explain what’s happening. I’m going to lower my hands; try not to be shocked. We’re almost out of time and every second counts.”
        When he uncovered his face, Kat five gasped, and Carter five said, “You’re me? Why? What is this?”
        Carter four proceeded to explain, as quickly as he could, their situation. When he finished, the others uncovered their faces.
        Carter one said, “We have to solve this now. We only have about two minutes before team six reaches the fence.”
        Kat four said, “Carter, you said Guard told you in a dream that he will always make a way of escape. Where is the promised escape from here?”
        “No. Guard said that he will make a way of escape if we are tempted,” Carter four said. “The mysterious tree tempted us. We gave in to the temptation and broke the law and our word to Mr. Dow. We are now in the consequences of not taking the way of escape from our temptation.”
        “Are you saying there’s no way out for us?” Carter five asked.
        Carter four said, “No, think about it. What if Carter and Kat six take the way of escape and never step through the barbed wire fence?”
        “What chance is there of that?” Kat four asked. “Why would they make a different decision than we did? It’s us out there.”
        “Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I have it! That is us out there. And it’s us in here. We may be six teams of Carter and Kat, but we are all of one mind. We are Carter and Kat. We thought the mystery that tempted us in here was an invitation left by Guard to begin a new adventure. But we should have known that Guard would never tempt us to do something wrong. We know now that the Adversary is behind this. We all have to make up our mind that if Guard would not do it, then we should not do it.”
                                                      *****
        … “What’s that between the tree trunks? It looks like a mist.”
        “Pretty cool, huh?” Carter said. “The space between the trunks is like a triangular doorway with a misty curtain hiding what lies beyond.”
        “Here, help me down,” Kat said. “We’ll never know, will we? Mr. Dow said that if he caught us on his property again that he would call the Sheriff, and have our parents fined. I’d be grounded for a month! And if you will recall, we promised Mr. Dow that we would stay off his property; we gave our word.”
        Carter was about to point out that the tree had to be an invitation to another adventure when it suddenly occurred to him that Guard would never tempt them to break the law or their word. “Yes, I hate to admit it, but you’re right. I think a good guide for us to use in deciding what is right and what is wrong is to ask ourselves, what would Guard do.”
        Then, the tree disappeared and the two friends were given understanding of all that took place inside the trap.
                                                       *****
        I tell you, when Carter and I made the decision to escape temptation and we were given the knowledge of all the other times we yielded to the temptation, I almost lost it. We came so close to making a fatal error. To think, if we had stepped over that fence and went into that dimension… It makes me shudder, and it makes me feel sick. I‘m going to bed. Night everybody.