Don't Know When But A Day Is Gonna Come

I am so pissed off.

We were in one of those hick towns. Now, part of our cover, when hopping from town to town, is to play a show or two at a bar. You know, to get some cash. Fuck, we need the extra cash, considering we don't get much funding from Headquarters. By the way, I'm pissed at them too, but I'll explain why later.

The entire day, I had to put up with Christian, Conservative, closeminded bigots. I had to tolerate their slurs and their disgusting views on life and their horrible accents. Fuck I hated almost every minute of it.

I hate the Bible belt. I want to break it. Tradition here destroys others. Everything is an endless cycle of cruelty and ignorance. A campaign of self destruction and family arrogance prevents prosperity, order, and foundation upon these lands. I hate the Bible belt.

We were setting up in one of the local bars. Those redneck fuckers were everywhere, and they seemed to be getting anxious with us playing. I thought I heard someone remark while walking by, "Hippie bastards playing tonight, not watching that shit." Pissed me off. See, another thing about these fucking idiots; they judge from the outside. Just because we didn't wear cowboy boots and wore our hair down, that automatically made us "hippie bastards."

They all seemed to be staring at us with the expectations of failure. Well, that just... wow. That really pumped us up. We decided we were going to awe these fuckers. We were going to try our best to just blow them out of their dusty cowboy boots. We were going to, above all, scare them.

 So we started playing a certain cover by a certain band.

Is it true what I heard about the Son of God?  

The cowboys began to fidget when they heard those lyrics. Yeah, they could hear it. They could hear the menace in my voice. The raw aggression. I looked down at all of them, and chuckled inside. They were going to get such a kick out of this music.

Did he come to save? Did he come at all?

One of the cowboys in the back shook his head, and a lot of the other ignorant fuckers cringed. Yep, that's right. I'm questioning your goddamn faith. Kick my ass all you want after this show but dammit, right now, I have you right where I want you.

And if I dried his feet with my dirty hair,
would he make me clean again?

As the words flowed out of my mouth, I began to think back. Back to before all of this. Back to my childhood. All of those days standing in the pews, singing along to those songs about shit like faith and angels and choirs and all that. All those days spent, never thinking beyond the church wall.

They say they don't know when, but a day is gonna come.

I remember my father telling me about how the world was going to end soon. How he was "so sure" about it. That one day the moon would turn blood red and then how all that end of the world bullshit would begin. That he knew it was going to happen because he was helping it happen. And how I was going to too.

When there won't be a moon and there won't be a sun.

Yeah, he legitimately thought the Lonely Hearts were going to try ending the world. Crazy, right? I'm not defending them, don't get me wrong. But, come on! This isn't some kind of apocalypse movie. This is real life. They aren't going to destroy the world. Maybe hurt it. But not destroy it.

It will just go black, it will just go back
to the way it was before.

He only strengthened that feeling I've had my entire life. Like, a caged bird, with no control over my own freedom. And it seems like it's never going to change. It's always going to be this way. And the saddest part is, I'm alone. There's no yellow bird of mine coming to rescue me from the loneliness...


I knew a lovely girl with such pretty pride, 


And the cage metaphor brings me back to Haligh and the other one. How they weren't the yellow birds, that they weren't even close to that. They made it all worse. Especially the other one.

and every man wanted her, yeah, and so did I.

The Wooden Girl got so close to breaking me. She almost had me. I'm never going to be the same man after what she did to me.

Yeah, and so did I. But she up and died
in a fit of vanity.

And I look out to these rednecks and farmers and ignorant assholes. They're on the verge of throwing things, I can tell. They're all gripping their fists, trying to control their anger.

 Now men with purple hearts carry silver guns. 

If only they knew of the Monsters that plague the planet. If only they knew about the horrors that lurk the countrysides and peer into their bedroom windows. If only.

And they'll kill a man for what his father's done. 

They would shake in their cowboy boots if they knew. They'd have heart attacks. They would shit their pants. They would fucking panic. They can't handle this like I have. They have to lean against something else, now don't they?

 But what my father did, you know it don't mean shit.
I'm not him.

Maybe I'm letting my anger get the best of me. Maybe I'm overthinking this entire thing. I'm known to do that. A lot. It's a trait unique to me in my family. They don't think about anything they do. 

And you think I need some discipline, well, I had my share. 

But I know what I'm talking about, I'm sure of it all. I've experienced this so many times in our travels. People like this get used by The Lonely Hearts all the time. They abuse them and use them for their own schemes. They rule over these types of people.

I've been sent to my room. I've been sat in a chair. 
 

 I'm singing and I notice someone in the crowd. Someone so familiar it was sickening. Padriac. The bastard had taken human form. He never really left me. He's always been there, talking to me. He's never been strong enough to take human shape though....

And I held my tongue. I didn't plug my ears.
No, I got a good talking to.

He was pointing at someone. Someone in the far corner of the bar. Someone hiding behind everyone else. That person was apart of LIFTED. That person was a leader of another fellow team of ours, and he was watching every move that we were making.

Now I don't know why, but I still try to smile 

He was spying on us. They still didn't trust us all! We couldn't have just ran into him, teams aren't allowed to cross paths while on missions! And besides that, I knew he had a secretive agenda already; I could feel it via Padriac. This bastard was trying not to be seen....

when they talk at me like I'm just a child. 

 I've been apart of this organization for several months now, and they still do not trust me. They believe that I might misuse the Key still. Bastards...

Well, I'm not a child. No, I am
much younger than that.

And with Padriac and the realization that they were watching me clouding my mind, the anger that I was simply using the rednecks to take out on manifests as a hatred for the entirety of the world.

And now I've read some books and I've grown quite brave. 

People always think they have other people figured out. Including me. Here I am, ranting on and on about others, but really, I know nothing about them. I have no idea the struggles they've faced or what defines them as a person.

 If I could just speak up, I think I would say 

I don't know anything about anyone. I can't even figure my own self out. Not even my own team, I could ever hope to fully know. And Lauren Laurent... don't make me laugh. To me, she's probably as mysterious as space, or hell, the very depths of the oceans.

that there is no truth. There is only you
and what you make the truth.

These thoughts collide, and my head cools down a bit. Have to think clearly, have to not be so angry all the time. And yet, the anger was still there, below the surface. Nevertheless, I bit my tongue, put on the smuggest expression across my face I could, and kept on singing.

So I'll just sing my songs, and I'll pass a hat. 

This would all be over soon. After the show, we would be close to finally getting to our destination, and then we could head home.Then Lauren and I could get to know each other a bit more.  

 Then I'll leave your town and I'll never look back.

Yes. All I needed to do was calm down. Forget and let go. I had my friends, and they believed in me. Weren't they enough? No of course not. Lauren was enough though. But what if...

No, I don't look back because the road is clear
and laid out ahead of me.

 What if she leaves me? What if I become alone again? I can't... I can't deal with that. I wouldn't be able to. She means so much to me. Probably too much to me. I'm nothing without her love.

Now I'll get home, I'll meet my friends at our favorite bar.
We'll get some lighter heads for our heavy hearts.

I don't want to be alone again. I want to be loved. I want to love. Without getting hurt.

And we'll share a drink. Yeah we'll share our fears
and they will know how I love them

The nightmare of loneliness mixes in with the remnants of anger I manifested inside myself earlier, and they seep into my sight and my thoughts. The Key in my soul speeds up, and I look through a cracked window. A devastating sight meets my eyes.

 They will know how I love.
They will know how I love them.
I'm nothing without their love.

Fire licks the night sky, and the stars are nothing compared to the light it produces. They seem to almost be eating away at everything in the immediate landscape. The roar of the ocean nearby is nothing compared to the screaming of the flames. It's a fire wall.

Now I don't know when, but a day is gonna come 

At the center of the world, of this island in the middle of the ocean, is the singularity. It begins tiny but ends by encompassing all. This tiny dot sends out a wave, or rather a burst, of thoughts. These thoughts travel over the surface of the world, invading everyone's mind. And with their defenses distracted, the People's Key slowly works its way into every soul on the face of the planet.

when there won't be a moon and there won't be a sun.

Everyone is connected, and the apex of humanity increases until it's off a specific designation. Everything is living, and nothing is dying. Everyone is anyone and anyone is everyone; it's a circle, all leading to The People's Key. We are one individual, and we become no one. Free thought does not exist. We do not think, we feel. We are one and one is everything to nothing.

It will all go black. It will all go back
to the way it's supposed to be.

The world turns grey and we enter a machine spiritual. The machinery humanity used to depend on become the greatest weapon of the Neon God that emerges in the endtimes. The People's Key becomes its primary energy source, and then truly, humanity has become everything to nothing, to the Neon God we made.

Is it true what they say about the Son of God?
Did he die for us? Did he die at all?

A beer bottle almost smashes into my foot, waking me up from the hallucination. I find myself ready to scream my throat out... my emotions had gotten the better of me, and it almost seemed as if I had lost complete control over my body.

And if I sold my soul for a bag of gold to you,
which one of us would be the foolish one?

The crowd was on the verge of running onto stage and stopping our performance themselves. It scared us. The song was almost over, so we kept at it.

Which one of us would be the fool?
Which one of us would be the foolish one?
Which one of us would be the fool?

 Almost finished. Almost done. The band was ready to go. We were leaving without payment. We were going after one song. And I'm sure they wouldn't of had it any other way.

Could you please start explaining?
You know, I need some understanding.

We left that town and never looked back. I hate this job. I hate moving around. I thought, when signing up, that it would satisfy my "land locked blues." But it hasn't. It only makes me realize just how different we all are, and how especially different I am.

 I could do good with some explaining.
You know. I want to understand.

And I've seen the future, I think. I think that's what it was. If that is the future... Padriac, why'd you show me? What do you want me to do? Why? Why am I a Key? Is it related to this "People's Key?"

I want to understand. And maybe, my father was really, actually, onto something.