The New Damnation - Micro Fiction

by Luke Ramer

Tito said that one day Man would develop a telescope that could glimpse God, which would create limitless possibilities. Tito told me this on that first dreary morning, when I was broken and stumbled upon his group.

This is my new life.

Tito was our leader. Our father. We were loved, educated, and cared for.

This is the new nuclear family.

Tito said people came together in church, but those people simply spoke about faith, played pretend. Tito said we were acting on our faith.

Tito had seen God.

Tito is the telescope to Heaven.

We were no longer waiting for Jesus to return, He said. We were going to leave our meat prisons and travel to Jesus.

This is our being led out of Egypt for the Holy Land.

Tito believed that burnt offerings to God would help us in our pilgrimage. So we set blaze to key government buildings. Tito said that voluntary castration was the new circumcision. Some of us went under the holy knife. Our works proved our faith.

We are the new Apostles.  

Although somewhere deep inside me, a demon stirred. A demon sowing doubt.

The big day arrived. Tito prepared his house. Our group met and had a big breakfast. Tito hired a famous photographer to capture the moment.

This is The Last Breakfast.

At the end of our meal, Tito stood and sliced his arm. One by one, we drank from his vein.

This is the new sacrament.

Then it was time for our salvation. Tito set up a large jar of liquid, a milky white fluid. My inner demon reared its head. Will Tito go through with graduation after all of his followers are gone? I wondered. Does Tito really believe? 

Fear and doubt overwhelmed me. I snuck into the bathroom and called the police.

I came back to find Tito being the first to graduate, drinking the milky liquid before anyone else. A smile on his face. His body twitched as he slipped off to meet our creator. He had sacrificed his flesh first. A true leader. I couldn’t believe I had doubted him. Shame devoured me.

One by one, more of our group graduated from their physical bodies as the sirens and police arrived. My remaining family rushed to graduate, chugging the milky liquid as they struggled with the cops who attempted to restrain them, turning our miracle voyage into chaos. I fell to my knees, unable to bring myself to drink, as the others glared at me with contempt during their last breaths.

I am the new Judas Iscariot.

-

It’s been two decades since my family graduated. The new circumcision won't allow me to start a new family.

Late at night, I sit outside by my campfire and look up at the stars. I know they are up there, somewhere, with God. The New Angels.

I consider graduating myself…But I don’t know if that will reunite me with my family.

So I wait, stuck here in my own personal pit of regret.

This is the new damnation.