Hunched over the kitchen table, everyone sat following a hard day at work. I ladled out each one a bowl of soup for starters.

The day seemed quite ordinary up until now. The usual hectic and busy schedule of keeping up the housework, and cooking for seven people, including babysitting my baby grand-daughter was just the run of the mill.

Then all of a sudden, it seemed like time stood still for a minute or two. I held the soup-ladle in my hand. Not one member discerned a thing, but I know time stopped at our house, or the family would have detected something out of the ordinary.

I know I wasn't physically transported, but my mind or spirit left this world briefly. If it had happened during the night hours, I would have thought it had been just a dream, but because it occurred at the kitchen table, I knew this happening was for real.

I remember the smoke smell. Not a burning field stubble smell, but a horrible burning flesh stench. The place, hazy and murky, disturbed me. Hands lifted to me with groans and moans.

Voices cried, "Help me. Please, he...lp me." I seemed to amble through different levels or stages. The wailing sounded like a place of insanity. The plea for help sounded unrelenting. I didn't see any children in this place. It didn't take long for me to realize where I landed. This was the place of everlasting torment. I didn't know why the souls called to me. There wasn't anything I could do to help them. Their appearance exhibited nearly all the same; souls with grayish, scorched bodies, thin as poles and almost skinless. Their voices were sadly agonizing to hear. I felt the anguish of this place. I thirsted. I prayed. God, can you help these poor, lost souls?

Then, suddenly I returned. It seemed so odd. Nobody noticed my absence. Nobody noticed my demeanor. I kept it to myself the best way I could. I shook a little, but I managed to keep myself under control. I knew if I spoke of the vision I had, my family would have driven me to the mental institution. So I held it all in reserve.
 
I prayed while I did the dishes. The vision didn't leave me that easily. It remained with me to haunt me. I, by some means, knew why the vision occurred. It was because I needed to pray for souls before their time on earth was over. It was my work on earth. Warn people of eternal damnation.

Once in bed, I had a hard time to fall asleep. I imagined demons in my room. They were exactly like one movie displayed. I wondered how those directors actually knew how demons looked like. They aren't big. They are small, kind of dwarf-like. Maybe a bit bigger. They are sly. Sneaky. Liars. They tell people not to worry about eternity because God is Love. He wouldn't allow His people to go to such a place as this. They whisper lies insinuating there is no such thing as God, heaven or hell. They know we don't want to think of the next life, and that judgment is at hand.

The world today is too smart to believe such things. Too educated. Too rich. Who needs God anyway? It's an old fashioned idea. I could cry when I think of the excuses we think up causing us to not take the spiritual realm seriously.

I fell asleep finally.
 
A couple of hours later, I awoke needing to use the washroom. I sauntered into the hallway which leads to the washroom completely forgetting the earlier incident.

Suddenly, the sight before me made me nearly drop to my knees. There, near the end of the hallway, appeared the image of the ugliest, demonic realm ever possible to imagine. I saw an arm, other body parts, strange heads and features spread and floating within a ball of flame. I again heard the moaning and groaning. Weird laughter danced my way, and an arm flung out at me as if to snatch me into that world. I tried to scream, but my voice went mute.

The business of this dominion was to enroll me. Their faces wretched, their forms contorted, their eyes dim and shadowy.

I prayed, and as soon as I mentioned the name, Jesus, the demonic realm disappeared. To this day, I pray I will never have to face this evil realm again.