MAYBE IT'S TIME

I meant what I said to Bruce. Maybe it's time that I stop keeping my vision of Armageddon such a secret.

With each day, Stillson's power and influence grow. Every time I turn around, he has gained the trust of more people. And his political momentum continues to pick up speed. His constituency base continues to widen. With Janus' help, Stillson's star is rising faster and faster, becoming an increasingly dangerous threat. Becoming more like the future Stillson I've seen in my visions: the man that ignites the apocalypse, the one that brings catastrophe and death raining down on all our heads.

The public really needs to be warned. People need to know! Everyone needs to stop blindly following this guy, to open their eyes and see him for who he really is.

The Armageddon I see can be stopped. I have to believe that. I think it's why I was given the Armageddon visions in the first place ... maybe even why I was given my Dead Zone ability.

But how do I go about doing this?

Do I focus on discrediting Stillson? Unearthing evidence against him or against Janus? Do I become the thorn in the side of their campaign? The gnat that won't go away, hoping that my one small voice will be joined by others, until the tide is turned against Stillson? Or will such efforts merely backfire as they have in the past? Will Janus just manipulate events and the media so that I'm out of the way for good? Or, worse, turn what I do to his advantage?

People need to know what might happen if something isn't done. I need to tell more than just Bruce and a small group of Seekers what I have seen. For years, I've kept my knowledge of Stillson and the certain doom he is architecting close to the chest. I had no proof. I had no credibility. But, now, more people believe that my visions are real. Maybe, with all the fighting going on in the world, the ongoing war in Iraq, the proliferation of nukes all over the planet, the constant threat of terrorism and global warming and the rapid erosion of our civil liberties here at home ... maybe the time is ripe to share what I've seen, to start people thinking or at least to start questioning Stillson's lies.

Should I, then, launch a sort of counter movement? If so, I'd need access to the media. Would Purdy help me? Or is he too deep in Janus' pockets already? And, even if he weren't, could Purdy resist the temptation to make this about saving souls, rather than saving lives? Probably not.

And, in the end, do I really want people to be turning to me, blindly, like they do Stillson? No, I have no desire to take a page from Carter's book and start gathering my own followers. I don't want to be seen as some biblical prophet. I don't want to be mistaken as someone trying to bring about the end of the world, like Carter, instead of just the harbinger of the disaster yet to come.

That would be perfect, wouldn't it? By getting out there and making people aware in order to prevent Armageddon, I'd become more publicly visible and associated with the End of the World. Then, if or when the unthinkable finally happens, Stillson ... or Janus ... or others like them (those who manage to survive) would just do their political spin thing and point to me as the root cause of it all. No, thank you.

I'll have to figure out another way.

Past Entries:

• (7/30) O.B.E.
• (7/23) A Life More Ordinary
• (7/16) Lack of Faith... or New Angle?
• (7/9) Stop The Madness!
• (7/2) The Unexpected Evening
• (6/25) A Touchy Subject
• (6/18) Does Janus Know About Armageddon?