As if millions voices cried out in terror...

A man is sitting on his chair, laughing, patting himself on the back for such a job well done. He knows that earlier that day, he did a wonderful thing. He created hope, the very essence of it, as thousands of people clamored in ecstasy. They were brought back to their childhood, of the good ol' days when they didn't have a care in the world. Yet then, without so much as a trace of remorse, he utterly and completely destroyed it, leaving behind in his trail only an empty void, deprived of any sense of joy. Happy April Fools, so it goes.

It was a typical Saturday late night run on Cartoon Network. The ever so family oriented Boondocks was wrapping up, and people were calling it a night. As the typical late night commercials came on, people got up and were preparing to hit the hay. And if this was like the countless other Saturdays, this is where the story ends. Yet, on this very routine day, something came up that suddenly grabbed their attention. It was the familiar voice belonging to a very old friend.

They couldn't believe their ears, yet they still turned their heads around. They wanted so desperately for it to be true, that this wasn't a dream, that it was actually happening. What met them was, without a doubt, the real deal. Tom, in all his glory, calmly announced the schedule for Toonami, as if it was just last week that he had his last broadcast. Next Bleach. After that, Dragon Ball Z. And later, Gundam Wing.

Wait, what? Toonami? Toonami was canceled three years ago. Bleach was on every Saturday, and no one cared about it anyways. But Dragon Ball Z? And Gundam? Surely, this is but a mistake on the programmer's part? They had almost convinced themselves that. But still, they kept on watching, praying that on the off chance it was true. So they endured half a hour of Bleach, in which the characters fought for two minutes, then spent the rest of the show explaining what they just did.

The clock ticked closer to 12:30, as the moment of truth drew nearer. If Dragon Ball Z was indeed next, then their prayers have actually come true - Toonami is back. The next few moments seemed to almost be an eternity. Slowly, but surely, the screen cut to Gohan struggling against the powered-up Cell. There were applause, cries of joy, pleads for Adult Swim to have their babies. The religious thanked their respective Gods; the Atheists thanked Richard Dawkins. And so, they kept on watching, blissfully unaware of the circumstances.

After Gohan triumphed over Cell and saved the world, next was the story of everyone's favorite giant robots. However, they couldn't help but feel this lingering sensation deep down that something was amiss, that something was not quite right. As time went on, more and more people caught on. Those smiles were turned upside down as the truth dawned upon them. The date, right after hitting 12:00, had turned to 4/1, April Fool's Day. They realized they had been deceived, mislead, bamboozled even. Soon, despair overcame them. There was great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

Curse you Adult Swim, curse you.