The Priest

Here's a story that I wrote a while back, I hope you all enjoy it.

It was a cold winter morning, like most winter mornings are. Father Jacobs was sitting in the confessional playing with a loose thread on his sleeve. He was a young man in his late twenties with sleek blonde hair and a determined belief in God.

"Bless me Father, for I have sinned," he heard a shaky voice whisper on his left. Through the grille he could make out the speaker was a blonde woman, he couldn't be completely sure, but she seemed young. "It has been... Well, I've never really been in a confessional before. I've never believed in God," she said in a desperate whisper. "But that was before. I do, now I do." She paused. Father Jacobs recognized the sound of an inhaler. He waited patiently.

After a few moments she continued, in the same terrified whisper. "I- I accuse myself of the following sins," she stammered, "I've been ...Well, I've been doing things which are horrible. Horrible," she said, sobs were now punctuating her sentences. "Are you there?" she asked, suddenly.

Father Jacobs was started by this unorthodox question. "I'm there," he said in the gentle voice he had learnt to use while in the confessional.

"I'm glad," she whispered. "I'm glad you're there because there's no one else. Even though you can't help me, I'm glad you're there."

She broke out into a string of sobs making Father Jacobs shift uncomfortably in his seat. Father Williams had only recently decided to send him to the confessionals. It had been rather uneventful leave for the occasional tearful confession about sleeping with the neighbour.

"I suppose I should get down to the confession, right?" She sniffed and chuckled before continuing. "It all started a few months back when my younger sister came to town. My sister's a really nice girl, you know? She was perfect through school, she never looked at a boy, she never missed Church. We all called her our little Angel, which she was."

"But you know the thing with nice people nowadays?" she asked, pausing as if hoping he would answer. He remained quiet. "The world crushes them. She had no friends at school, everyone bullied her. After I left for college, with no one to protect her, it just got worse. My parents had to take her out of school. That's the kind of life she lived."

"But then, the past year, everything turned out good for her. She found an amazing job, she bought herself a huge mansion, she met this wonderful man, she got engaged. We were all so surprised, but nevertheless impossibly happy for her. She deserved it."

"When I met her, it was like she had gone through a complete transformation. She had bags under her eyes, she was as thin as a reed and she looked so ... Weak, you know?"

"My curiosity kept increasing. The week that she stayed, I kept noticing her doing the strangest of things. Like I'd find markings

made in chalk all over her walls, markings she'd scream if I tried to rub off. Her sheets had stains of what looked like blood, but she dismissed as paint stains. And there was this book! This leather bound, old book which she was obsessive about! When I asked her what it was, she asked me to mind her own business!"

"If you knew my sister, you'd know how strange it is for her to say something like that. So, this is my first sin, I cheated her. When she was sleeping, I sneaked into her room and looked at that book. Strangely enough, it was empty. My sister woke up just then and held my wrist. Oh, she held it so hard that I still have faint bruises from a month ago around my wrists. She started screaming and I started crying and I don't know what was wrong with her, I was just so scared!"

"Finally, she calmed down. She asked me if I really wanted to know what the book was. I did, but I was so scared. So I told her that I didn't. She seemed to get angry again and asked me loudly what the whole point of sneaking around was if I didn't want to know! I didn't want her to burst so I told her that I did want to know what it was."

Father Jacobs was now at the edge of his seat, resisting the temptation to say something to make her speed up with her story. Small goosebumps were forming on his arms.

The woman took a deep, shaky breath and continued. "I should have got some help right then, right after she told me. I should have called a hospital, called the police or come here. I should have done something smart. What I shouldn't have done is help her, what I shouldn't have done is give in to desire."

She broke into sobs again. Father Jacobs let temptation get the better of him and whispered one word. "Continue."

There was a silent moment of surprise on the other side, but it wasn't long before the woman continued.

"She started talking about... About... Black magic, Father," she whispered. "She started telling me that everything, everything that happened to her was only because of it. That everyone who thought it was bad, were stupid. She said that it took brains to be able to control it. And once you've controlled it, the world is yours."

"I thought she had gone bonkers at first. Wouldn't anyone? I didn't laugh though, I was scared. I was scared of this crazy baby sister I had in front of me. Then she asked me what I wanted. I shouldn't have said it, Father! I shouldn't have! But I told her anyway, I told her because I was weak and skeptical. I shouldn't have. I didn't know what would happen but I shouldn't have."

"I - I told her that I wanted to be promoted," she stammered. "She asked me what was standing in my way. I should have followed my intuition. The way she asked me 'What's standing in your way?' I should have known. But I told her. I told her that there was only one position occupied by a young man. Unless he vacated it, there was no way I could get it."

"She smiled and told me not to worry. Then she went slightly - No, very crazy! Her eyes rolled back into her head, she started chanting strange things, she started clawing at her own skin. I tried to stop her but anytime I came near, she would hurt me."

"The next morning, I got a call. It was from work. My boss had died, I was invited to the funeral. I knew I was next in line for the job now. I don't know how I can be ever forgiven for not walking away then. For not getting help. But instead, I asked my sister how she did it."

“How did she do it?” Father Jacobs asked forgetting all procedure and tradition.

“Thea,” she murmured. “Thea did it. Thea did everything. She said Thea chose her as worthy, worthy of using her power. She then told me that a few months back...” She paused and broke out into hysterical loud sobs, the worst until now. Father Jacobs wasn’t sure what to say. He cast a worried glance at the curtain, wondering if the noise she was making would draw anyone’s attention.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she said, sniffing quickly. “She told me that she was raped,” she said in a forced voice. “Some men cornered her after work and raped her. Left her for the dead after they had finished in some alley. She tried calling out for help, but no one came, no one found her. She was in huge pain and she couldn't even stand up. She told me that at that moment, she didn’t pray to God. She said she realized that moment that God never been there for her. Where was God in the last years of her life? She prayed to Lucifer. That’s when Thea appeared. Thea consoled her, Thea promised to take care of her. Thea asked her what she wanted to do to those men. My sister replied that she wanted them dead.”

“And Thea did it. She showed the bodies to my sister. My sister was terrified at first, but she accepted it. Thea asked to feast on the bodies as payment. My sister allowed. I realized what happened to my boss. She asked me what else I wanted.”

“No,” Father Jacobs whispered, dreading what she was going to say next.

“I told her. I told her I wanted my ex husband to regret cheating on me. I told her I wanted the women he cheated on me with to be gone. I told her I wanted a bigger house, a loving husband, I told her so much. I got everything.”

“Thea didn’t love my sister. Not for a second. Demons are incapable of love. A deal with a demon never is of benefit to you. All, and I mean all the benefit is to the demon and the demon only. One week back, they took my sister away. They burst into my house and chased her. Nothing I could do could help. If I ventured out of the safety circle I had learnt, they would have killed me too. My sister’s circle could not save her for she was the one they wanted. The dragged her away, they dragged her across the floorboards and down to hell.”

Father Jacobs was clutching at the edge of his stool. His cowardice was getting the better of him and more than anything, he wanted to run away. To run as far as possible from this lady who had made deals with demons. His fingers curled around the cross that hung from his neck and he started muttering the name of his Lord.

“I’m next, Father. I benefited from evil and now, I am evil.Evil will find me and take me where I belong. Hell.”

Father Jacobs summoned all his courage. He had only become a Priest because he wanted to help people more than anything else. And this was his opportunity.

“My child,” he said, in a voice which sounded much stronger than he felt, “The Lord is forgiving. If you truly repent you mistakes, if you truly call for His help, He will protect you.”

“I’m afraid that’s a whole load of Bull, Father. You see, the Lord couldn’t protect me even if he wanted to. I’m not his child anymore, I do not belong in his kingdom. I have accepted my fate.”

Father Jacobs remained silent and so did the lady. He didn’t know what he could tell her. He didn’t even understand why he believed her story. He had always believed in God but never in demons and Lucifer. God was almighty. Why would he have let evil exist?

“Child,” he whispered, turning to face the grille. To his surprise the compartment was empty. He rushed out into the church in time to see a petite, blonde lady join a crowd leaving. He ran after her but with no prevail. She had disappeared into the crowd.

Three days later when Father Jacobs was reading the newspaper a headline caught his eye:

PERCIVAL SISTERS FOUND DEAD IN THEIR HOUSE: SUSPECTED ANIMAL ATTACK