Unholy Sabbath
I sit in the back of a church, pews aligned row upon row in the dim light. Head down, I dare to peek from side to side, seeing others locked in straight ahead stares. I dare to roll my eyes upward, lifting my head just enough to catch a glimpse of an altar beneath an infernal blood-stained glass window that morphs in unspeakable images.
Through the putrid drifting smoke of a ghastly incense I can just make out a priest in dark robes, chanting in an unknown, guttural tongue, arms held high, something dark and dripping held in his left hand.
I see eyes that look like the very coals of Hades’ fire, that flit back and forth in time with the pulse of the incantation. The congregation now joining in, louder and louder, swaying so violently that I am almost knocked from my seat. I cannot look away, as holy water is tossed across the maddened crowd in a wanton spray that leaves them in smoking disarray.
And now a creature, bent and buckled, limps slowly down the central aisle, pockmarked hand holding out a vile purse of human skin, expecting a tithe not of gold but the essence of my soul, to be given freely, and in earnest. It stops next to me, hesitates, then screams in recognition that I am not one of them, and dropping the bag, lurches across the pews with claws agape, scrambling in a mad race headed straight for me.
I jump up running, climbing over bestial bodies, scattering them as I make for the doors, doors I now can see are guarded by hideous apparitions that stand in my way, barring the exit. I scream a name unknown to me, and they crumble into dust. I reach for the scab-encrusted handle to escape the mad brigade lined up behind me.
Once, twice, I hit the doors with all my might, until on the third try they burst asunder, to reveal the blessed moonlit night. Fresh cool air whips across my fretted sweating brow. I run as fast as I can to get away, never once looking back. Eventually, finding myself abed in my own room, sheets and pillows tossed askew, drenched in sweat, I awaken... safe once more until tomorrow night.
