Note: I’m not happy with this, but the muse demands it.
Father Colin started to remove the confessional Stole and smiled a little. Mrs. Keenan liked to keep to the old ways when it came to confession. She liked the dark confessional box, the screen between them, and just his voice giving her gentle guidance and a penance. Modern confessions were more like free therapy sessions now-a-days.
He started to get up when he heard the confessional door open on the other side. Someone must have seen the red fabric the door and known that meant the priest was available for confession. He sat back down on the hard iron bench and again whispered a short prayer for guidance and assistance from the Almighty Father and his Son, as well as the other priests that had sat there for over two hundred years.
A man’s voice came to him. “Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I’ve never confessed before in my life.”
He blinked. “My son, are you a Catholic?”
“By osmosis.”
“What exactly does that mean?”
“I follow a lot of Catholic traditions, but I’m not baptized in the faith. I was brought up Anglican, but we weren’t very religious. What I do now uses a lot of Catholic trappings.”
“What do you do now?”
“Demon summoning.”
Colin immediately made the sign of the cross. “My son, do you wish to stop doing that?”
“No. I wish to learn how to heal a soul.”
“Wait, wait, what?”
“In all my books I can’t find anything. Sure, plenty of stuff to render souls, destroy them, tear them from people and living things. Nothing to heal them.”
Colin passed his hand over his mouth. This was beyond him.
“Father, you’re the seventh religious person I’ve approached. The others warded against me and kicked me to the curb.”
He took a deep breath, suddenly inspired. “Healing one’s soul comes from within. You can ask God to help you, but you need to do it yourself.”
“How?”
“It’s like if you broke a bone, and let it heal over time without a splint. It’ll heal, misshapen. If you continue to stay within the darkness, your soul will be healed, but you will be corrupted.”
“The darkness will heal it. Of course. How could I be so stupid.”
There was silence for quite some time. Then Colin said, “Young man, you will be an evil thing—“
The door on the other side opened and shut. Colin sat back on the bench, part of him wanting to chase after him to turn him to the Light, and the other part wanting to remain behind and get his bearings. He chose the latter.
Another part wanted to chase after him and nip the darkness in the bud.
Words 463
Inspiration: Grim’s research
Music: End of Line – Daft Punk