Photo by Mateus Campos Felipe on Unsplash
“Ms Carlton…? What’s the matter?”
I tried to contain my tears, but it was easier said than done.
“They… they’re going to—these people, they… I don’t know where to begin, I… I just want to get away from this place but… but…”
“I’ll come pick you up, okay? Do you think you can meet me in the woods? Ms Carlton?”
I shook my head. “No, I- I can’t. They—you don’t understand, they’re…”
“I’m calling the police.” He took a short pause. “It’s… Everything’s gonna be fine, okay?”
“… Okay.”
He hung up.
I packed my stuff in haste and set out into the darkness.
I had two options: I either did as Nath told me and played God or made a break for it and wished upon the stars that the police find Vera before it was too late.
The woods were as lonely as I recalled.
Closing in on the spot where I met the retired journalist for the first time, I got the feeling that someone watched over me.
I looked around me in the murk, trying to discern something – anything – out of the ordinary.
This delayed me for about half a minute or so.
When I noticed the flashlights to the right, I hurried towards the roadway only to baulk.
David Chapman was there.
But he was not alone.
The guy I saw in the church, the one who was with Nath, was right beside him.
They were whispering; they were looking for me.
As the beam of blinding light pointed at me, I cowered behind a clump of bushes and held my breath.
The duo neared.
I was losing my mind trying to figure out what was going on.
That was when I overheard their bizarre conversation and knew the police were not on their way.
“You think she figured it out?”
The journalist, “No, she sounded clueless. She must be on her way; I’m sure.”
“What do we do with her when she comes?”
“I’ll have to ask Mary that, but we need to find her first. Here, hold the flashlight. I’ll call and see if she’s on her way.”
I fetched my phone and tried to power it off. My hands, however, lost their functionality.
I shook out of control, in a cold sweat, but my hands did not move the way I wanted them.
I switched the thing off at the eleventh hour and took a deep breath.
But my relief was short-lived.
My heart sank and my breathing became increasingly shallow and irregular.
“Did you hear that?” asked the guy.
“No, what did you hear?”
“I’m not sure. I keep hearing things these past few days. It must be the spirits…”
The flashlight turned direction.
The duo disappeared into the night.
I turned my phone on and put it on mute, then called the person who dropped me off here.
The chauffeur.
It was past the wee hours.
He did not pick up.
I left a desperate voicemail and asked the driver to come pick me up as soon as he received the message and call the police.
I was going back.
It was no use in calling the police at this point.
The retired journalist and the others would manipulate anyone who stepped foot inside this place. I was certain.
Nath’s words rang in my ears.
He said there were more people like him, people who believed Mary was a fake prophet pretending to be the voice of God.
It was written in their Gospels that I would challenge her throne, that I would denounce her as the voice of Satan.
And… that was exactly what I was gonna do. Did I even have any other option?
If doing this meant I could keep Vera safe, then I would join this wicked game of pretend this very second.
I returned to the gates of Hell.
The night was vivid.
All the villagers gathered at the dilapidated church for the ceremony – this sacrificial ritual that would claim Vera’s life.
I felt the rusty, cold doorknobs in my hands before I flung the door open and made my way through the aisle.
I locked gazes with Mary whose entire face was drenched in crimson in front of the altar. Before her, the catafalque stood, its lid partially open.
I felt the numerous gazes fixed on me yet all I could see was the distorted face of this person, who called herself the descendant of Mary Magdalene and the voice of God.
My eyes wandered to the catafalque where I left Vera to her demise.
A pang of ache hit my chest.
I shifted my attention to Mary once more. Neither of us said a word. Then I turned to the mass, to these lost spirits who were ready to ditch their God for a new one.
I raised my hands high in the air; I didn’t have to say a single word.
Nath stepped forwards and kneeled before me. The rest of the congregation Mary and those before her manipulated all these years followed suit.
I turned to face Mary again. As I did that, she charged at me with a crowbar.
I did not budge; I just shut my eyes.
A hoard of footfalls emerged from all directions and on either side of me, rushing forwards like brutes and screaming their heads off.
When I reopened my eyes, I saw a pile of lunatics on top of one another at the altar, tearing Mary apart and ripping her into pieces. Alive.
I backed away and almost lost my footing at the macabre sight.
My heartbeat picked up.
I grabbed the crowbar on the floor and pulled off the rest of the nails on the catafalque.
I broke off; the tears threatening to spill.
The poor thing greeted me with a stiff expression on her pallid child’s face. Her eyes shot open, her cheeks hollow, and her heartbeat no longer beating.
I snatched her out from her tomb and carried her out into the darkness from the backdoor.
I locked gazes with Nath as I rushed out yet he did not follow me.
But his face looked… How should I put it? Peculiar, like a wolfish grin unlike any other.
It made my blood run cold.
I shook the dire thoughts away and plodded through the graveyard and took a detour to the woods.
David Chapman and the other guy weren’t prowling around.
I ran with all my might.
It was during this plight that I noticed that I sprinted in circles.
I had run in over ten minutes and I had not reached the end of the forested area yet.
I broke off and put the lifeless girl on the ground.
She had no pulse; I knew that, but I still tried to shake her back to life.
She did not respond.
I stooped over her cold body and broke into tears, doubling over and crying my heart out.
It was over. Everything… was over. I came too late. I… I failed Vera.
Even if I magically found a way out of this place – somehow – I would still have to live with the insight that I failed to save Vera when I had the opportunity.
Something seized my arm.
I stopped breathing.
I stared down at the child whose black eyes now stared right through me.
A hint of a harrowing grin showed up on her pale lips, and her nails dug into my skin.
I gasped and crawled away from her.
Vera, or whatever this was, got on four legs with her head twisted 180 degrees, and stared at me with her upside-down eyes.
I stumbled on something and looked up.
An identical grin plastered on my late mother’s ripped lips met my distorted face.
I stopped breathing and forced myself up.
I did not know where I was running towards or in what direction; I just ran.
I only stopped when a sudden beam of light blinded my vision.
I covered my eyes. When I reopened them, I was back in the church.
The shredded and mutilated body of Mary lay in front of the altar I stood on.
The mass hailed me, rocking in place and praying like the mad people they were.
They were beside themselves.
Nath sat me down on an adorned throne in front of a disturbing painting of Mary as the Devil.
And he said something only I could hear amidst the chaos, something that would forever haunt me.
“You just killed the voice of God.”
The End.
Read part I HERE.
Read part II HERE.
Read part III HERE.
Read part IV HERE.
Read part V HERE.
Read part VI HERE.
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