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“Dear brothers and sisters…”

…That voice… that’s Denby’s… I’m slowly waking up… I faintly see people surrounding Denby. I feel my hands are bound along with my legs.

“Our God is smiling down upon us at this very moment!” He continues. “We all have proven his will is just!”

I’m now realizing I’m tied up in the church. I look down to my right to see Laney Prichard laying on the floor covered in her blood, she must’ve been one of the people that got shot. Along with her are 4 more bodies lined up beside her also with gunshots and bloody wounds.

“For years, God has seen our efforts in raising our young ones, teaching them to be respectable and productive when they reach adulthood. Our God wanted us to teach them the main words that these words come from… loyalty and obedience. But… there are times that the seeds of evil are sown in our fields and fall through the cracks, and it’s up to us to weed them out!”

The townspeople agree with Denby’s words; they always have and will be swooning to it. Denby looks at me.

“This witch! This harlot… summoned that unholy creature to terrorize our beloved town! He has killed our brethren! She’s let that abomination do her dirty work and cause dissention here, and had laid in bed with him, I can smell his scent on her!”

Of course, he would point out something trivial about what I’ve done. Judgmental and pompous ass. As he looks back to the crowd, I realize that I’m tied to a stake. I look below me to see a pit with firewood… they are going to burn me! Seth… what am I supposed to do?! Where are you? Thinking of this, I look to the people… they look disheveled and tired like they haven’t slept in days, looking like the undead. I look to my left… What have these people done?! The children… they killed the children, and for what? Loyalty? Obedience? Just to prove me wrong?! They sacrificed them for power from the wrong person; Seth knows whose influence this is.

“The demon who brought forth this harlot thought he had power over us! He thought we couldn’t see through this harlot’s façade! And the many times he’s tried to trick us, we’ve shown him how strong we are! No matter how hard he hits us, we stand firm together because of our God! The ones who aided this… thing, knew they couldn’t win, that’s why they left her! The ones who laid down their lives, right here on this floor, their sacrifice will not be in vain!”

They cheer for Denby and hearing all of this is making my blood boil. All the lies, the hypocrisy, they can’t be saved. Levine gives Denby a chalice while Diana holds a large golden pitcher which I see is filled with blood, and Trevor is holding a lit torch and is standing next to the pit. Levine grabs a tray of cups from a nearby table, walks to the crowd so every person can get one. There were a few people in the crowd that caught my eye.

A cup is given to Deloris who has a crazed look in her eyes and a demented smile on her face and has glared at me a couple times. Another cup is given to Officer Brendon Dantley who looks doubtful rather than confident. Linsey Gordon, Lana Marington, and Patricia Lonzo are also given cups with the rest while Diana starts filling the cups. I see the women and Brendon showing their unease, probably having second thoughts, and seeing what was poured into the cups. I guess Luce’s influence is powerful only against the weak-minded and prideful, and they are neither of those. As all cups were filled for everybody, Diana fills Denby’s chalice with blood, and Denby begins to speak in a different language; it’s chanting, just like Seth and Sebastian said. The rest start to chant with him, and looking at Denby, I can see this dark red aura forming as he chanted; his skin is now a pale gray. He turns to me, and I see bright crimson red irises with pitch black sclera; those are the devil’s eyes.

He was about to say something, until…

“You godforsaken phony!” This claim stopped the chants, and everyone turned their heads to the back of the church; Lana said it. “You’re the one who invited the devil into our town! He has taken you over…”

“Why, sister Marington.” Denby responds. “Whatever are you talking about?”

“Lana’s right! This is not it! This is not the way we do things!” Patricia comments.

“Exactly! This is not what we were brought up on as children!” Linsey adds.

Denby sighs in annoyance.

“After all the sermons you ladies have attended, you still don’t understand.” He speaks. “Don’t you remember that this witch is the reason our town is at stake?! She is sin incarnate, and this power we have can eradicate her. This is the power of God!”

“We don’t worship your God!” Brendon counters. “You’ve been the one that has led this town to ruin! We all are going to be killed because you!”

The aura swells around Denby. “Well… you ungrateful degenerates! Bring these traitors here!”

A group of 8 men grabs the 4 of them with the crowd stepping aside and pushes them up to the front near Denby. As they were restrained, he walks toward them and puts his chalice near Lana’s lips; Lana tries to turn away from it, but one of the men restraining her held her by the back of her neck, turning her head back to the chalice.

“This power…” Denby speaks. “The blood of our brethren. Our god would want us to take it. Either you take it or become a sacrifice for it. It’s up to you.”

Denby points to Lana’s right which she looks to, seeing the bodies of the children which horrified her along with the other three. I am still triggered by it. I don’t know if those four realized what they have been doing over the past hour or so, but looking at this site is a gut-wrenching reality of what has been done… “You… killed them…”

I catch everybody’s attention. My anger was seething, something within me is beginning to bend, and I feel tears well in my eyes. “You killed innocent children… What have you people done?!”

“Their sacrifice was for the greater good of our god. To show our loyalty which is a concept you are unable to comprehend.”

I scoff at Denby’s excuse because that’s what it was, a bullshit excuse.

“Really?” I ask. “You kill the town’s children because of loyalty?! You are a fucking hypocrite and a murderer! The god you’re thinking of doesn’t want anything to do with you... you’ve damned yourself; you’ve damned everyone in your congregation… for the wrong entity…”

“YOU LIE!” Denby yells at me. “You know nothing of his word—”

“HE WOULDN’T TELL YOU TO SACRIFICE INNOCENT CHILDREN!!” I interrupted him angrily. “Nor would he tell you to neglect or disregard people in your flock that need guidance! You’ve darkened hearts like mine! Your faith has brought death to this town!”

Denby glared at me as everyone grew silent.

“You don’t know who you’re worshipping. Do you, false prophet?”

Denby became enraged to where he walked to me, I feel a slap across my face. The slap was strong, I taste the blood in my mouth not a moment too soon… When I turn to see Denby snatching the torch out of Trevor’s hand… Something inside me snapped. I see Denby drink from his chalice, prompting everyone to drink as well from their cups, besides Lana, Linsey, Patricia, and Brendon who were spared. The people start chanting again, and I see the red aura teeming from them… I look to Denby.

“The blasphemy you speak shows the darkness you hold and the toxin you spew.” He demeans.

As he spoke, I see the blood dripping from my leg into the pit and on to the floor, and its creeping its way around it and soaking the firewood. Seth, are you doing this?

“It’s about time I turned you into dust!” He yells.

As a token of what he’s planning to do, I spit out the blood from my mouth onto his face. I then see Brendon headbutt one of his captors, turn and punch the other in the face, loosening their grip on him. He tries to grab the torch from Denby, but he gets stabbed in the stomach by Trevor with a dagger that was hidden in his robe. Brendon falls to the floor, making Lana, Linsey, and Patricia scream with shock. I hear the people chant:

“Burn her! Burn her! Burn her!”

I glare at Denby who is trying to quickly wipe my blood from his face.

“Kill anybody that doesn’t fit to your beliefs?! That’s how it goes?!” I ask sounding insane. “A pathetic answer! You all belong in Hell!”

My anger, my rage, I can’t contain it anymore. Denby is still trying to get the blood off his face. The look of shock, panic, and disgust on his face, it’s starting to make me laugh, and the sound of my voice starts to echo throughout the sanctuary. My sanity… is slipping away. Denby finally wipes the blood from his face and glares angrily at me.

“I will do us all a favor…” He speaks lividly. “…and send this unholy and filthy harlot back where she belongs!”

He throws the torch into the pit. The fire begins to quickly engulf the wood, surrounding me and slowly inching its way to the stake… is this my end? Is this how my story ends? The smoke from the flames begin to fill my lungs, and close my eyes as the fire consumes me… Seth… Seth… where… are… y—you?...