The Church

The Church

       The Church towered above any and all buildings on the skyline. In the morning, whilst the sun was rising, the most prominent figure in the sky was its cross, beginning to cast its shadow over the city. At noon, it was all you could see, almost blotting out the sun, even though it was made of two thin boards of wood. At sunset, its silhouette stood out in front of a beautiful, apocalyptic sky. At night, you would see the moon shine next to the cross, but in the city the moon almost seemed farther away than in others, as if even the moon was afraid of The Church's cross.
       During the day, the civilians would scurry in and out of buildings, wanting to get what they entered the building for and get out, and go home to isolate themselves from everyone else after a small meal with their family. A family always consisted of a man and a woman and two children, because anything else classified you as a Heretic and therefore got you killed. There were no Heretics left anymore, though. Yes, all the homosexuals had been killed off years ago in a war. It was called a war, but everyone knew, though they would never say it, that it had been genocide.
       Nobody wanted to be around anybody else more than they absolutely had to, because anybody could be a sinner. And the church said that he who associates themselves with a sinner is also a sinner. And sinners burned in Hell with the Heretics.
       Allison snapped out of it. She had zoned out, staring at the cross. People rushed by her on the sidewalk, trying to avoid eye contact with one another, or even look up from the dirty old pavement. Pavement. It was then that Allison realized that inside The Church was really the only public place where the floor was clean. Or where anything was clean, really. One of the Priests walked outside of The Church, dressed in black robes, and saw Allison standing there. He walked up to her and grabbed her shoulder. "Move along, ma'am."
"I was just admiring the cross and-"
"I don't care. You must return to your dwelling. Now. Of course you know it is a sin to admire the cross."
This puzzled Allison. As far back as she could remember, she had never heard of that being a sin. And she had attended Church every day since the day she was born. (Perfect attendance for life wasn't required, but if you stayed home one day or were late then you became less respected.)
"Ma'am, move along. You're sinning. Go home and beg forgiveness."
Allison started to walk away, muttering "everything's a sin now, isn't it..." But was stopped by the hand on her shoulder again.
"Pardon, ma'am."
"Nothing."
"That didn't sound like nothing."
"I was just already praying for forgiveness and-"
"Praying, were you? Well maybe you can pray for this."
The Priest proceeded to take out a baton and hit her in the face with it. The blow knocked her onto the ground.
"What the..." She whispered, and felt her face, which felt wet and sticky and warm with blood. The Priest hit her again.
"Are you sorry, ma'am?"
"I- I-"
He struck her again, harder this time.
"Are you sorry?"
"Yes!" Allison cried, "Yes!"
He struck her once again.
She burst out, "You're not a Priest! You're not a man! You're a Daemon! You've come to spread the lies of Satan!"
He struck her once more, beginning to smile and laugh at her reactions.
"What's so funny?" Allison asked. "What is so hilarious?"
"Oh, just that you still believe all that bull. Just like everyone else in this godforsaken city."
Allison looked around, weeping and bleeding, scanning her surroundings for help, any sort of help, but no one was around, since they had all gone home. Suddenly there were four more Priests around her, beating her and laughing. Her vision became strange- the Priests were multiplying, sliding back and forth throughout her field of vision.
       She awoke in a strange white room. There were three Priests in white robes around her... Or were they protective hazard suits? Before she could think clearly enough to figure that out, she heard "Clear!' and then there were what felt like millions of lightning bolts striking her at once, exploding into little electricity volts inside of her, coursing through her body, like needles piercing every pore of her skin, collapsing her veins momentarily, and then her vision became red around the corners of her eyes. She was in too much pain to cry out. She heard laughter, laughter all around her, high and low voices laughing at her, like a funny sitcom. The red faded to black and started growing towards the center of her eyes, and suddenly she wished for death, be it with or without a real God or Satan. Yes, death! That was the way out! Before she could finish the thought, she passed out. Her wish would not be granted- at least not today.
       Three days later, Allison walked out of The Church and to her home, not wanting to see anybody, so making sure to watch the ground and walk fast. She loved The Church. She didn't even know what had happened in the last week, but she didn't care. She saw a Priest smile at her, and she tried to smile back, but couldn't entirely because all she wanted to do was get home. The Church of Fear was her life.

-SD=Anarchy
11/22/12