"That—"
"I'm not done. The first time was when I was fifteen, but I molested them before that. My dad made me—"
Pastor Ryan freezes, his eyes narrowing as realization slams into him. "Nick? What the fuck are you—"
"He made me touch my friend so that he could record it. It only stopped because my mom died, and she quit coming to my house so often..."
"That's enough!" Father snaps, rapping against the divide in the confessional. "Stop lying, right this instant!"
"She forgot, but I didn't. And I missed her, so when I had the chance, I raped her. I watched my friends put drugs in her eggnog and when she couldn't fight me, I stripped her clothes off right over there, by the altar..." Nick's voice fractures again as he sobs.
"Don't forget you made me come first." Nikki says, speaking loudly now... loud enough for Father to hear. His eyes widen in horror as realization settles around him. "Because you're such a nice guy, right?"
Father Ryan stands to exit the confessional, no doubt ready to go around and rip his son out of the booth to beat some sense into him, to get him to shut up. I move into his path.
In the dimly lit space, he strains to see me. It takes a moment for the shadows to rearrange and grant him access, and another before recognition settles in.
"You!" He gasps. "You're... dead?"
"I am." I assure him. "I have been, for a year now. It's been a long, hard wait for her, but I would have waited a thousand years more. Your son fucked that up, though, because he inherited all of your fucked up proclivities. And now we're all here together. Father, son, and the holy ghosts."
"Boo." Nikki chuckles, using the same scare tactic she used on Cole.
Father shakes his head, trying to move past me to the confessional door again. Instead, I get my hands on his arms and drive him backwards, shoving him back into the seat. His cell phone falls from his hand, flashing the girl in a schoolgirl’s skirt, topless, before I stomp on his phone, crushing it beneath my boot.
Crunching glass quickly precedes the screen going black, but I kick it out of reach just in case. "You're not done here."
"Nick!" Father Ryan yells, anger biting through his careful facade of patience and kindness. "Call the damn police. Get these sinners out of our church!"
I chuckle at his lack of comprehension.
"I can't." Nick says. "I'm stuck."
I eye the lattice partition separating them from us, deciding it's time to come face-to-face. The point of the knife makes a jarring sound when I drive it into the thin metal grate, digging the point between two of the holes and ripping.
The force splits the grate, exposing a jagged hole between the two sides, and revealing Nick, where he sits with Nikki draped across his lap, arms around his neck. I'd be jealous if I saw them like this at a party; they look so close, like this is so natural for them. At one time, it would have been. But the knife in Nikki's right hand, pressed neatly against Nick's throat, betrays that image.
"Nick!" Father Ryan gasps, trying to move toward his son, as if he can do anything, much less get through the divide. I push him back down easily.
"You're supposed to stay quiet while he confesses. He's not done."
"Tell your daddy what you did to me after all that." Nikki prompts him. "Don't skip the details."
Nick whimpers, the tears on his face glistening in the little light.
"I made her cum so I could slip inside."
"How did it feel?" Nikki asks, eyeing him.
Nick closes his eyes; funny thatnowthe shame is sinking in. "Good."
"More details." Nikki says, tapping a finger against the blade. "Use your adjectives."
"Warm." He sobs. "Silky."
"There you go." She nods in approval. "So, you came, obviously, and then realized you'd stolen my virtue. You know, The Old Testament would have required us to be married for that." She scoffs. "And I wanted to leave, so I did. But you guys weren't done. Your friends followed me, to take their turns. And they did, out in the snow..."
"Is he hard?" Nikki asks suddenly, drawing Father Ryan's attention.
