I glare at him as a tear drops from my eye. “You support a priest on this campus in his quest for ridding sin, yet you live in the shadows of the darkest one.”
He pushes me back into the chair as he clasps my other arm onto the armrest, binding me completely in the chair. “I am not living in sin,” he retorts with anger. “I am purifying the community. You should be grateful that you are being cleansed and given the opportunity to repent. May God bless you,” he spits out with anger, spittle landing on my face as I try to turn my head away.
“Fuck you,” I spit at him. He ignores me, returning to a calm demeanor and not feeding into my retaliation. He pulls the key out of his pocket, unlocking the door and slamming it shut behind him. He leaves us in silence, and I look up, glaring at Jocelyn across the room from me.
“You support a father like this, truly?” I ask defeatedly, losing the rage that was just burning within me. She stays quiet, looking down at her lap.
I roll my eyes. “Do you know if there is any way out of here, orare you going to just accept whatever happens next? Because, news flash, Jocelyn. You’re not safe in this situation until they know the truth. If I’m right, nobody knows that you are Priest Brown’s daughter. Will he risk the community knowing you were made out of wedlock?”
She shoots her glare at me. “Shut up! You don’t know anything!” she shouts at me with annoyance.
“It’s not that hard to put together. Why else would it be such a secret on a religious campus? I don’t see a ring on his finger, Josie. I don’t see a wife by his side. And I definitely don’t see his human body sustaining life by itself for this many years. Am I right,Josie?” I say her name with a bite. Her eyes flare with shock, then swiftly turn to rage.
“You don’t even know what you’re talking about. Stop talking before you get us into more trouble.” She starts to look around with newfound panic.
“You’re just going to sit there in compliance then? I hate to break it to you, I don’t think anyone is going to save you but yourself.”
She turns her head away, ignoring me. But I see the way her lip continues to tremble. I look around the room, trying to find any sort of tool or escape route.
“Josie, is there any way out of here?” I ask again. She continues to look away, not answering me. I roll my eyes.
I look at the windows again, but they’re so high up. It would be impossible to crawl up unless we pushed the chairs underneath them. Maybe then we can climb along the wall, possibly grabbing onto the candle mounts? We’d have to break the windows. I don’t see a latch from down here.
It’s a shame they’re covered in such beautiful stained glass for such a shitty environment. It reflects the morning sunlight in different colors into the room, filling it with a warmth that contrasts with the cold air of the basement. Any other time, I could sit here and stare at the art on the glass for hours. Instead, I move along, looking at the floor for a potential escape route, drain, or even a vent. Unfortunately, thefloor is brick, covered in a film of dust with no visible pipes from this angle.
“There’s no way out of here,” she angrily tosses my way.
I don’t look at her as I observe the metal bindings. They rub roughly against my wrists as I fidget. I try to pull my thumb into my palm to break free from the bindings, but stop as the pain intensifies. Fuck, I don’t want to break my thumbs.
“Instead of snapping at me, maybe it would be productive to help us find a way out? Hmm?” I try to hold the bite back at her.
“You don’t understand, Grace. There is no returning or escaping from here. This might be a confessional, but it’s one that will cleanse us completely.”
I look up at her, her jaw trembling. “What do you mean exactly when you say ‘cleanse us completely’?”
She hesitates for a moment before tears finally fall from her eyes. “It means they’ll burn us with the flames of our sin. They willburnus, Grace. I’ve never seen what happens to those who have survived through the entire confessional.” She shakes her head in despair. “I believe they are offered in the ritual on the 6th to God. For the years they don’t…I don’t know. I just know they will let us burn in the flames again and again with chants to bring about rapture.” She sobs. “They fully believe that with each ritual we become that much closer to God returning to earth to rescue us from this demonic world. The sin determines how the sacrifice is made in the ritual.”
My jaw clenches as I watch her snake tears fall from her eyes. “Cut the tears, Josie. You’ve willingly gone along with all these rituals for your entire life. Stop sayingthey.Being in this position, you must recognize how wrong everything is,” I spit out.
She starts to cry harder. “You don’t understand. God requires sacrifice! He begs my father for these rituals to fuel his strength. Don’t you understand? You can’t tell God no! You can’t deny Him! You can’t second-guess Him!”
My jaw drops at what she says, at how brainwashed she is. How can she even go along with this and continue to defend her father’s actions, even with her life potentially on the line?
“Do you truly believe you are worshipping God in the decision of casting judgment on your own peers? That is up toHimto judge us. He would never tolerate these choices in His name!” I shout back at her, her head already shaking in disagreement.
“Do you even read His word, Grace? There are multiple instances in which God has encouraged human sacrifices. Jephthah in the book of Judges? He sacrificed his own daughter for God when he won the battle!” she argues back as the rage floods my blood while I try to pull out of my bindings.
“You are so fucking wrong, Josie! What the actual fuck? I’ve been shoved into this world for more years than I’d want, and Iknowthat's bullshit. He speaks countlessly against human sacrifice. You don’t think I haven’t read His word because I’m fucking gay? I’ve lived in the shadows of my own sin, desperate to escape it. I was living in a constant fear of whatmanwas telling me was wrong, compared to a God who surely loves me for who I am. After all, I am created in His image, right?” My body trembles with rage at how easily it has become for people to continuously take the word from the Bible and twist it fortheirgood and not what itreallymeans.
“God would not tolerate the choices you all have and continue to make. Have youtrulyread His word? What about when God tested Abraham to sacrifice his son in Genesis, which He stopped! There are even warnings against it in Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and 2 Kings! Don’t let your twisted interpretation of the Bible dictate how you treat fellow living beings when your own father is living in his own blasphemy.” I exhale a heavy breath at my fury-filled words and slam my head back against the chair, closing my eyes as the adrenaline of fear and anger threatens to explode inside of me.
Of course, Josie doesn’t reply. She stays silent after that, besides theoccasional heavy sob that slips out of her mouth. I ignore her, refusing to baby her emotions when she has put countless other individuals in this position herself.
“Milly, where are you?” I whisper into nothing. My wrists start to bleed as I continue to try to pull my arms free. I groan in frustration when I hear a subtle tsk of someone’s tongue. I look to Josie, whose jaw is dropped to my right, and I look to see beauty so breathtaking that my fears dissipate instantly.
Chapter 22
Grace
