The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Hear No Evil
by Sonora Taylor

Father Marvin couldn’t get it right. No matter how much he worked the flesh, evil could still slice its way through.

He sighed as he washed the blood off of his hands. When he’d first seen the trio as a boy – see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil – he found a perfect trinity, one even holier than the three he’d hear about in church as he sat next to his mother on Sunday mornings.

Sadly, though, the people around him seemed more than happy to let in one (or more!) evils. Evil soaked their eyes, drenched their ears, and filled their mouths, leaving no room for the blood that Father Marvin offered in communion. He often grew so frustrated that he imagined stuffing the parishioners with wine, holding their mouths and nostrils closed until they drowned in God’s glory.

But that wasn’t as effective as the Trio of No Evil – and he knew the only way he’d save his flock was to make them like those little statues he’d been entranced by as a boy.

There weren’t many left in his flock to save – fewer people came to his services with each passing Sunday – but on that Sunday, the 31 who’d arrived were more than enough. He’d locked the doors, tied them to the pews, and bound them into trios. Hands sewn to mouths, eyes, or ears depending on who sat where.

But one parishioner remained, a man named Charles; one whose frightened tears mixed with the blood on his face. Father Marvin had sewn one hand to Charles’ mouth, and the other to his left eye. But how could Father Marvin ensure he’d hear no evil, with no hands left to cover him?

Father Marvin looked at his own hands. Despite the washing, blood stains seeped through the cracks in his palms. He couldn’t cut off his own hands. They were the hands of God, hands that brought good to his parishioners. His hands didn’t need to cover evil. They needed to wash evil away.

His knife glinted from the pew. Father Marvin said a prayer, then picked up the knife and walked towards Charles. He’d have to slice his ear away – and probably the other eye, for good measure. Charles screamed through his own hand, and Father Marvin gently shushed him. Soon Charles wouldn’t need to hear the evil. Soon he would be safe.

Fiction © Copyright Sonora Taylor
Image courtesy of  Pixabay.com

More from Sonora Taylor:

Without Condition

Cara Vineyard lives a quiet life in rural North Carolina. She works for an emerging brewery, drives her truck late at night, and lives with her mother on a former pumpkin farm. Her mother is proud of her and keeps a wall displaying all of Cara’s accomplishments.

Cara isn’t so much proud as she is bored. She’s revitalized when she meets Jackson Price, a pharmacist in Raleigh. Every day they spend together, she falls for him a little more — which in turn makes her life more complicated. When Cara goes on her late-night drives, she often picks up men. Those men tend to die. And when Cara comes back to the farm, she brings a memento for her mother to add to her wall of accomplishments.

Cara’s mother loves her no matter what. But she doesn’t know if Jackson will feel the same — and she doesn’t want to find out.

Available on Amazon!