The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Forgive Me, Father…
by Jaime Johnesee 

I used to come here to pray. Before the war, before the place was bombed to bits, before only half the cathedral remained. I continued to come after the destruction, to remember and hope that my prayers are heard. For so long now I’ve been embattled in a war with reality. My beliefs were constantly crushed under the heel of enemy forces. Was God real? Had He forgotten us Earthlings, or were we some horrible experiment sent to the furthest reaches of the universe so as not to corrupt the rest of His creations?

Why did He have to take everyone I loved? Why was I left alone to shoulder this pain? As I walked down the aisle once lined in confessionals, now lined in rubble and ruin. I wondered if I was the only one cursed, or if it was the whole damned world.

A priest stood in front of me, and I stopped, startled by his sudden appearance, and apologized.

“I am so sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

A light to his face revealed that he was one of the turned, the completely black eyes, sharp snout, and pointy teeth let me know immediately that he was one of the infected. I turned to run for my life, and ran straight into another one. They fell upon me like dogs, snarling and tearing at me. I was terrified and so ran into the blackness screaming, clawing at anything that touched me.

They followed, tearing and ripping at me. Biting and snapping as I limped away, bleeding. I was continually attacked by the creatures until I could move and breathe no longer. Their snouts dug into my abdomen, but I was too numb to care. Death now held me firmly in her cold slender hands. I stared at a crack in part of what was left of the ceiling and waited to be done with this world, this torture. With wet snapping noise, everything ended.

.

Fiction © Copyright Jaime Johnesee
Image courtesy of Pexels.com

More from Jaime Johnesee:

Shifters: A Samantha Reece Mystery

When a serial killer begins leaving remains of victims in hotel bathtubs all over town FBI Agent Samantha Reece makes it her business to stop him.

This detective’s got an ace up her sleeve in the form of her ability to shift into the guise of a were panther. As she tracks down the cold-hearted murderer she also has to contend with an anti-shifter group determined to destroy her.

Not to mention the black jaguar who turned her decides to come sauntering back into her life.

Available on Amazon!