Chewing On Glass…

“Settle down, settle down everyone. It is almost time to begin,” a voice calls out through the already seated crowd. A silence washes over the room. The room goes dark as a single red spot light shines upon the podium before them. Father Herington approaches the podium from somewhere in the darkness. Bathed in red light his all-black cassock and pellegrina absorb the light unlike his pale skin that glows red before their eyes. His image projected into the minds of the followers before him as many of them close their eyes. He rests his hands on the black podium gripping the sides.

He towers over them from the stage with his head held high while looking down upon his congregation. “Let us begin with a prayer,” his deep booming voice commands with his arms now raised to the heavens. “Our father who are not in heaven we gather here today to honor and to praise the. For all that you have given. For all that you have sacrificed so that we could live. We ask for your holy guidance now and always as we take in your holy script.” He pauses to take the bible before him into his hands. Raising the bible high above his head towards the heavens.

“Let those who don’t understand, those who questions these words,” his booming voice growing louder in the silence. “Show them the light my Lord,” he calls out pointing the bible to the spot light. The light changes from red to a bright white illuminating the bible within his hands. “Shower them in your love and grace my Lord. So, that they may understand. So, that they may praise you,” his voice reaching a climax. “To understand you and your way as those of us who have gathered before you today have. With an open heart and closed eyes. Amen.”

“With an open heart and closed eyes,” they all chant back. He clutches the bible in the crook of his arm as he absorbs their devoted words into his spirit. Their collective echoes reverberating off the wall of the make shift church. Built with the love of his followers, but hidden from the view of prying eyes. A ramshackle existence hidden deep within the woods of Pennsylvania. A forgotten land teeming with forgotten desperate people looking for an answer to their many prayers. They all wait breathlessly from their chairs for Father Herington to speak. For their voice of God and reason to speak to them.

“I’m sure you may be wondering why it is that I have called upon you all today,” he begins pacing the stage in dramatic fashion as he speaks. “It is not the Sabbath. Today is not a holiday,” he pauses holding the words in the air. “Not yet at least. You see my brothers and sisters today may not be special as you awoke today. It may have just seemed like nothing more than another day in the eyes of the Lord. That is all about to change. This once insignificant day will go down not just as the most sacred of all holidays, but it will mark the true beginning of everything we have been working towards. What our Lord has been working towards,” his booming voice calling out through the room.

He places the bible in his hands gently back onto the podium. Standing before the bright light as what he has said sinks in to his followers before him. He takes in a deep breath and he turns his gaze to the bible. It stares deeply into as it rests on the podium. “Before I explain though. Before I elaborate on what I mean. I must ask,” he releases a long sigh as though it hurts him to do so. As though it pains him to even ask the question. “Do you believe?” His words sound more as like a threat than a question. His piercing eyes return to the eyes before him.

A resounding yes roars through the crowded room. “Do you truly believe? In you heart? With all of your soul?” He cries out. Again, he is swept away by a sea of yes and his face twists into a sinister smile. It doesn’t last as Father Herrington softens his smile back to the face they have come to know and love. His hard eyes looking over the congregation. His eyes moving from person to person as though to question their loyalty to the church. As though his eyes have a way of question their very soul. Most of the room stares back eagerly hoping he look into their eyes. A few however do not. A few look away as his eyes search their souls. Bringing into question their absolute faith in the Lord in his eyes.

He steps down from the stage and the light follows him as he moves closer to them. “Tell me Cynthia. Do you believe?” He calls out to a set of eyes that stare intently back from the darkness. Cynthia jumps up from her seat before him. Her pregnant belly barely missing the pew in front of her. “Yes, Father I believe. I believe in the Lord and the way Father. With an open heart and closed eyes,” she cheers. He smiles once again for her and her only. A smile grows upon her face as she awaits his words.

Looking deeply into her eyes, into her soul. “I believe you, my child. But what about you Jeramiah? Do you believe in the will and the way? The laws of our God?” His smile disappearing as he calls out the wavering soul sitting next to her. He turns his attention away from Cynthia and toward Jeramiah. All the eyes in the room are now upon Jeramiah as Cynthia returns to her seat. Jeramiah slowly stands up before him, before them all. Slowly stands up to answer the call.

“Yes, Father I believe,” he says timidly. His voice barely loud enough to hear. He doesn’t look into the Fathers eyes, but rather down at the pew before him. Father Herington’s booming voice kicks up again returning the eyes of everyone back to him. “We shall see about that,” his hard eyes becoming even harder. “Because today I will test all of your faith. Because today marks the beginning of all things to come,” he offers once again. He turns his back on the crowd and Jeramiah sits back down grateful to no longer have the attention of everyone around him. Father Herington makes his way back onto the stage. The spotlight following him as he goes.

“The journey will not be easy,” he says stepping back behind the podium. “It was never meant to be. It wasn’t easy for Moses when the Lord called upon him. It wasn’t easy for Jesus to sacrifice himself in the name of the Lord. It has never been easy for our Lord and savior Lucifer.  Sacrifice upon sacrifice is all that our Lord has known, and who has it been for?” He questions loudly. “For us,” they chant back. “That’s right my brothers and sisters. It has all been for us and only us. Those heathens out there accept his light and his love, but they have no clue why. They don’t understand our savior or the truth as we do. It is time that we help those heathens understand what they have never understood. Help them understand the sacrifices our Lord has made for them over and over again,” he calls out.

“We shall not expect it to be easy for us. Nor shall we accept anything less than struggle for our Lord. No, my brothers and sisters life is and never was easy. Not for us and not for them. With an open heart and closed eyes. We shall overcome,” he calls out dramatically. “With an open heart and closed eyes,” they chant without hesitation. He paces the stage once again acting as though he is deep in thought and filled with sadness for what comes next.

“The journey like all things will take time. Some of you may not make it to the end.,” he says in a sad tone. “Some may not even see their actions, their sacrifice to us and our Lord pay off, but know that those who don’t walk hand and hand with us to the very end will still reap the benefits,” he shakes his fist in the air as though this action is a promise that can’t be broken. “You will all be rewarded for your faith,” he shakes his fist one last time as they chant once again. “As we have waited,” he paces once again.

“As those before us have waited and as our Lord himself has waited we must all be patient. This patience will pay off. As we usher in the second coming of our Lord. The second coming of what we have always waited for. For we have been chosen by God my children,” he calls out. His voice and demeanor taking on a different quality than even they are used to. “We amongst the world have been granted the knowledge of the truth. The truth we have always searched for. For our God has spoken to me my children,” his voice regaining its composer and confidence.

“He came before me with his plan and with the truth. He came before me with a mission that only we can bring to fruition. That only we can accomplish,” he repeats. He moves back behind his podium once again. “Twenty-two years from today our Lord shall return for all those to see,” he calls out to his followers. “With open hearts and closed eyes,” they cheer erupting with joy. “With open hearts and closed eyes,” they praise. “But first,” his booming voice cuts through their celebration. “But first we must shed the lies and fully embrace the truth,” he announces and they all return to silence.  

“A truth hidden in the confines of lies. The very words we once held to be truth,” he raises his black bible into the air. “What we thought we knew wasn’t the whole truth,” he cries out as though he is in great pain. “My brothers, my sisters, my children,” he cries out. “What we thought we knew has been a lie,” he says as he opens the bible with his hands.

Gripping the cover of the bible with his hands he rips the book into two. “What we were taught has been untruthful,” he cries to the sky. A gasp over takes the room as Father Herington tosses the two halves of the bible to the floor before him. Cries of blasphemy erupt all around him through the sudden sound of weeping in the church. The loose pages washing before the feet of those in the front row.

“You dare interrupt me as I speak?” Father Herington’s voice booms out as though it is the voice of God himself. Returning the room back to near silence except for the sound of hysterical weeping coming from the back of the room. “I thought you believed?” He throws back into their faces. Those of them that had risen from their seats slowly take them once again. The look of confusion and wonder sown upon their faces. “God spoke to me,” he declares loudly.

“He told me the truth of those words. What they really mean and the secrets found within,” his eyes growing more intense with every word. “You dare scream blasphemy when it has been those forsaken outside of this church that have been practicing such ways? You dare question the word of God in front of me?” He lays upon them. “Who are you in all of this? A believer or a sinner? Who among us lied when they said they believed? Who among us has sin in their heart?” Father Herington cries out to know.

The congregation looks to each other. Searches among the sea of searching eyes for the faithless among them. “Who?” Father Herington orders once again. “Who before me has doubt? Step before me my child. Who dares question me and our Lord?” Father Herington grows even more unnerved as he calls out. He makes a gesture to the clergy that have surrounded the stages in the shadow of the light. “Who dares? Step before me or you all will be punished,” he commands.

The room erupts with sound as they accuse each other one by one. The clergy moves quickly to block off all the exits. Locking in the bickering congregation held within. “There can be no doubt or we will all have doubt, my children. With an open heart and closed eyes,” he calls out frantically. The church comes to a hushed silence around him once again.

With the air in the room brimming with panic and fear a man steps forward into the aisle dragging the arm of the woman beside him. “It was her father. It was her who doubted you,” he says as she kicks and screams to get her arm free. The man throws the woman to the floor and she falls to her knees. Weeping as she kneels before the others and before the father.

Find out what happens to her and the rest of Father Harrington’s plan in Broken Thoughts Vol. 1: Between Me and You… On sale now over at Amazon… Vol. 1 contains many other short stories… a few poems… and plenty of Broken Thoughts…

Hope all is well…