ONE

CONFESSION

Dora Carridine shifted uncomfortably on the hard wooden seat of confessional, staring blankly at the red velvet curtain in front of her. She glanced sideways at the wooden grate and sighed.

This is going to suck.

“Tell me your sins, child.”

She recognized her father’s voice and shook her head. “What, all of them?”

“Just this week will do.” Her father, the reverend Theodore Carridine, snapped on the other side of the grate.

“I forgot to do the dishes again,” she said.

“Did you confess to your mother?”

“No, I was hoping she wouldn’t notice.”

“Lying is a sin.”

“So is making me wash up after curry night.” She idly twirled her combat knife in her hands.

“No it isn’t!”

“Are you sure?” She grinned as she heard her father lose his cool. It was nice to see a human side to the good reverend. Most of the time, he seemed more like a preacher than a dad to her.

“It’s not in the scripture.”

“Neither is day dreaming over Taylor Lautner, but you said that was a sin,” she mumbled as she slipped the knife back into the scabbard inside her black biker boots.

“What?”

“Nothing.” She played with the frayed edge of her black mini-skirt and attempted to sound innocent.

“Have you been having sexual thoughts?” her father asked

She grimaced. “Eww! I’m not telling you that.” She noticed the shadow of her father shake his head.

“Fine. What other sins do you need to confess?”

“I stole a cookie out of your lunch box last week.”

“Which one?”

“The Oreo.”

“Damnit Dora, I love those ones. Why would you do that?”

“Mom didn’t give me any cookies.”

“Do you think you deserve cookies?”

“Everyone deserves cookies.”

Her father growled. “What else?”

She sighed. “It was me who broke the TV. I sneaked into a nightclub with Ellie last week and met a boy. Oh, and I joined a demon worshipping forum online.”

“WHAT!” She heard a thud in the other booth and suspected her father had just dropped his bible.

“Well, you asked. Now can I be forgiven, so we can get this over with?”

“What forum? I’ll have them shut down. What boy?”

“Oh just some random forum, and I dunno what his name was. He was just a guy. He seemed nice when he took me for a ride on his Hog.”

“You are beyond saving.”

“That’s not how it works.”

“You’re grounded for a month. Get out and pray for forgiveness fifty times and then go to your room!”

“Fine, but don’t blame me if next week I have to confess to breaking out of my room,” she said as she opened the curtain and stepped out into her father’s church. She smiled as she walked down the aisle toward the ornate wooden doors, listening to him roar behind her.

I’m not asking for forgiveness. Serves him right for being a dick.

“Dora, get back here right now!” Her father bellowed.

She glanced back and saw him scramble out of the confession box. His face was red with anger, and his vestments were in disarray. She kept walking away and ignored him.

“Satan’s spawn,” he cried.

She scowled as she opened the doors and stepped out into the bright sunlight. She’d heard that phrase too many times as a child, and it grated on her nerves. She stomped down the stone steps, ripping new ladders in her torn black tights along the way.

She didn’t understand why her parents disliked her so much. But they had their own idea of what kind of daughter they wanted, and she wasn’t it. She liked gothic and dark things. But most of all, she liked magic. She wanted the world to be a place where mystical things would happen rather than the mundane one she lived in. Unfortunately, she could always see the illusion behind the magic. Her father was a televangelist, and it was all illusion in her eyes.

Maybe there is no such thing as magic.

“DEMON!” Her father screamed behind her as she made her way down the street, heading for the woods while trying to ignore his demands and insults.

She sighed as she left the street and headed onto the woodland trail, leaving the church and her father behind. She needed to get away from all of this and find a place of her own.

Birds chirped around her, and the sun burned down through the trees. She sighed, trying to appreciate the beauty around her, but failing dismally.

I wish I was free.

Dora lay on the grass by the lake, stretching out in the sunlight and staring up at the clear blue skies above her. To an observer, she may have looked peaceful, but inside she was burning with anger. The more she thought about her parents and her life, the angrier she became. Life was not supposed to be like this. People weren’t supposed to be trapped in a life they didn’t choose. She was expected to be a better daughter, but no one expected her parents to be better parents. She felt powerless and alone, and that made her angrier.

She stood up and scowled at the lake. The world should allow for people to be different. The world should let people be free. She couldn’t count the amount of times she’d prayed to God for help over the years, but he had never answered. Perhaps it was time she looked to someone else for assistance.

Feeling the need to do something, she ripped the crucifix from around her neck and gripped it tightly in her fist. Her father had given her this when she was five years old, and for all of his sins, she had never taken it off or given up on him. She knew that she couldn’t go on any longer pretending that life would get better.

God helps those who help themselves, right? 

She wasn’t going to wait for help any longer. She was going to demand it.

She glanced down at the delicate gold necklace that glinted in her hand and then she gritted her teeth. Exhaling, she glared at the crucifix.

“I call upon the armies of Heaven and Hell to assist me. I’ll do anything to change this awful life. I don’t care who I worship. I’ll serve the one who serves me,” she cried as she threw the cross into the lake with all her might.

She watched it fly across the slick surface before it plunked into the murky waters in the distance. She stared at the ever-decreasing circles that were rippling around where the necklace had landed, waiting for some kind of sign that her message had been heard.

After a moment of silence, the gentle summer breeze blew strands of her ebony hair across her cheek. She lowered her head.

Of course it didn’t work. Nothing ever works.

She frowned as shadows appeared on the grass around her. Darkness engulfed the lake. She looked up at the sky in awe as a looming black cloud appeared above her.

Did it work?

She felt her hopes rise when the cloud rumbled. Something was about to change. She could feel it. The air was dense with a dark presence.

Yes, show me the way.

A blob of cold rain splatted on her forehead, and she frowned. Then another one did. She narrowed her eyes and stared across the lake as a downpour came from the cloud and drenched her in an instant with cold, soggy rain. She felt a dribble of cold water run down her nose and splash off it onto her chest.

Well, fuck you too.

She sank to her knees and scowled at the lake.

Nothing is ever going to change.

Exhaling a disappointed sigh, she blankly peered down at the chipped, black polish on her nails.

She frowned when they became misty as a subtle fog drifted over her. Containing a shiver as an icy breeze brushed across her wet skin, she felt her hopes begin to rise again.

Don’t even go there, idiot. It’s always colder when you’re wet, and fog is just fog.

Ignoring her natural inclination to see magic where there was just illusion, she stood up and turned away from the lake, deciding to make her way home. Her heart was heavy as she acknowledged her disappointment in the universe. Her boots squelched on the wet grass, making her feel even more depressed. She didn’t glance back at the lake as she left the park.

Life sucks!

The mist surrounded the lake before it turned green. It swirled behind her in a trail as it followed her out of the park.

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