Page 11 of Thots and Prayers

“Constantine is missing out.” I patted my stomach, relishing our dinner from the diner just now. Eisley shot me a dirty look.

“He’s getting dinner brought to him by one of the eligible single women in Ricefield. They are bound and determined to get him to stay.”

“Is that jealousy radiating off of you?” I teased. “I thought that was my thing.”

“It’s not jealousy,” she snapped. “And remember, we’re Domino and Koi now. Don’t slip up,” she warned. We stepped into the church and I called out for our missing friend.

“Father Duvall! We’re here!” Constantine stepped out with his hands behind his back. “Woah.” He was dressed like... a priest, with a white collar and black shirt and pants. His normally messy hair was combed neatly, and as he drew closer, I saw something that alarmed me. It was his eyes, there was something behind them that wasn’t quite right.

“Hello, my children of god. I’m glad you were able to attend mass tonight. I’ve spent all afternoon preparing.” His voice was strangely calm and professional. It reminded me of when we were younger. It reminded me of The Minister.

“Bro, cut it out. We’re the only ones here.” I looked around. Being in a church that was still active made me nervous. I’d been able to work through my issues with The Church because it was trashed and barely standing when we returned. But this was... real. We were about to witness a real sermon, someone preaching and doing the offering and singing hymns and telling us how bad we were for not believing in something they had no actual proof of and?—

“Kansas? What’s happening?” Eisley’s panicked voice came through almost like an echo. I was sweating and I couldn’t breathe and my vision was growing fuzzy and?—

Everything went black.

* * *

I woke up sometime later with a wet rag on my forehead and a blurry Eisley leaning over me.

“What’s going on?” I asked, sitting up. My vision adjusted, and I looked around. We were in a dimly lit office, and somewhere in the distance, an organ was playing.

“You had a panic attack and your body shut down. We’re in Constantine’s office. He’s doing mass right now.” She took the rag from my lap where it’d fallen and wiped my brow again. “Are you okay?”

“No,” I admitted, my stomach and shoulders sinking. “Turns out, I’m still not entirely over what happened to us.”

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that,” she said. “That’s not something you can just get over.”

“I know, but it feels dumb. You two could handle it.” They’d spent all afternoon here just fine.

She laughed. “Ha! Hardly. Constantine is overcompensating, taking on this role with a shocking level of energy. It’s his way of hiding his emotions.”

“Where’s he at now?” I asked.

“Mass has already started. The whole town is here. Every pew but the last ones are full.” She shuddered. “I feel like we’re in a horror movie. All of them stared straight ahead, listening blindly to their leader. Whatever, if that’s your thing, but it’s definitely not mine.”

I grinned. “You don’t want to go see how Constantine is doing?” I could only imagine what he found in the Bible to talk about. I knew my friend; he wasn’t going to be speaking about loving thy neighbor and thou shall not… whatever. I scooted off the table and took Eisley’s hand. “Let’s go.”

“Are you sure?” She eyed me nervously. “This town already thinks we’re here to corrupt them. We don’t need you getting sick at mass.”

“I’ll be fine. I want to watch Constantine do this. Seeing him in the costume has my curiosity piqued.”

She led me out of the room. The moment the door opened, we were bombarded with eerie singing. A chill ran up my spine but I forced my nerves down and kept following. We stepped into the chapel and heads turned. Some glared, others shook their heads, their eyes sad. A few nodded as if it made sense that we were here. Had we been called to the lord? I fought back something harsh and let Eisley pull me toward the last pew. The next people up were at least five or six pews up. Not one looked back at us. Many of them raised their noses to the sky as if to say it was below them to acknowledge our entrance.

We sat, and everyone stood. We joined them quickly, mumbling along as they read the music in the hymnals, and then sat back down. Constantine stood at the front, behind a podium. His smile was wide and his eyes glassy. I knew that face. He wasn’t here anymore. He was somewhere far away, and whatever was about to tumble from his lips was going to be completely unholy.

“Brothers and sisters in Christ,” he started. The townspeople bowed their heads. I stared around in disbelief. They didn’t even know Constantine, and yet, they were drawn to listen. They were far too trusting, which was dangerous for people like him. People like... us.

“We will be turning to the Old Testament for wisdom. This afternoon, while reflecting on my journey that has led me here, to your beautiful town, I recalled the story of Sodom, a cautionary tale. Have any of you read it?”

There were nods and murmurs, all wanting to show that they were the best-devoted member of the church. Constantine nodded his approval and continued.

Seeing him ramble on, with his stance tall and confident, his hands gripping the podium, and wearing the white collar and all-black outfit, unnerved me. All of it felt so... wrong.

“Are you okay?” Eisley squeezed my thigh. I blinked and looked over. I swallowed the lump in my throat and nodded. Eisley began to run her hand up my thigh and smoothed it back down, it was soothing, and my breathing steadied.

“Sodom, shown in the Bible as a city of sin and destruction. The righteous warned the Sodomites to turn away from their wicked ways but they refused, instead diving further into their life of sin.”

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