Repentance

The rain fell heavily against the walls of the church. I sat on one of the pews near the back of large church hall. The only break from the darkness around me was the candles I had lit at the front of a large crucifix behind the podium. My head hung reverently in prayer with the statue of Christ staring down at me. A loud creak rang through the church as the winds picked up and rattled the old walls. I finished my prayer with an amen and rose from my seat to look out the window. Tears rolled from my eyes the more I thought about my mistake and regrets. The tears rolled down my cheeks and I wiped away the water in my eyes as I looked out the church window and out into the churchyard. The lightning flashed and the crackle of thunder filled the skies. In the quick burst of light, the shadows played off the tombstones gathering into unholy shapes of nightmarish abominations.

The winds howled and the storm picked up. The already harsh winds and battering rains became an icy, torrential downpour. I walked to the door near the back of the ancient church and with a deep breath braced myself for the storm that greeted me outside. With a heave the rusted door swung open to the tempests. I walked against the strong gales fighting to keep my eyes open in the strong winds. The night was so dark that I couldn’t see anything further than a few feet away from me and so the churchyard became a long maze of graves. Many of the headstones looked the same in the darkness and made finding my way out impossible. I travelled straight for a few minutes hoping that I would eventually hit a fence or something that I could follow to the exit. I had no such luck and instead came to the grave of a large angel statue that lay sprawling over a stone coffin in a perpetual state of misery.

A chill ran down my spine I had heard urban legends about weeping angel statues and how they would come to life and snap the necks of hapless victims. I turned around and decided to walk the other way avoiding the eerie sculpture. My journey to find the exit continued and I wandered the grave until the storm slowed to a drizzle and a cloudy night filled the sky. My eyes burned with the first signs of sleep. My mind began to grow hazy from the lack of proper rest and the shadows began to move constantly. I wasn’t sure but I swore I saw the silhouette of a person standing behind one of the tombstones. This graveyard was out in the country, and the only other living souls were miles away. My heart sunk as the shadow moved so fast that my eye failed to see where it had gone.

This was insane. I was obviously just tired, and travelling through this seemingly endless graveyard was causing me to hallucinate. I wiped my eyes and shook my head. “Stay focused,” I told myself. As I walked the strange flitting shadows grew in number and all of them moved in such a way that was uncanny, and lifelike. “They aren’t real,” I told myself. My disbelief was interrupted by the snapping of branches. I looked around now and began to run aimlessly through the churchyard. The dismal autumn night made it difficult to see with the clouds hiding the moonlight. I heard whispering following behind me. This had to be some kind of dream, nightmare that was plaguing my sleep addled brain. The grave grew misty and the shadows became spectral faces that now rose in front of me, their faces mutilated beyond recognition. I pushed through them and the shadows screamed at me. I could feel tears run down my face as panic welled up inside me. Shadowy hands reached out from the ground and lashed out at me. I kicked and struggled my way through the night all the while being followed by a strange and quiet voice whispering my name.

I ignored it and after running for a few minutes I needed to catch my breath. The hateful shades had stopped following me, but the whispering grew louder. In the darkness, I nearly hit one of the larger graves but caught myself before pulling away. I took a moment to catch my breath but noticed the grave I nearly hit had a statue of an angel weeping over the box. “This is impossible.” I thought to myself. I had run in the opposite direction, there was no way I was awake this had to be some kind of nightmare. I tried to wake up, pinching myself and closing my eyes but to no avail. Lightning struck in the distant and in the flash of light that illuminated the graveyard I thought I saw the face of the statue turn to look at me. When I took a second glance however, I found that it remained stationed in its place.



I could hear the tormented moaning of the shadowy creatures in the distance. The sound growing as the whispering in my ear grew louder. I had a plan that if I could just get back to the church I could hole up in there until it was safe. I took off in a full sprint in the direction of the church, my head aching, and my lungs pounding for oxygen. The shadowy creatures all flitted away from my view now, but I knew they were there just watching me. I ran as fast as I could along the path, being careful to avoid the grasping hands that reached out from the graves. I couldn’t see it but the church would be close now. Soon I would be able to hide myself away from these abominations. The whispering grew to a voice now that spoke in garbled nonsense. It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t tell from where.

I did my best to ignore the maddening sounds around me and came to a large statue with a weeping angel sitting near the coffin. My stomach lurched and I could feel hopelessness well up inside me. I fell to my knees and sat there just crying. There was no way out of this hell. I could see the shadows had started to gather and when I looked at them they did not dart away like they had before but instead began forming a circle around me. “Get back!” I shouted, knowing that they would do no such thing. I could only see the face on each and every shade that loomed over me. I turned to run but there was no were to go. The strange formless creatures surrounded me on all sides with more of them drifting in listlessly. The maddening moan of the monsters grew to a chorus of demented agony. All of the shades looked marred beyond the semblance of any human recognition.

I began to plead with the creatures. I begged them not to do this. I knew that it was all futile. I held out my blood covered hands and shouted at the shades to back away. My once tailored pinstripe suit had become caked with dirt and blood from a job I had earlier that day. It was when I looked at my hand that I realized what these creatures were. They were the faces of all the victims I had killed. Each and every one of the menacing faces that stared at me now was that of a victim I had killed for my gang.

“Wait!” I screamed desperately as the shades had finished their circle and began to move closer. “I didn’t want to do it! I didn’t want to kill you.” The hands of the ghosts reached out and grabbed me. “No! Please!” I cried as I struggled to break free from their grasp. I heard the moving of stone scraping against stone as I looked in horror at the coffin behind me. It now lay open and the angel now stood with its arms wide open as if welcoming me to my grave. I felt a surge of adrenaline and punched and kicked my way free. “Fuck you bastards!” I shouted as they continued to grab at me. I backed away frantically looking for some way out. “I enjoyed cutting your asses up and throwing your fucking limbs in that acid! You can all go straight to hell!” I continued to retreat but my back came against the stone angel and I felt something warm fall on my head. I looked up and seen blood dripping down on me from the angels weeping eyes.

I quickly backed away from the angel which drove me straight towards the spirits. “You can’t kill me!” I shouted now more enraged than scared. I tried to fight my way through the crowd but was forced once again to retreat. I expected to bump into the angel again but to my dismay I felt something at my ankle. I stood my ground with nowhere to go. “Go away! Leave me alone!” I broke down in tears now. I prayed to God that he would save me from this terror. “Don’t kill me please. I beg you!” I moaned. They continued to draw closer and I backed up just a bit more not paying any attention to the stone coffin at my feet. I tripped and fell into the black abyss as I could see the weeping angel looking down on me.