09: Full of Grace (Hail Mary)

Father Preston had been sitting in the confessional for two hours. A few had come in, but not as many as he would have liked. So many in the city, needing to be saved...

He'd been waiting for fifteen minutes when someone finally entered. By the voice, he could tell it was a very young woman, probably just over eighteen.

"Bless me, Father, for I have sinned," she said. "It has been three years since my last confession."

"Go ahead, child," Father Preston responded.

"I have had many sinful thoughts. I have committed greed, lust, and wrath in my heart. I have...committed violent acts toward others, on five occasions..."

A sudden rumble of thunder distracted Father Preston for a moment. I thought the weather was supposed to be clear today, he thought idly. The confessor seemed to take no notice.

"...I have turned my back on those in need, and I have stolen from the poor, and from the church itself."

Father Preston shivered as a cold gust of wind blew into the room. "Th-th--" he stuttered. "Excuse me. These are very serious sins, young lady. Absolution is possible, but it will not be easy. First, tell me...do you truly repent for these sins?"

"Yes...well, all but the last two." There was something strange about her voice...as if she was no longer interested in the act of confession.

"Why not?"

"Because..." Another clash of thunder, this time much closer. Impossibly close, in fact. "...they're yours."

Father Preston's eyes went wide, and he bolted from the confessional booth. Two steps out the door, he slipped on a patch of ice and skidded across the church floor. He barely had time to think about how strange that was--an icy floor, inside, in June--before he collided with a pew.

Dazed, he looked up to see that the girl he was talking to had also left the confessional. It had been some time, but he still recognized her. In fact, he was so surprised to see her that he barely noticed the large, black cloud that had formed inside the church.

"Mary MacDonald? But...you can't be in here! You were excommunicated!" Three years ago, he realized.

"That is the least of your worries, Father Preston," she said as her body lifted into the air. "Now, about your penance..."