belong. You joined us, today of all days, to help us."
"Help you? I didn't," Todd denied. Father Gary’s hands loosened and fell with the frantic shaking of Todd’s head.
Father Gary nodded. "You sat in the crowd and celebrated with the rest as we sent the babe back to our Father,” he explained not unkindly. “You partook in communion; the consumption of the flesh, the drinking of the blood."
Flesh.
Blood.
The words seared themselves into Todd's mind.
The sweet meat. The thick wine.
Hot sick burned his throat. He couldn't even try to hold it down. It spilled out of his mouth, red staining his button up shirt.
Blood.
The though made him vomit again.
Kenny let him crash to the ground, dropping onto his hands and knees as his stomach violently revolted against the truth.
He could hear people moving around him, talking loudly as they milled about.
Someone was rubbing his back in soothing circles.
He shrugged them away as he panted for breath.
He didn't deserve to be soothed. He deserved to burn.
They all did.
"This is what happens to the strayed sheep," Father Gary shouted to the crowd. "When the prodigal son returns the sickness and disease of the outside world is purged from the body and the soul by our Father's love."
Todd tried to argue with the priest, but every time he opened his mouth vomit would escape instead of words.
He couldn't stop himself.
He didn't want to.
He puked until his stomach was empty. His muscles cramping tightly in protest as he tried to force up what was no longer there. He got the idea in his head that if he got it out of his body quick enough, it was like it never happened.
Todd tried to spit away the sour residue coating his mouth. There wasn't enough moisture to do it.
"Why?" He managed to croak out, looking up at the priest through tear blurred eyes.
"Because you are my son. And one day you will be their father," the priest spread his hand out over the crowd of people that encircled them. "You will guide them as I have."
"And if I don't?" Todd asked. His voice was weak but his words were strong.
"Then you will have the honor of fulfilling the Lord's word as thousands of first born before you." Father Gary gazed down at him without pity.
"Thousands?" Todd repeated, but no one was listening to him.
"The choice is yours, Todd."
Kill or be killed.
Todd looked up into Father Gary's eyes, wordlessly trying to plead with him. But there was no quarter in the old man's gaze.
The people of the town stilled around him, holding their collective breaths waiting for his answer.
About the Author
S.A Meyer is a life-long writer who has written for both stage and page. Published in Devoultion Z Magazine and winner of a local playwriting contest two years running, S.A.'s works can also be found online at Amazon.com for Kindle and BarnesandNobles.com for Nook, as well as various other online retailers. For updates on works in progress and new publications, follow on Twitter @_SA_Meyer
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