To Hell With It

Open the Eyes Open the Door

Two young girls, most likely in their preteens, were being crucified and positioned back to back. Both were naked and their limbs were bound by barbed wire, obviously sinking and tearing into their flesh, as blood percolated from their wounds slowly. One of the girls was a brunette and the other a redhead. I quickly dug into my bag with my hands to find my camera, but to no avail. What kind of journalist forgets their camera?! Why of all days did this have to happen? I slapped my palm on my forehead and sighed; my attention suddenly reverted when I heard Father Johnathan speaking, "Brothers and sisters...the time has come to carry out our long awaited ritual to rejuvenate our spirits. We gather here to honour Him and ask for his blessings once again." Everyone shouted in agreement and began cheering. The crowd was nothing more than a sea of white cloth and tiny different coloured heads that popped up and moved around casually. The girls were placed on a podium with many red candles surrounding them and everyone's attention was focused there.

"I am positive that everyone is aware that no mortal eyes must witness the most important part of this ritual. If anyone dares to set their sights on the master in incomplete form they will be severely...punished," Father Johnathan's voice heeded grave warning. He then approached the brunette haired girl and stood directly in front of her, cupping her face between his palms and whispering in her ear, he then used his left hand to cover her face and tilt her head backwards and was handed a silver stake in the shape of an elongated cross. He began to press the pointed end against her chest, and inscribed something in her flesh with her blood.

I clasped my hand over my mouth and stared at the horrific scene before me with widened and fearful eyes. This...this girl...isn’t screaming...or showing any sign of reaction...is she...dead? The inscriptions were too far away to see much less to try and decipher it. Father Johnathan released the girl and walked over to the other girl as he passed the stake to another priest by his side. There were two rustic looking ceramic pots on either side of the redheaded girl. Father Johnathan held one of the pots over the girl’s head and poured what seemed like blood all over her body. Her big orange curls were now drenched straight in dark red and even her tired looking face was covered in blood. The other priest that was on the podium with Father Johnathan came with the other pot and poured it over the girl’s head, it turned out to only be water, at least that's what it seemed like. It washed away some of the blood but much of it seemed to have already hardened and trails of it mixed with the water began dripping from her body. Father Johnathan then began to say an incantation, but the words were spoken far too fast for me to analyze them. He and the other priest then walked off the podium. Instinctively everyone bowed their heads and closed their eyes and in one precise movement they all turned their backs away from the podium. What on earth was going on?

Suddenly both girls began to scream and tried to free themselves from their bonds on the cross  resulting in deeper lacerations to their wrists and ankles. The screams were desperate and horrific cries for help and their ear shattering wails forced even me to cover my ears from the noise. As if suddenly placed into a soundproof room, everything became quiet and a deathly wave of silence brushed over the room and the girls stopped screaming. My heart had calmed down and I continued to peer through the opening, anticipating something even more disturbing. Almost as if I was staring at a moving shadow there was a figure I could not fully make out that appeared from nothing but the air. I even blinked multiple times to ensure my vision was okay. To my shocking discovery I was staring at a black hooded figure with trails of its composition degenerating and regenerating around it. It began swirling around the girls then stopped in front of the brunette haired girl with the inscriptions on her chest. It pauses for a brief moment and then plunged its grey ashy looking arm into her chest, ripping out her heart. At that instant I began to feel woozy and almost as if I was going to faint, but I miraculously composed myself and held my shivering body tightly. The girl once again had no reaction to the pain which was inflicted upon her. The figure then gracefully glided over to the other girl and also ripped her heart out of her chest, but then placed the brunette haired girl’s heart into her chest with a strong black aura surrounding its hand. The shadow looking figure then removed the dark cloak covering his head, and revealed a face more hideous and frightening than anything I’d ever seen before. Instinctively I felt like running, running so fast and so far away from this place, and pretending that I had never even stepped foot in that Hell house they call a church.

The monstrous figure below was plagued with dark blemishes all over its hairless skull, grey ashy skin, one charcoal eye, the other eye sealed from what seemed like a previous wound, rotten teeth resembling that of infant fangs and an unforgettably repulsive smile that sent chills everywhere across my numb body. As the figure smiled, it devoured the heart it held in its hand and made an expression of satisfaction. As it savoured the taste of the heart I noticed its face began to change and its skin became clearer and less sickly. My eyes widened and my heart began to race even more when I noticed that the monstrous figure below was changing into an attractive appearance before my very eyes. No longer was its skin disgustingly ashy and grey, it became a smooth polished olive tone, no longer did it have one black eye, but two perfectly shaped almond eyes, with visible sclera and pupil, silky blond hair had rapidly grown and fell flawlessly to the figures shoulders, perfectly even cut, the rotten teeth then changed into perfect pearly whites, the figure had become completely unrecognizable, even from so far away I could tell its formerly discoloured body was now resembling a slab of smooth pale marble.

For the longest moment my heart had stopped when I saw that the figure was looking in my direction. The adrenaline flowed heavily and fluidly through my body causing me to slightly hyperventilate. My nerves had calmed down when the figure turned away, but with a smirk on its face. Suddenly, within an instant, the demonic being had disappeared without a trace right before my very eyes. My mouth had closed and I was taken back for a moment, trying to fathom what I had or had not seen. My attention was then reverted when I realized that everyone was back in their previous positions, watching the podium with more intent. The priest that had accompanied Father Johnathan throughout the entire ritual had once again appeared on the podium, holding the stake used previously. He quickly paced towards the redheaded girl and aggressively plunged the stake into her chest and twisted it, then pulled it out with much ferocity. The crowd as well as myself began to watch with more anticipation and anxiety of what would happen next. Suddenly, the other girl began to cough up blood and screamed loudly, everyone in the crowd waited for a moment and then cheered as if they were at the super bowl. My eyes then felt strained from exhaustion and disbelief as everyone below my eyes shed their white robes and coats revealing their black cloaks and true colours.