Absolution

I walked up the steps of the cathedral, slow breaths steadying my mind as the priests looked down at me. They nodded questioningly, their bloodshot eyes barely visible behind their steel, featureless masks. I withdrew the kitchen knife I had brought along, and they opened the ornate doors, gesturing me forward.

The room before me was expansive. Its ceilings rose some hundred feet high, the space able to hold at least a few thousand souls. The walls were bare, however, as was the room itself. All it contained was a dais at its center, surrounded at its four corners by four more of the priests I had seen earlier, indistinguishable from one another. Suspended above the dais was a creature, chained at each limb, the chains reaching up to the ceiling. Its arms were hung slightly higher, so that it could look at me in its arched position. With no clothing to give it a sense of dignity and purity, the whole of its marred flesh was mine to behold. It was covered in innumerable scars and fresh wounds, any distinguishing features replaced with ruined skin. Neither the priests nor the creature seemed to take notice of my entry, and they remained silent as I stepped forward.

The priests made no movement as I reached the dais, but the creature looked up at me. Its eyes were filled with sorrow, gratitude, love, hatred. The feelings bored into my soul, as if it willed me to know its own. It nodded and held its gaze fixed on mine. I gripped the knife tighter.

“For the slander I spread against my enemies.” The words left my lips as I slid the knife between the creature’s ribs. It gave no reaction, only continuing to stare at me. “You are forgiven.” The words resonated within my mind, and though the creature’s mouth did not move, I knew them to belong to it.

“For the adultery that harmed the woman I love.” Rather than remove the knife, I pulled it up toward the creature’s spine. Blood poured onto the dais, splashing my feet. “You are forgiven.”

“For the hands laid upon my children.” The knife plunged into the creature’s neck, piercing it from back to front with a resounding thud and an excess of blood. “You are forgiven.”

“For the man I killed under false claims of self-defense.” The creature’s temple this time. Still, it held my gaze even as blood spilled from behind its eyes. “You are forgiven.”

“For my addictive indulgences.” Into its shoulder. “You are forgiven.”

A smile spread across my face. I did not expect to be forgiven so easily, but it was comforting.

“For what I have done to you.” The knife rammed into the creature’s eye, yet it showed no sign of pain, nor did it drop its gaze. “You are forgiven.”

Leaving the knife in the creature’s skull, I turned to walk away. As I left the cathedral, another reached the priests guarding the entrance and withdrew a hammer.