Chapter 3 – Not your Typical Angel
As Jorge makes it way to whatever destination he’s thinking of, he comes across a church. He sees that the lights are still open inside. The thought comes to him that he should go inside and confess his sins or seek help from a priest, but he’s not sure if his sins are forgivable so he walks away. A noise draws his eyes to the cross on top of the cathedral. He sees a monster that’s almost indescribable. It appears to be a reaper with a single eye and a long mouth that can split. The monster has four arms in the center of its body and one long arm with an ax and another with a noose. All of its body is cloaked in a black robe and it has two wings that are half clipped with feathers falling off it.
“What is that thing?!” Jorge asks as he slowly backs away.
The monster focuses its eye on Jorge as two hands pray, two other hands are lifted into the air and the ax and noose are lifted into the air.
“You’ve heard of your guardian angel before. Now, behold the Divine Executioner as he cleanses the wicked.”
The executioner screams out as everything, but the church is affected by its screams. It flies down to attack Jorge as he runs away. Jorge moves out of the way of the fast strikes delivered by the heavy ax. He runs into an alleyway thinking that the monster can’t fit into it. The executioner flies over him as it chases him. Trash and other objects in the alleyway start forming themselves into obstacles like the ones Jorge and his friends made. The obstacles form as Jorge approaches him which forces him to quickly react to them. Adding to the danger, the executioner lowers its noose every now and then to try to catch Jorge in it. Fortunately, he manages to get through them, but he gets a few scratches from the sharp objects in the alley.
Unnerving laughter comes from the executioner as it flies down and manages to fit in the alley. The executioner only appears large because of the cloak over its skinny body. It raises its ax in preparation to attack.
“Watch it, kid. The alleyway splits off ahead. One way leads to a mouth that will lead you far away from the execution, but is the least dangerous, while the other is more dangerous, but doesn’t get you too far away from it.”
Seeing as the approaching executioner forces Jorge to choose the least difficult route. He goes through an obstacle course that only has one way to get around it.
“I thought you said this was the least difficult!”
“But I didn’t say that it wasn’t difficult.”
Jorge manages to get through the obstacle course and run through the mouth, but the executioner’s ax manages to slice through Jorge’s bag as if it wasn’t there and cut Jorge’s back. He reels in pain as he tries to keep moving. The mouth has teleported him back to where he left his friends. He goes back to where he left them and sees blood on the ground. It appears that a crime scene was set up here and the bodies have recently been taken away by the authorities.
“Why am here? Haven’t I seen this enough already?”
“Apparently not. I shouldn’t bother you though, right? You’re a big boy now who’s made this important decision not only once but twice.”
Not wanting to deal with this again, Jorge turns away and starts walking again. Suddenly, he hears the laughter and flapping wings of the executioner in the distance. Jorge turns around to see it approaching at a fast rate.
“I thought you said I would be far away from this thing!”
“But I never said you would get away.”
Jorge can’t run so he tries to hide. There’s an abandoned house not too far from the school that his friends used to explore. He finds his way into the house through the basement window and hides in the darkest corner of the basement.
“What’s the plan, Jorge?”
“I’m going to hide here for now.”
“Do you really think that’s going to help? It doesn’t track you by sight you know. You staying here will only give you a few moments of safety.”
As Jorge begins to think about what to do, he hears the executioner land outside. The sound of its robe can be heard gliding across the grass then across the floor upstairs. It phases through doors and through walls and floors to find Jorge.
“It knows where you are. It’s just playing with you to see if you’ll come out to face it.”
“That’s what I’ll do.”
“That’s the spirit, boy.”
Jorge recalls an old rifle in the bedroom that he and his friends found. They fired it once not too long ago and found out that it still works. Thankfully, no one got hurt that day, but right now, Jorge needs it to. Jorge exits the basement through the window then quietly walks up the stairs, which attracts the attention of the executioner. It chases Jorge as he runs into the bedroom with the rifle. He dodges its ax swings as he tries to find it. When he does, he shoots its eye, which makes it scream in pain. The recoil makes Jorge drop the gun. He scrambles to pick it up until the executioner uppercuts him with its ax, which makes Jorge fly out the window and into a giant gaping mouth outside. It transports him back to where he was outside the church. He’s still staring at the cross on top of the holy building.
Jorge then focuses on the priest whose entire face is now a mouth who constantly says, “Confess, confess, confess.”
People start gathering around Jorge say things like, “Confess.”
“Give it up.”
“Selfish child.”
“Uncaring friend.”
“Dishonest boy.”
“Confess.”
Their voices spin Jorge’s head around and around until his left arm falls off then the other. After, his head falls off, and the crowds gather around him and pick up his head and put his head and arms back on his body. They are silent as this happens.
Once Jorge is whole again, his friends and family whisper into his ear, “Confess.”
Again, Jorge is staring blankly at the cross on top of the church.
A priest notices Jorge blankly staring outside, walks outside, and asks, “Are you okay, my son?”
He snaps out of it this time and says, “Y-yes, father.”
“Okay, but you don’t seem to be. Isn’t it a bit late for you to be out by yourself? Do you want me to call your parents to pick you up?”
“Oh, no. I’m fine. I was just heading home.”
“Alright. Good night and bless you.”
Jorge nods his head and walks away from the church.
“Was that really the smart decision to make, Jorge?” the mouth on his head asks.
“No, probably not, but there’s always another way.”
“But you might not get to it. The priest is walking back into the church. It might be embarrassing, but at least your problem will be resolved.”
“…”
“Or is that not the way you want it to be resolved?”
“I…uh.”
“Oh, keep walking if you want, but know that it will get worse if you do.”
Jorge can’t help but keep walking in his directionless quest. It’s too easy for him to keep walking with his aching legs but it’s hard for him to stop and turn around.
“So be it then according to your will.”
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