The air was cold and dark. Soaring high stone walls met 100 feet above the floor to form a ceiling. Stones, so hard and so unmovable that they hadn't been moved in 500 years. A few pale beams of light entered through the mosaic windows high above. The long benches were from wood darkened to a black from the years. A sole candle flicked its flame with the drafts of the room to light up the tormented, barely naked, bleeding body on the cross.
A sound of dull shoes and a heavy body carried through the cavernous, empty interior. The sound echoed back around the loud bearing pillars. And the dragging sound of a robe muted out the little sounds of echo after their eights reverberation. A burden loosened itself in a sigh from a big belly. The rings of the confession booth curtain rubbed against the wooden rod as they were pulled apart.
"Aye!" a sharp scream pierced through the dignified, timeless space. "That was sharp! It burns. Oh, it burns! What was that?"
"It must have been an old nail, father," said a sensuous, female voice. There was a little snicker in her tone like it was a jest.
"Hoo! You are early dear! Usually, nobody comes at all to confession. You must have been waiting," said the father searching for the nail in his seat.
"Do you know why that is?" asked the unknown woman pointedly.
"Religion is fading. The TV corrupts the youth," answered the father ready to go into a fist-shaking outbreak.
"No, father. This church was never meant to be popular. Who would build such a huge church next to a hamlet of 50 people in a swampland? Even if all the people within 50 miles at the time of its building would have huddled in here, it would be empty," lectured the female voice with an icily steady rhythm.
"That's true," said the father dumbfounded.
"This church was built over one of the seven gates of hell. Its purpose is to seal hell closed. If you knew, you would take your vows more seriously," continued the unknown woman.
"My dear, what brings you here?" asked the father trying to assert himself with a stern voice.
"I will have sinned, father," said the woman in a hushed and moist voice.
"What is your sin, child?" asked the priest, falling into his routine.
"Adultery," said the unknown woman.
"With whom did you commit adultery?" asked the priest.
"I will have committed adultery with you," said the woman matter of fact.
"Child, that's a sin you will never have to worry about because it won't happen. Why do you keep speaking of the future? Sins can only be forgiven for the past." The father's voice was irritable and annoyed, yet his body made no sounds of moving at all.
"Have you taken a look at whom you are talking to?" asked the woman.
The window that divided them did not open. "I cannot move my hands," gasped the father.
"Good. I was getting tired of all the talking," said the unknown woman.
The dry knock of a hard leather stiletto heal stepping onto the bare stone rushed energy into the room. The tight leather skirt gave a reluctant growl of the strong fabric rubbing against each other. With a white shirt, blood red lips, and eye sockets so dark that no light escapes escaped for the sparkle of vibrant blue, she strutted out of the confession booth and ripped open the father's side. Night had fallen. The church was pitch black except for the lone candle flickering on the altar. A relaxed, slumped body and eyes widened to bare the white so deep that one can tell the roundness of his eye balls. The golden cross on the black rope was quivering.
"Why? Why can't I move?" yelped the father with spit flying from that mouth that had it creases pulled down deeply in terror.