I’d seen the Pious Priest from afar many a time. Always angry, always in pain, shrouded in darkness and surrounded by old, dusty books. One day I heard a commotion and for some reason was drawn to it. I saw him scorning some teenagers for ripping pages out of a Bible. They fled, mocking him and throwing the pages in the air. He stood there, his back turned to me, silently gritting his teeth as the shadows around him began to shift menacingly. He sensed me.
I took a step back as he began to slowly turn his head. I ran. I ran and the first thing I thought about was you. I knew he wouldn’t care about me, but surely he must’ve smelled you on me. I ran as fast as I could toward your apartment building, but he beat me to it and set traps along the way. I stumbled, I fell, I cried out in agony. When all was lost, friends made themselves shown. They threw me a rope, lent me their lights and their guns, and I carried on my way to rescue you.
The Priest played games on my mind, changed the layout to your building. I was lost, but then a light flickered at the end of a long hallway, and I could make out some paint cans and a wall half-covered in green paint. I ran toward it like my life depended on it. It did. You depended on it. I sighed with relief when I found you. I grabbed your hand and told you we need to hide. You led me to your apartment believing we’d be safe there. I stopped you and went in first. Your apartment was just a series of Escher-like hallways that only got darker with each door we passed through. For some reason, I kept going deeper and deeper, holding your hand tighter as we succumbed to the darkness. Finally, we reached your living room, it was almost pitch-black. I could barely make out some candles lit around a photo of you. A shrine to you. In the corner next to it I saw a shadow darker than all the darkness around it. The Priest was waiting for us. It was a trap.
He waved me to the ground and the gun fell out of my hand. I was able to reach it and just as I grabbed it and pointed it at him, it disappeared from my hand. He disappeared, you disappeared. Everything vanished. It took me a second to realize that I was the one who had vanished. I’d returned to the real world and you were left there with him. I left you there and I couldn’t protect you anymore.
I’m stuck here knowing you’re trapped in that fantasy with him, in danger, and there’s nothing I can do but hope to see your green wall the next time I fall asleep.
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