And at the front of the church, nailed to a cross that sat high on the front wall, lording over anyone that came to visit, was a statue of Jesus Christ.
Sarah walked all the way down the red carpet, her eyes locked onto Christ’s downturned face, wearing that crown of thorns the Romans had placed on his head to mock him. He looked weak, tired, and hungry. But Sarah had no sympathy for him. Why should she? She had gone her entire life weak, tired, hungry, and afraid. He experienced it for only a few days.
“Hello.”
With a snarl etched on her face, Sarah turned and found the priest dressed in black, hands behind his back with a coy smile on his face. He faced the sunlight, and the glasses he wore reflected the rays that penetrated the windows.
When Sarah didn’t say anything, the priest stepped closer, and the smile faded to concern. She watched him examine her and her haggard state. “Do you need help?”
Sarah laughed, but it had no joy. It was mocking the priest’s question, and she looked back up to Christ on the cross. “Isn’t that what he’s for?” She smirked and then looked back to the priest, though his expression of concern hadn’t faded.
“Would you like to sit down?” The priest gestured to the front pew and took a seat before she agreed to join him.
Sarah walked toward him but didn’t sit down. She figured she wouldn’t be here that long. She had never found church useful before, and she was confident that wouldn’t change now. He’d tell her that she needed to be saved, and that the only way to break Satan’s hold on her heart and soul was to accept the love of their lord and savior.
The priest raised his eyebrows at Sarah’s glaring silence. “This may come as a surprise, but I don’t read minds.”
Sarah unzipped her jacket and removed the Codex Gigas, making sure the cover was facing the priest. She set it on the pew next to the priest and then stepped back and crossed her arms. “Do you know what that is?”
The priest simply looked at the book, picked it up, and flipped it over in his hands as he nodded. “I do.”
Sarah waited for more, but the priest didn’t budge. “And?”
The priest set the book back down on the seat. “This is the bible of Satan.”
Sarah frowned, shifting her consternation toward the book on the pew. “It’s what?”
The priest pointed to each word of the title. “Codex Gigas. The Devil’s Bible.”
Sarah stole glances between the bible and the priest, then eventually sat down, leaving the book between them. “There is something coming, and I need to know how to stop it.”
“What do you think is coming, and why do you think you need to stop it?” the priest asked.
Sarah shook her head, taken aback by the question. “Because it’s the end of the world.” She pointed to the book. “The devil is coming, and he’s bringing hell with him.”
“You’re referring to the end of days?” the priest asked, furrowing his brow.
Sarah gritted her teeth. “I’m serious.”
The priest looked Sarah up and down and nodded. “I can see that. And I can also see that you don’t want to be here.” He gestured toward the doors at the back. “No one’s stopping you from leaving.”
It was the priest’s aggressiveness that threw her off guard. She squinted at him, the pair in a standoff. Finally, Sarah walked to the pew and sat down, keeping her posture stiff and rigid. She pressed her finger against the book’s cover. “The guy who wrote this is on his way unless I can figure out a way to stop it.”
“The apostles are coming?” the priest asked.
“The Devil.” Sarah pointed to Christ. “You know, the guy who did that to your friend up there.”
“Satan didn’t do that,” the priest said, and then he picked up the book. “And he didn’t write this. You know who did?”
“Who?”
“People.”
Sarah deflated. “People wrote this book and killed Jesus.”
The priest nodded. “That’s right.” He smiled, but this time Sarah didn’t feel belittled or degraded, it was the smile she suspected an older brother would have given a younger sister if she’d ever known what that was like.
“God is real,” the priest said. “Satan is also real. But neither really play a large role in our day-to-day lives. They whisper to us.” He held up a finger. “But they don’t make our decisions for us, they don’t put us in predicaments, and neither of them can save you from yourself in this world.”
“So I guess I came to the wrong place?” Sarah asked.
The priest chuckled and then shifted in the pew to more of a relaxed position. “People come in here all the time, looking for answers. They’re convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Satan is responsible for everything bad that’s happening in their life, and they want to know why God isn’t doing anything to stop him. But what people don’t understand is that they’re the ones making bad decisions. They want an excuse for the choices that they’ve made in their life, and all of them had the same look on their faces that you do right now when I tell them that God can’t help them. You have to help yourself.”
Sarah rubbed her temples, trying to stem the headache forming. “Look, I know that you might get a lot of people coming in here with a lot of bullshit problems, but when I tell you that the devil is coming, and that I need to know how to stop it, I’m not fucking around.”
“And you think the answer is in this book?” The priest asked.
“I don’t know, genius, that’s why I came to talk to you.”
The priest laughed. “Fair enough.” He picked up the devil’s bible, the motion quick and agile, which surprised Sarah. He flipped through the pages, too quickly to actually be
