The Old Priest – Part Six
Wait—that’s it?? It had taken Thomas a minute to recover his wits. He looked around. The chapel was unoccupied. The air was heavy and still, and the building was eerily silent. And, oddly, he thought, there was no one in line for confession. “Father?” Thomas called out, but there was no answer. He walked back to the […]
The Old Priest – Part Five
Deciding that he had devoted more than enough time to Abigail Elizabeth Hargaves and the mystery set of Rosary beads that bore her initials, Thomas poured himself into his work. The next few weeks were entirely uneventful. The workdays were routine, as were the after-work get-togethers at the bars. Christmas lights, wreaths, and fake candles […]
The Old Priest – Part Four
On the way back to his apartment, Thomas stopped at a coffee shop that sat directly across the street from the edge of campus. He ordered a latte, slid into a corner booth, and slowly drew the liquid warmth into his body. The caffeine that now raced through his bloodstream helped fuel a debate in […]
The Old Priest – Part Three
The performance at the chapel, the roaring bonfire, the fraternizing that lingered into the early morning hours—it was all now just a memory. So, for that matter, was Sophia. The argument that Thomas had suppressed that night surfaced and resurfaced throughout their senior year. The breaking point came when Sophia skipped the spring break trip […]
The Old Priest – Part Two
It did not take long for the stories to begin circulating about campus. Stories about candles in the chapel that would ignite or extinguish all by themselves. About doors that would inexplicably swing open or closed. The wooden steps of the staircase, people claimed, would methodically creak in sequence from bottom to top, with no […]
The Old Priest – Part One
It was Halloween night, and nature was cooperating in spectacular fashion. The air was cool, crisp, and clear. Trees were showering the sidewalks with amber-colored leaves, some gold mixed in for good measure. And a crescent moon, when it wasn’t obscured by a passing cloud, glowed an orangish yellow in the night sky. Thomas was […]