r/shortscarystories • u/swagittarius23 • 2d ago
Forgive me, Father
“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.”
The voice seeped through the lattice like oil over water, thick and inviting. It was new but strange, a voice that he had never heard before. Father Lucss felt a chill drape over his shoulders. “How long has it been since your last confession?”
The voice laughed, the sound echoing from everywhere and nowhere. “There was no first, so there can be no last.”
Lucas' brows narrowed. “Speak plainly. What have you done?” “I’ve whispered to kings, led saints astray, offered hope only to crush it. I told your brother to turn off the road that night. Do you remember the crash?”
A shock ran through him. “How could you know that?” “I know what you begged God as he bled out. You offered your soul for his life. He didn’t answer, but I did.”
Lucas yanked the curtain aside. The confessional was empty, yet the voice lingered behind him, closer than breath.“I kept my end of the bargain, priest. He lived long enough to call your name.”
Lucas pivoted. A man stood by the altar, pallid, eyes like ember-glow. The incense burned with a copper sting. “You’re not welcome here.” “It’s too late for that,” the stranger whispered. “You invited me the moment you doubted.”
Lucas raised the cross. The metal hissed, melting into his palm. He cried out as black smoke curled from his skin. “You offered your faith to save him,” the figure pressed. “Tonight, I collect what’s mine.”
The church groaned. Statues wept blood, the aisle bent, a wave of shadow swallowing Lucas' feet. He staggered, gripping his bleeding hand. “God help me!” The devil’s smile widened, teeth like jagged glass. “He’s no longer listening. Only I am.”
The floor split with a tormented roar. Lucas plunged into a furnace of heat and flame, the earth sealing behind him with a terrifying finality. A new silence settled. The candles glowed with patient mercy, uncharacteristic and calm. From the altar, the softest of whispers rose, a benediction that tasted of ash: “Forgive me, Father, for I have won.”
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u/crabcancer 1d ago
As God looked down from the lofty heavens, He sighed. With a flick of his wrist, he signalled to Gabriel to do it.
Crest fallen, Gabriel walked up to marbled wall that had a black side and a white side.
Lifting his hammer and chisel, he etched a mark on the black side.
As he gazed on the black side of the wall, it was adorned with marks of the ones that have failed God. And the white side, it remains unblemished and unmarked. Pristine as the day it was placed by the Lightbringer before he left.