Jack watched the sleeping boy. He
fingered the gun resting under his jacket and shook his head. Jack had named
the boy Thomas, after the priest. That might have been his mistake. Instead of
ending this madness he spoke to a child too young and too unconscious to
understand.
"I should do it. I should kill you.
Know why I don't?"
A soft snore was the only response.
"I'm not doing it because of the
old question. If you could save the world, but to do it you had to kill one
innocent child, would you kill the kid? You're supposed to say yes. I can't
though."
The child rolled over, which Jack took
as an invitation to explain.
"I can't because of the priest. You
know what he would say? He'd say, Jack, stop being an idiot. It's not about if
you can save the world, but if you should. He'd say, what kind of world is
based on the death of innocence? If I only I thought about this two days ago,
or even three. When he called."
****************************************
"I have cancer."
"Sorry to hear that, father. You
shouldn't call me anymore. Still, your god will see you through it."
"It's past that. I'm starting to have
prophetic dreams. Something big is coming."
"Something big was always
coming."
"Something big for us."
"There is no us anymore."
"Shut up, you titanic ass. I called
to tell you one thing."
"What's that, father?"
"Don't feel bad about what you have
to do."
The line went dead before Jack could
respond.
******************************************
Nicole, Jack, and the ever annoying
Peter entered a museum that was supposed to house some artifact of sacrificial
importance for this impending prophecy. Jack was getting tired of pretending to
care about the insanity. Still, he could play muscle a little longer.
It seemed O'Reilly was done playing the
role of quiet bystander though.
The priest stepped from the shadows to
stand before their objective. He wore a mask of mirth to please the reaper upon
his lips. Peter stepped forward but Nicole stopped him with one hand and a
gentle voice.
"It is time for Jack to prove his allegiance."
Jack walked around them, wondering if
this was what the priest was on about the night before. He took the hammer
Nicole held out as he passed. O'Reilly nodded to him, as if in answer to his thought
about the meaning of their earlier discourse.
"Make it last." Peter growled
and Nicole's giggle showed approval.
Jack met the priest's eyes. He saw
forgiveness and understanding there. So he went to work. He made it last.
O'Reilly never screamed, but he prayed for the souls of his murderers through
the intense, bone obliterating torture Jack laid upon him. It lasted long
enough that the sheet covering their objective absorbed enough blood to rival
the shroud of Turin. He was just about to finish the job when Nicole stayed his
hand.
"I think Peter deserves some
reward, let him crack the skull. Come with me."
So Jack had not had to watch the priest
die. The next night though, while Peter and Nicole took the artifact to a safe
deposit box, Jack absented the manse with Thomas, until then known only as the
boy. He left the girl behind. The girl was too far gone. Jack hoped that
rescuing Thomas would end this madness. There could be no prophecy without the
son.
Right?
***************************************
Now, in his own apartment with the
kidnapped child, Jack wondered how he managed to keep being a cop. He looked at
the boy and shook his head. Sitting down heavily he touched his eyes and
realized that, for the first time since his lover died in this room, he was
crying.
"So, tell me Thomas. What kind of
world are we saving when it is based on the death of a loving god?"
#shortstory #novel #author #writer #writing #writingprompt
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