Praise the Wicked

Chapter 5

Fast forward to Wednesday, the day I had to go back to church for the youth group. I was dreading the arrival to the church. We were now waiting at the stoplight a block away from the church, making my anxiety spark up. My mom and I would exchange glances every now and then, but we didn't say anything to each other. I sighed as the light turned green, gaining my mom's attention as well. "What's wrong, honey? You haven't been acting like yourself ever since we left." I sarcastically laughed and shook my head. "I can't tell you, mom. You wouldn't believe me if I told you." We pulled into the church parking lot, then parked the car in one of the front row spots. I quickly unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the door, only to feel my mom's hand land on my arm. I looked over at her, seeing that she was deeply concerned about me. "You can tell me anything, Chloe. I'm your mom." I pursed my lips and nodded, stepping out of the car. "I'll see you at seven-thirty. Love you." Before she could say anything else, I closed the door and walked up to the front doors of the church. I rubbed my wrists as my anxiety started to pick up, feeling my skin turn raw and start to burn. I winced, opening the door, then put on a fake smile acting like I wanted to be here. Walking through the church doors was the easy part, but as soon as I got into the actual church hall, everyone looked at me. Father Urie was standing on the alter looking at me with some kind of evil in his eyes. I bit my lip and sat down in one of the pews next to my friend Kenny. He looked over at me with a huge grin on his face. "You're late, Chloe. You know how Father Urie feels about people who are late." I gulped and nodded, feeling the beads of sweat start to form on my forehead. I watched as Father Urie, gripped both sides of the podium tightly, then look into my eyes. "Chloe, could you come here for a moment?" I stood up, straightening out my skirt, then walked up to the alter. "How are you today, Chloe?" I cleared my throat and smiled, trying to hide my fear. "I'm fine. How about you, Father?" He smiled, looking into my eyes with his dark chocolate ones. "Fairly well. Thank you for asking." I nodded, then watched as he scanned over whatever he was reading. There was something about his brown eyes that told me that he told secrets. I'm talking about the dark secrets. My eyes met his again as he walked away from the podium, beckoning him to follow him. I gulped and looked back at Kenny, who just shrugged and gestured me to follow Father Urie. I walked into the confession room, jumping as the door closed behind me. "I didn't think that you'd come back, Chloe. I thought I scared you off for good." I nervously rubbed my arm, acting like it was cold in the room. "Well, my parents signed me up for the youth group, but may I ask, why we are in here?" Father Urie chuckled and started to walk towards me. "We're in here because we are going to finish what we started on Sunday." He smirked as I backed up into a wall, basically setting myself up for a trap. "F-Father-" He shook his head , placing his forehead on mine. "Call me Brendon."