Wednesday, February 6, 2013

The Martyr's Path

"This is the path that you must take if you wish to follow in the footsteps of our Lord."   The man at the front of the chapel spoke with a fine baritone that sounded as smooth as whiskey, and he had the crowd mesmerized.  "There must be sacrifice, as hard a path to follow as can be. Brothers and sisters, you must give up your life to save it. Only then will prosperity return to this place." 

This was the fourth itinerant preacher this month, going on about 'sacrifice this', and 'follow the path that', and Jezebel Jones was getting tired of it.  There was only so much sacrifice a good Christian woman could make! Her mind had wandered off as soon as she sat down in the chapel.

Jezebel was just wondering how Marion Ellis had managed to squeeze into such a tiny yellow polyester monstrosity when she heard her name called. She turned toward the front, confused.  All the eyes in the church were on her, like sharp knives,  and the preacher's eyes seemed to glow.

"Your community has chosen you to walk the Martyr's Path.  This is a great honor. Do you surrender your will to the that of the community?"

Jezebel wanted to ask what the Martyr's Path might be, but her voice seemed paralyzed.  The man's voice rolled over her like a wave.  It seemed to command her, dragging her to her feet with a force of will she was powerless to resist, and pushing her to the front of the church with jerky footsteps.

"NO!" is what Jezebel wanted to say, and she opened her mouth.  But that unseen force spoke for her.

"I surrender my will to the Folk."

"I accept this sacrifice in the name of our Lord Hades," The preacher raised his ceremonial knife above his head, as the men of the Auxiliary grabbed her and extended her neck over a silver bowl.

"Hades?"  Jezebel screamed as the glint of the knife came closer.






This week's word is:

PATH
1: a trodden way
2: a track specially constructed for a particular use
3a : course, route
  b : a way of life, conduct, or thought





Prompt:  These lyrics: "I found a martyr in my bed tonight. She stops my bones from wondering just who I am, who I am, who I am"  by a band called FUN, and a stained glass window featuring Joan of Arc, being presented to the Virgin Mary and Christ Child by Saints Catherine and Barbara, if my barest Latin is correct.

25 comments:

  1. Eeek! Didn't see that coming. I like how she was distracted by such banal details as her neighbor's outfit. That really grounded the character, I think.

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  2. She really should have listened closer, this is a good mix of the 2 prompts. You really went to the dark side with this one.

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    1. My brain tends to wander off when I am in church, and that can be dangerous!

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  3. Jezebel Jones - LOL! Love it! nice story :)

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  4. Human sacrifice. Old school!

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  5. Ooh, that gave me chills. Nice read!

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  6. Eeek ... that wasn't how she saw her day going! Or should I say, ending?

    Visiting from WOE.

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  7. Okay! I'm sufficiently creeped out. Love her name. You do good dark!

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  8. That last line was brilliant. great piece, Tina

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  9. Ha! Talk about consequences for not paying attention. I suspect the congregation will keep a preacher with such a voice...
    ~Angela

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  10. How horrible!Some kind of hypnotism or pagan ritual?And the name Jezebel-I knew something evil would happen but not to her,lol!Great writing,I enjoy such tales:-)It reminded me of an episode of "Supernatural" where the devils had taken control over the minds of the congregation or something-eeks!

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    1. I LOVE Supernatural--that is a great show! Thank you for reading!

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  11. Whoa - I thought this was going to be a normal church piece, but it had a cool twist. Hades! Oops :)

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  12. Oh, this is so dark and delicious ^___^

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  13. Reads like a wild metaphor for organized religions. Like cattle to the slaughter. Love the admission of distraction (whoops!).

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  14. A wonderfully dark tale. I loved the way the last line caught me by surprise.

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  15. Very good job tricking me into the usual "blah, blah" of the sermon. Nice twist at the end.

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  16. Oops, one should listen to the preachin', sometimes it's not just preachin' to the choir, no? It's like leaving the conference room to use the restroom to return and find that everyone "volunteered" you for a tedious project. Only this is death. Ha! Delightfully twisted this. Very well done!

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  17. Dittos to Shelton. :) I'm very confused about their mixing up of Christian and Satanic references, but it definitely put an unexpected twist on the whole thing! I also liked the grounding of the character in the yellow outfit.

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  18. Eek! Not where I thought this was going. Never take your eyes off the itinerant preachers!

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I welcome comments, but reserve the right to correct your spelling because I am OCD about it!