#70 Confession
"Bless me father, for I have sinned."
A shuffle of cloth. The click of rosary beads.
"What is your sin, my son?"
A soft sigh. The glimpse of blonde through a network of wood.
"Do not be afraid, my son, your words in here are between yourself and god."
The throat clears.
"I have been envious, father. I have been envious for much of my life."
"Of what have you been envious, my son?"
A slight creak of new leather. "Of a classmate, who always did better than me, despite my best efforts."
A kindly smile, "All god asks is that you do your best, my son. If you can say that you have done so, nothing more can be asked of you."
Another cough. "I have sinned many other times, father. I have stolen, and I have lied." A soft, piteous swallow. "I have killed. Many, many times I have pulled a trigger and taken a life. Father, my only excuse is that all of my sins were for the greater good."
A pause.
"Father, you must believe that I felt I had to do these terrible things, for the rest of the world's sake."
That warm, kindly voice sighs. "What greater good is there that is worth all those sins, my son?"
A bitter twinge comes to the voice on the other side of the curtain. "Stopping a man who intends to murder the world, father. Upholding justice in the world. Avenging the man whom, for all intents and purposes, was my father."
Another, longer pause. A shuffling of pages, peering into the bible.
"Revenge is a dark motive, my son, but the others you speak of are noble. But you did right to ask forgiveness, my son. You must pray to our lord and do as he bids you, I fear your soul is beyond my reach."
Horrorified. "Father! You can't mean that! I want to be saved! I have been a good Catholic my whole life! I-"
"My son, you misunderstand me." The voice cuts him off. "No soul is beyond the reach of the almighty. Pray to him. Pray to the virgin mother. Pray, and ask those with greater power than I for forgiveness."
There is a relieved sigh behind that curtain.
"Oh, father, I have one other sin."
"Another one, my son?"
A light laugh. "It is a sin I can't bring myself to regret, father. It is a sin of love."
"Love is not a sin, my son."
A sigh. "You would have me believe it is a sin if the one I love is a man."
The bible hits the floor with a whack.
"My son-" The priest almost sees the smile through the curtain. It is like a fox's jaw.
"I don't believe god would forbid me from loving one so perfect, Father. One who knows me so well, one who loves me so much and so purely despite all that I am." The throat clears again. "He is the only man I love, and, providing I last that long, I intend on spending my whole life only with him."
A swallow from behind the curtain.
"My son… don't spread it around my congregation, but I don't believe there is any sin where there is pure love."
"Bless you father." The leather creaks again as there is movement. "Goodbye. I don't think I'll live to see tomorrow."
When he dares look out to find this envious, murderous sodomite, the church is empty, but for the faint sound of a motorbike in the distance.