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┏━━━━━━𖤐━━━━━━┓ chapter ten: certain doom ┗━━━━━━𖤐━━━━━━┛ "The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil."
— Book of Revelation 12:9
Marlene and Sam stopped at the entrance to an old building, gazing up at the cross hanging above its door.
"A church?" Sam deadpanned and glanced over at Marley, "Are you serious?"
She tugged on his arm, "Come on."
"Marlene — "
"Come on."
Marley dragged him inside, despite his very vocal reluctance, which wasn't an easy feat, considering he could easily crush her with her measly 5'4. The church was almost empty, safe for a few parishioners that had decided to say their prayers in the late afternoon. It was peaceful and quiet, a smell of wax and frankincense lingering in the air.
Marlene sat down on a bench in the back and pulled Sam down next to her.
"I don't think that a church is the best place for us to be right now," he whispered and then smiled at the passing priest.
"Don't you believe in God?" Marley asked, scandalised, "Come on, relax. No one's going to look for us here. It would be way too obvious."
Her words did little to subdue Sam's paranoia. Hands locked between his thighs, he tried his hardest to appear relaxed, but everything: from his rigid posture to his constant looking around betrayed the sense of acute unease.
"My father took me to church every Sunday. It wasn't a spiritual thing. More like...research," Marley spoke softly, eyes fixed on the altar. She could feel Sam's eyes on her, "When we came home, he'd always give me those...those lectures on the corruption of religious institutions and how one didn't need to go to church to feel connected to God. He — um, he believed that it was all a papal hoax to receive generous donations. A transaction like any other." Sam noticed a slight change in her face, a sadness creeping into its expression. "I hated the things he said, I felt...felt they were a bit ignorant, you know? Plus, I liked going to church. And it wasn't because it made me feel closer to God, because, frankly, I'm still not sold on the guy," Sam chuckled at that, "but because it made me feel closer to people. Just take a look around."
Sam swept her his over the church where a woman was praying at the alter, a young mother was fixing up her kid's tie, probably for his first confession, a man just sitting there in absolute peace.
"They all come here to feel part of something. To feel better. To feel human," Marley said, "My mom was like that. Perhaps, that's why my father lost faith in everything."
Sam cleared his throat, "My, uh...my father didn't believe in much, either. There was the road and the job, and that's it. He'd be pretty disappointed in me right now," he huffed out a derisive chuckle.
