ANTICHRIST | phan ✔️

witch hunt

remember when i said this goes from 0-100 well this is 101
also do people like this story as much as bubblegum? lemme know x

TRACK NINETEEN
"take me to church"
hozier

👼🏻

1989

father lucian was already stood at the altar and most of the church was filled, so dan and his family sat close to the back.

"...in the name of the father..."

dan ignored the priest entirely, not caring if he felt his mothers eyes burning into him, and craned his neck to find phil. his eyes latched onto mr grant on the opposite side of the aisle, and dan felt his heart strain like lavender against the wind when he found himself looking for a prettily sad face by his side.

"...the son..."

he found phil a few rows in front, and saw he hadn't changed out of his crumpled school clothes. dan wondered if they smelt like him. phil was sat beside the grandparents who couldn't look at him because of how much he reminded them of carmen.

"...and of the holy spirit..."

"...you look so much like her..."

dan's stepfather hadn't looked his way since what had happened in the kitchen, just left the house and don't come back until the evening.

"...amen..."

just in time for prayers.

just as dan ran away to thoughts of phil smelling like lavender and sex in their sinners' sanctuary amongst the bedsheets or running through the graveyard one night in 1987 to drown out the thrash! thud! thrash! he tried to tune out the words passing father lucian's lips, for he couldn't look at the (un)holy man without feeling sick to his stomach.

but the sound of "elizabeth grant" held him there, in that church, as if he were the one nailed to the cross over the altar instead of jesus.

"the passing of one so young is always a tragedy," father lucian addressed the crowd, but all dan could hear was his own kitchen screams.

"CARMEN CARMEN CARMEN"

"god's will can often confuse us," he confused, and dan's nails sunk into the wood of the pew, "and i'm sure most of us may have questioned him after the death of matthew and brendon..."

dan craned his neck again, even if it made him wince, and could see phil's shoulders taut in anger.

"...but now," father lucian said, and his tone darkened, even if the rest of the congregation couldn't hear it, "i feel that we may have some peace of mind..."

something about the way he was talking made dan's blood run cold, as if he were a little boy hiding under the bed as the thud! thud! thud! of his stepfather's footsteps sounded down the hall.

"...for i, along with help that is gratefully appreciated by surely both god and myself, believe we have found the sinner amongst us who took these souls from us so young."