Into Temptation
“Father could you…” The man’s eyes shone with desperation, he knew that desperation well. The desperation of a man at his last limits. A man who was looking, deeply, for some sort of hope. I knew I couldn’t give it, but I would try just the same.
“Let me see her first.”
“In there.”
I stepped into the cold room where she sat. She seemed fine, almost cheerful. Her legs were crossed and she was wearing a simple nightgown. She did not look tired or gaunt like the man had claimed. She looked like a perfectly normal woman who was very much with child. I smiled at that, children were such a blessing. Yet I was never the type to have my own, I left that to my younger siblings. I had a higher calling.
“Father Cleary,” She smiled as she gestured to a nearby plush chair, “Come sit, we have much to discuss I believe.” I sat down as I gave her a dull look. If there was something in her, I would find out shortly.
“We do, as a matter of fact!” I jumped slightly at the loud sound of the door slamming behind us, “Was that you Mrs. Dickson?”
“It was us,” She gave a small smile, “We don’t like to be interrupted by his paranoia. It is...tiresome.”
“Who is us? You and your child?”
“Me, my daughter, and Temptation.”
“Temptation?” I raised an eyebrow, maybe mental illness? “And who exactly is temptation?” Her smile turned to a frown, her fingers running through her reddish black locks as she spoke.
“Surely you know of Temptation, Father,” She was studying me as much as I was studying her, “After all, Temptation knows you.”
“Funny, I don’t think we’ve met.”
The room grew colder as the words were exchanged. I started to notice also that my mind felt foggy, as though I had just woken up. I took a breath and tried to reel my mind in, to focus on the task at hand. She grinned as she rubbed her belly.
“You are tempted by so many things,” She spoke as she narrowed her gaze, “For one, you are tempted by power, you want to become the bishop of the area. Maybe even a cardinal someday. Wouldn’t that be something? Cardinal Cleary. I like the sound of that, don’t you?”
I blinked, sure the thought had come to me a couple of times about my future within the church but nothing so extreme as what was being stated to me.
“What does that-”
“Have to do with anything?” She laughed, “How else am I going to prove that you know Temptation? Let’s go a little less obvious, lust. You are denying your humanity with this position and you know it. What’s worse, you’re taking out your lust as wraith against your fellow priests. The fight with Dimetris, that wasn’t about how he keeps his paperwork so unorganized. It was about how you’ve had thoughts...wicked thoughts, about him in your dreams, or as you call them, nightmares.”
I gave the woman a dull look, unimpressed. She was right, we both knew it, but at this point I could not show it. I had to maintain the look of suspicion until the moment was right. It was rare to run into a true case, but this, she knew exact names and thoughts. I couldn’t let my guard down.
“Is that all?”
“No, that’s barely the start! Let’s talk of your greed, oh your greed mixed with gluttony. You never refuse a free meal, you’ve even stopped pretending to refuse out of politeness. You attend services that you know are filled with those that would love to take you out to breakfast or brunch. You always help with the bake sales because you know the women at the church always save a few for you. They enable your worst temptations, Father, and you have fallen into them as you give their husbands vague looks of desire for they are the other reason you go to bake sales.”
“That is a weird way to phrase it. I’ve had thoughts, but I am above them.”
“Are you?”
“Quite,” I sighed, here I had been hoping on the way over that this was a hoax, yet here I sit, not at risk of losing one soul but two, “I will have you know that it is not a sin to think such things. It is not a matter of temptation, but not being led into it.”
“Yet here you are,” Her voice crackled like an old crone’s, “Tempted by this woman to revoke your vows to have your own. To have love; to have a legacy. You threw away earthly treasures for what? So you can prove you can? I wonder…”
“But why her?” I interrupted, trying to regain ground on the conversation. I was not about to let a demon run this conversation, “Why this woman, why her child?”
“Because she wanted her child to get everything she wants,” The crone continued to speak, “She grew up poor and her avarice is lead by desperation. She wants, and I help her give into those wants. Do you even know what that is like? To be so poor as to have to use all your clothes in your closet to keep warm in winter because father couldn’t afford the heating bill? To do homework assignments at the local library because you didn’t even have a computer, much less the means to finish internet research assignments at home. I understand, I know for I am Temptation and I guide good intentions down a path that leads to both happiness and Hell. I shall guide these two souls down with me, and even if you do save them, they will not be redeemed. Your God is not forgiving to those who sin and make deals with my kind.”
“I disagree,” I was keeping my nerves steeled as I dug into my pocket to hold onto my rosary, the one my mother gave me when I was small, “Our Lord forgives us, as long as we can ask for such forgiveness. She has been dealt a cruel hand by a God that believed in her and look at her. Her home is lovely, she has everything she could ever want.”
“Looks can be deceiving, Father,” Her eyes narrowed as the woman’s normal voice took over, “Did he tell you he cheated on me? Did he tell you he has racked up major debts? Did he tell you that he was thinking of divorcing me for another woman? Did he?!”
“No, he did not, Mrs. Dickson and if that is the case I am sorry,” My empathy was for the woman, but I had to keep in mind that I was dealing with demonic liars, “However, we all have our troubles under the surface, Temptation should have told you that.”
“I did, and now she knows her husband’s truths,” A devilish grin appeared on the woman’s face as my eyes went wide, “As you may well know, there is no hope with a woman scorned, she is forever damned at this point. Your God cares for mankind, and womankind is just to bring the next generation of man.”
“Silence!”
“Ah, the desperate command of the Priest who knows I speak the truth!”
I stood up, glaring down at the demon that was in front of me as my hand went to the holy water in my left pocket, sprinkling it upon the woman who shrieked in horror and pain.
“Our Father, who art in Heaven…”
“You will just hurt her,” The crone spoke harshly in between the pained screams, “You will just hurt her, I will survive as I always do within the hearts of unfortunate souls.”
“Hallowed be Thy name…”
“You will have two lives on your hands, just walk away and you won’t be accused of murder!”
“By kingdom come, Thy will be done…”
“There is no kingdom, you know that! There is just dust, dust and regrets!”
“On Earth as it is in Heaven,” I spoke louder, not shouting but calm and firm, as best I could over it, there was little else I could do.
“You are wasting your time, the bastard can’t hear you! No one can! You humans were left alone with the Devil right out of the Garden! It’s all a ruse!”
“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…”
“You lose, Paddy, you lose!”
“And lead us not into temptation-”
“I am Temptation!” She screeched as the walls began to breathe and shake around us, “You cannot get rid of or harm me! These souls will survive long enough to bring what I need!”
“What tempts Temptation?” I interrupted my prayer only out of the sin of curiosity. I had to know.
“The world, and I will very soon have it.”
As the door swung open and Mr. Dickson walked in, I felt everything settle down. The dark gloom and cold that had made the air seem heavy as lead melted away. She looked calm as she smiled at him.
“Temptation is no longer here now,” She said softly, “Father Cleary freed me.”
The room did seem to become suddenly angelic, almost too much so. I gave her a look for a few moments, waiting to see some tell. She just smiled back and giggled.
“Oh the little one is very active now,” Mrs. Dickson yawned and smiled, “Thank you again Father for all your good work. You saved us both.”
The husband ushered me out to give her some time to rest, though my suspicions are still there. It was only as I looked back into the house that I saw a figure of an old, rotten corpse of a woman waving behind Mrs. Dickson that I thought I should write this down. Dimitris, if you see this, send the account to the Vatican for immediate consideration for an exorcism. I am saying my prayers tonight, but I am not sure I will make it. I keep hearing the demonic voice in my head now, and I do not think I can resist the Temptation much longer to end it all.
I love you, forgive me,
Father Michael Cleary
