It all started 6 months ago.
I asked why she kept coming home so late. She told me her “company was busier than ever.”
I was a little relieved at first. So many companies nowadays are looking for reasons to fire you and replace you with an AI chatbot. At least for now, it looked like her job was safe.
For the next few months, she came and went as she pleased. Then came the calls. Her phone kept ringing at all hours of the day.
Last week, she was in the shower when her phone rang. I picked it up. No one answered. All I heard was static and the sound of someone breathing down the line.
She again denied it. Saying it must have been a cold caller. Even cold callers don’t phone at 1 am.
Finally, I had enough. It was time to follow her. Catch her in the act. I had to know what she was doing.
This morning I left early. Rented a different car and stalked my wife.
First, she went to the office. I breathed a sigh of relief when her car pulled into the parking lot.
“At least she wasn’t lying about going to her job.”
From the road, I could see her desk. I watched all day. Just to make sure her bosses or coworkers weren’t sticking the company pen inside her.
Now, if you think working on a computer all day is boring. Try watching someone work all day. Becky barely moved from her desk. Even ate lunch there.
“Jesus, no wonder she is coming home late. If this were my day. I would be hitting every bar on the way home. anything for a bit of excitement.”
Finally, 5 pm came. My heart sank when she left on time.
As she got into her car, I got a message,
“Working late won’t be home until after 8 XXX.”
I almost busted her right there. But I knew she would just make up some excuse. I had to catch her with no way for her to lie her way out of it.
She started the car and drove to the old part of town. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. She went into the street where I grew up.
My mind was racing, “Where was she going to stop?”
“Was one of my old friends seeing my wife?”
“Which one of their houses was she going to stop at?”
Her car finally pulled into St James’s parking lot.
“St James?”
I used to hate that church. My mother made me go every week.
“I thought it was still closed? Guess someone must have reopened it.”
I still remember the day it shut. Pastor Gregg clutching his chest and falling to the ground. My mother telling me god needed him in heaven. I can still feel the sting on my face when I told her I dont think he is going to heaven.
My wife got out of the car and greeted a group at the door.
“Why would she lie to me about going to church?
I wouldn’t have stopped her from going? Sure, I gave up on religion years ago. But I wouldn’t have cared. Might have even joined her.
My mind was racing. 6 months ago, out of the blue, she suddenly stopped drinking.
“Did something happen to her. Was she going to some kind of AA meeting? She always liked drinking, but I never thought she was an alcoholic.
“Shit! I have to go in. I need to know what she is doing.”
Everyone was walking through the giant wooden front door. No way I could use it. Someone might recognise I am her husband.
I started chuckling to myself. Guess Mom was right. One day, I would be glad I went to Sunday school. Pastor Gregg made us use a different door around the back that led to his office. His office led to the main hall.
I slipped around the back and slowly opened the door to my old pastor's office. His once-perfect office was a mess. glass was on the floor. Dust everywhere. Graffiti on the wall. No one had used it since the day he died.
The sound of church hymns rang out in the distance.
“Is she in a choir? Why would she lie about this?”
I quietly slipped out of the office and walked up the steps to the second floor. It gave me a perfect view of the main hall. 100 people were singing below. The song was one I had never heard before. Gregorian-style chanting hung in the air. Dancing across the walls of a church. Chills went down my spine. I had never seen anyone sing like this before.
When the singing stopped. I took a good look at everyone below. Everyone was wearing long black robes.
My eyes almost burst out of my head when I saw a Giant pentagram in the center of the hall.
“Holly shit. She joined a cult. Christ!”
My wife stepped towards the pentagram. Holding a small puppy.
I couldn’t be sure from the distance, but it looked like a golden retriever.
I told her years ago I always wanted a golden retriever.
“Was I about to be getting some cult dog to look after?
Why couldn't she just be cheating on me….”
Becky looked at the members and held the dog high with one hand. They all cheered as she raised it.
It was a beautiful little dog. Its eyes darting all across the room. Trying to curl itself up into a little ball.
Its fear was soon taken away. My wife took a knife from her belt and slit the dog’s throat.
The noise it made was indescribable.
I almost gave away my hiding spot as she threw it in the centre of the pentagram.
The signing started again, only this time louder.
The dog's body started glowing red.
As the song reached its chorus. The dog's body started thrashing. Mutating in a creature more foul than I had ever seen.
When the creature shrieked, the crowd cheered.
My wife knelt down in front of it as it rose onto its legs and spoke in a deep, echoing voice.
“There is an un-sinned among us.”
Gasps went around the church. Everyone started looking in different directions.
The creature's eyes met mine. I couldn’t breathe as it lifted one of its arms and pointed to me.
“There is the un-sinned.”
I dove down and ran faster than I had moved before. Jumping down the steps back into the office. Sprinting out the back of the church to the car. The tires screamed as I hit the gas.
Breaking every speeding law I could on the way home. My mind raced.
“Fuck, Fuck. FUCK! What has she gotten herself into?”
I dumped my car in the drive and went straight to the gun safe. Pulling out the rifle and pistol.
A message flashed up on my phone.
“Be home soon XXX”
“Fuck” I shouted. Flying down the stairs.
I went to the fridge and pulled out the emergency 6-pack. Cracking a can, I drank it as fast as I could.
Moving into the front room, I took a chair and placed it by the door. Checking my guns were loaded, I took a seat and slammed back another can.
I am now waiting for her to return. I don't know what I am going to do when she walks in.
“Fuck! What did she bring into this world? A demon. The devil. The antichrist?”
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