Penance

The man ran, his heart pounding loudly in his ears. His breath came in short, quick gasps. Blood ran down his face, pouring out of a large gouge on his forehead. He glanced over his shoulders every few seconds.

“You can’t run from me.” it said, its voice raspy and deep, primal and guttural. “You can’t hide either.”

“Fuck you!” he screamed back at the voice, missing the wall in front of him and smashing into it. He pushed himself up with a groan. “Goddamn.”

A sound like sacks of powdered cement hitting the ground came from the far end of the alley. The man pulled a revolver from his belt and fired into the darkness twice. The muzzle flash nearly blinded him, but it was well worth it. He heard the distinct sound of the bullets hitting flesh and allowed himself a moment to smile.

“I got you, you bastard!” he all but danced in the dirty alley, swinging his arms around wildly.

“I was like you once, a monster masquerading as a man. When I was punished, I learned what my victims had felt, and it changed me.” it stepped into the slight bit of light cast by a mounted to the wall. The thing was a nightmare incarnate. The man felt his blood run cold as he gazed into a pair of cold blue eyes.

He let out a growl and squeezed the trigger three more times. Each round nailed the creature in the torso, knocking it back slightly but leaving it otherwise unfazed. “Why won’t you die?”

Something inky and black shot out from behind the beast and wrapped around the man’s arm, “I can’t, I’m already dead!” it snarled. The blackness dragged the man, pulling him within the beast’s reach. It wore some kind of cowl or scarf that covered the bottom of its face, where a nose and mouth would be on a man.

“What are you gonna do to me?” the man asked, his voice trembling.

“Punish you.” the beast responded simply, grabbing hold of the cowl it wore and tearing it down. The man let out a loud and terrible scream, one that shattered the stillness of the night, it lasted for several long seconds before it faded off into silence once more. The beast dropped the man’s still body, the corpse’s face was frozen into a twisted expression of fear and pain. “Rest now.”



The beast knelt in front of a statue, the quiet of the church was calming to the it. The statue was a relief of an angel laying down her sword and offering her arms to embrace the enemy. It smiled and embraced the angel, kissing it on the lips once before standing down. “Forgive me, Emily.” it said, its voice barely above a growl.

“You have sinned again, haven’t you, My Son?” asked Father Thomas, walking up behind the beast.

“Yes, Father. I murdered two men that tried to rape a woman. These are the least of my sins for the day, but I will not burden your soul.”

“You have been given the burden, Wraith.” said the priest, his voice quiet. “You are the one that must bare your soul to such awful violence and corruption.”

“My penance.”

“What deed could you have done to earn such an awful fate?”

Wraith didn’t answer, instead he merely laid against the legs of the angel, his eyes closing slowly. “The deed that led me here, to this form was just one of many mistakes, now I’m paying for them. Please Father, leave me here for now, I find solace here.”

“As you wish my Child.”

Wraith laid there for a long time, thinking about many things, his eyes slowly closed as sleep overtook him. “I’m sorry, Emily.”







Word Count: 629