Amanda had been out cold when Matt had left the
apartment. He had left her a note on the
nightstand to tell her where he was going, and then grabbed his car keys and
headed out.
He had been meaning to check out the Church of
the New Day for a while, anyways. A lot
of the kids from the center had been talking about the place, especially since
they had recently taken over Wheaton Prep after…
Matt didn’t finish the thought. That memory still hurt.
Still, the Church of the New Day was starting to
do a lot of youth outreach programs in the area, and Matt wanted to get a
handle on what they were actually preaching to these kids. It wasn’t the religious aspect that he minded,
but more that something about the church had always struck him as kind of
off. It was all just a bit too
nice.
He turned off of North Avenue and onto the long,
winding drive towards the large church complex.
He had driven past the place countless times since construction had
finished, but it wasn’t until he was heading towards it that he could see how
massive the whole thing was.
While most modern churches had a more modern,
welcoming look, the Church of the New Day had an oddly gothic feel to it, with
two tall, spired bell towers jutting up towards the sky. As he drove closer he could feel his heart
pounding faster.
That feeling… that wrong feeling was growing
stronger. He knew he should have
stopped, should have turned around, but he felt pulled forward. He was pretty sure that if he took his hands
off the wheel the car would still make its way up the winding drive. He was being pulled into the church’s orbit
now.
When he reached the long, narrow parking lot at
the end of the drive he found a spot and parked. He actually had to catch his breath before
opening the car door and stepping out.
I should go home, he thought to himself. I shouldn’t have left Amanda there alone, and
for what? To spy on the competition?
He turned towards the church entrance, two large,
dark cherry wood doors, and saw a man standing there.
“You got my note!” he cried out, walking down the
short set of stone steps into the parking lot. “I’m so glad you came.”
“I… I…” Matt suddenly found himself at a loss for
words.
The man who had to be Howie Day was next to him
now. He threw an arm around Matt’s
shoulder and started leading him to those two, large wooden doors. “Oh, no need to explain. You came here
because you needed a little… guidance, right?”
He gave Matt’s shoulder a hard squeeze.
“Well, then you came to the right place.” Howie
smiled.
“I should really get back home. My wife, Amanda, she isn’t feeling too well,
and…” Matt tried to pull away, to get back to his car. Howie’s grip grew tighter.
“Oh, don’t you worry about Amanda. She’ll be here soon enough.” Howie’s smile
grew, and it sent a chill down Matt’s spine.
He looked back towards the two large, wooden
doors. He could see the carvings around
the doorframe clearly now. Naked bodies, writhing in agony, snakes and animal
claws ripping at them. The faces of the
figures were frozen in a state between ecstasy and agony.
What kind of church was this?
The two wood doors flew up, and before Matt could
react, or even scream, he found himself sucked into the darkness on the other
side.
No comments:
Post a Comment