“Help your local Harvest! All hands appreciated”. The poster outside the church was inviting enough, so she decided to summon up all her courage and go inside. She walked up the gravel path, past the gravestones which always seemed so creepy in her childhood, into the warm church and looked around. She hadn’t been in the church for many years, not since she was forced to at school. Perhaps the vicar would recognise her. Perhaps she wouldn’t be welcome any more.
The pews were empty as there was now flock to listen to a sermon, only people there to lend a hand, the sun was peeping through the clouds and casting strange rays around the church through the stain glass windows. It took her back to her days playing in the pews with all her friends, and where she had her very first kiss. She was shook out of her reverie by the low voice of the vicar.
“My dear, welcome. I can’t say I’ve seen you here before, is there anything I can help you with?”
“Umm…the…err….poster. Harvest. It says all hands appreciated. So I’ve come to, err, lend a hand”
She waved her hands at him like a magician who had just made something disappear and immediately regretted how corny it must look.
“Ah, excellent. Come this way. We already have some helpers, but the church always welcomes more you know.”
It was the same vicar as had always been there. Her parents told her that he married them in that very church. Now he wasn’t looking quite as sprightly, but he still had a good deal of energy in his fragile frame.
“Over there my dear, they’re organizing this years donations ready to be packed, the girl with the orange dress is Camellia, she’s keeping everything in order, so if you could speak to her, it would be most wonderful.”
She headed towards Camellia, feeling the vicars eyes bore into the back of her skull. She was sure he knew the real reason she was here. She was starting to feel guilty. She glanced behind but he was gone.
She spoke to Camellia, who was the vicars daughter, and was set to work separating perishables. At first she was keen, trying to do a good job and impress, but as the day wore on, enthusiasm sapped away.
She was working at a table with a young girl. A sweet girl no doubt, but not one that can hold the attention for very long. Occasionally she’d glance over her shoulder towards the other table of people working, and as is often the case, it seemed a lot more fun. She could sometimes catch voices drift over, random voices, and sometimes his voice. Unmistakable. The kind of voice that oozes charm, the kind of voice that didn’t belong to someone in a church of all places.
As the day drew to a close, she left with the simple minded girl, saying her goodbyes to all. At the end of the graveyard they stopped and the simple girl went off leaving her standing outside the church reflecting quite miserably on a rotten day.
It made her jump when suddenly someone was standing next to her. It was him. The owner of the charming voice. She was happy his looks were still just as nice.
“Hi Dawn, I’m Tim, not sure if you remember me. It’s been a while”
She hoped it was just on the inside that an enormous grin appeared as she learnt he remembered her.
“Hi, yeah! ‘course I remember you! How have you been?”
“Good thanks. I just wanted to say it’s good to see you again, and I hope you’ll be lending a hand tomorrow as well. If you do, I’ll make sure you get a better task and not stuck with Francesca. A nice girl, but can get on the trying side as I’m sure you will have noticed. Anyway, must dash. Hope to see you tomorrow.”
He walked off leaving Dawn standing with a hazy memory of what had happened. It was almost like it was all just a hazy memory, even as it happened.
Dawn was grinning all the way home, and all the way back into church in the morning. The birds seemed to be singing twice as loudly, and the sun shinning twice as brightly.
Her shoes crunched on the gravel as she walked back up to the big doors. It was an impressive building and looked medieval, but the architecture had a strange twinge. The gargoyles all seemed to be pointing inwards and there were strange symbols in the stone. Some etched in, and some as stone models upon the edge of the walls. The closer she got, the more they looked like they were starting to melt.
She walked through the small door in the big wooden doors and tried to see who was there today. She was surprised to see that everyone that was there the day before was there already. Seeing the vicar she enquired if she was late.
“No no my dear, your timing is perfect.”
“Everyone else is already here, should I of come earlier?”
“Oh no, we’ve only just started. Please, come”
He led her to the front to appoint her a job. When they got close, Tim spoke up.
“Hi Dawn! Good that you made it. You going to be helping me on the baskets today?”
Dawn felt like she had just been saved from another day of Francesca as the vicar agreed.
“That sounds like a wonderful idea, would you mind?”
“Sounds great” said Dawn with a grin.
She walked over to Tim leaving the vicar behind and walking into a mischievous grin.
“I think I just saved you from being Francescaed again”
“I know. I was beginning to loose faith in you. I didn’t forget your promise!”
“Of course, I couldn’t leave you stranded”
“Ah, my knight in shinning armour” she joked pulling at his knitted jumper.
They giggled together and he showed her their job for the day.
Dawn chatted nervously for most of the day, with Tim left to nod in the right places and giggle in the right places. Whenever she became self conscious and came to an awkward silence he’d encourage her with another leading question and reaffirmation that she wasn’t boring him.
When the end of the day came they walked down the gravel path again, stopping at the end they fell into an awkward silence. It was Tim who broke the silence.
“Do you want to out for dinner with me?”
Dawn wanted to speak, but her mouth wasn’t responding, so she just nodded frantically, and then regretted the frantic bit.
They walked close to each other all the way into town, the silence lasted for half the journey with Tim just making benign comments, but Dawn soon found her voice once more and dominated the conversation. All through dinner she chatted to him, and all through dinner he sat with a grin on his face.
He paid, much to her protests and they walked back the way they came.
“Why are we walking towards the church?” she asked.
“Do you want to be my girlfriend?”
“Yes”
“Do you want to know all about me?”
“Yes” it seemed a loaded question, but it was an obvious answer.
“Then follow me”
She put the strange sense of foreboding down to nerves. She thought he might lead her to his house, but she was sure he lived with his parents in completely the opposite direction. The conversation continued until they reached the church. It was nearly ten, and the church looked creepy under the full moon.
“Right, so God is a big part of your life. I get that”
“That’s not it. Follow me” he led her towards the building continuing talking.
“You see, this building is ancient, servants of the Lord have been maintaining it for generations. But we’ve found scriptures that tell of the real reason for the building. And it isn’t to worship the Lord”
“Then why did ‘servants of the Lord’ maintain it?”
“Well, if you look carefully at the stonework, it’s not a positive building like most churches, it focuses on the prevention of evil rather then the promotion of good.”
“Sounds like the same thing to me”
he gestured for her to enter the church and he followed. Inside was dimly lit with candles.
“Not at all, promotion of good is being a good person. Prevention of evil is stopping the evil forces of the world. They’re linked, but they’re not the same. Anyway, we found that this building is essentially a prison, it’s locking away a great power which people thought was too dangerous. But we’ve managed to find a way to unlock it, and harness this force.”
They were walking towards the alter as they spoke. There was a doorway to the side which she had never noticed before. He was right behind her as she followed the candle light through the doorway and into cramped catacombs winding deep below the church.
“Even if this force exists, which I doubt, surely it should stay locked away.” she looked round as she spoke and his eyes were alive with passion, they seemed to be alight, but she told herself it was just reflections of the candlelight.
“When you have seen the things I have, you know it can exist. Our unlocking it is even melting the stone prison! Soon we will have this power, and I want you to be a part of it. I want us to be together, and to do that, you must be a part of it”
“No! You’re crazy! If this is so powerful then it shouldn’t be unlocked! It’s been locked away for a reason. Can’t you see that?” she kept walking, partially because she didn’t think about stopping, but mostly because Tim was walking behind her forcing her onwards.
“Look at the evil already out there! This world has reached melting point. Somebody has to do something, and that somebody is us. We can clean this place up, we can put an end to this mess!”
“No! Stop it! You’re scaring me!” Suddenly she came into a large chamber ringed with hooded monk like figures. A hooded female was reading in a strange archaic language.
“Francesca?” Dawn couldn’t believe it was the dull person into something like this. But the reading just continued.
“Yes, it’s Francesca, it’s all the people you met in the church. Francesca may not have much up top, but she’s a master of the languages. Look, I like you, and I beg of you to reconsider. We can have so much, if you just take your place in the circle.”
“No! No! What are you doing? Can’t you see it’s wrong?” she had started sobbing and was getting difficult to understand.
“Fine! I gave you the chance of power. If you won’t take your place at the edge, you can take the place in the middle!”
He pushed her towards the centre of the room. Falling backwards she hit her head on the stone floor.
When she awoke she was still on the floor, but tied down. Tim was kneeling beside her in a robe.
“Tim?” she said meekly “Help me!” she was terrified and her voice only came out as a whisper.
The figures was chanting in the strange language, it was getting louder and louder. As it seemed unbearably loud Tim moved, his face full of rage and eyes full of fire.
The last thing Dawn saw was an ornamental dagger in Tims hand going into her chest. Then, nothing.
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by
Taz /
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