Beckett: Hades (Short Story)

When Bill next looked at his watch, it was 7:25 am. He doesn’t remember if he somehow managed to fall asleep, or if he just stared out into space.

He thinks through everything Hades said. Why did they come again? To kill me? Yes, certainly. But not immediately, it seems. What did they say? They said… they said Lucifer is “the progenitor of insidious evil.” So then… slowly it is. But how? No, when? Today? Tomorrow? Ten years from now? Twenty?

Bill decided he wants to live, so he got up from his chair and went into his home office. Opening his MacBook, he typed into Google, “churches near me.”

Let’s see… Several Catholic churches. Duh, it’s a big Catholic town. Some Baptist churches, non-denominational, Lutheran… What the heck does LCMS mean?

Having decided that Catholics know the most about demons with all the exorcisms they apparently do, Bill decided to go to St. Mary’s Catholic Church right on Main Street.

As he walks into the cathedral, he has no idea where to find the priest. He looks around the sanctuary and sees to his left a confessional booth.

 Ah, he thinks, elated, those are on TV all the time. Priests spend a lot of time in there.

He enters the penitent side and waits for the priest to say something. About two minutes pass and he begins to wonder.

“Is anybody there?” he says.

No answer.

He gets out and slowly opens the door to the other side. Empty.

He closes the door and jumps in a fright as he hears from his right, “May I help you?”

He looks over and relaxes a little. The priest!

“H-hi,” he stutters. “Um, Father? I was wondering if I could talk to you if you have a few minutes?”

“Certainly. Follow me.”

He follows the priest into his office, surrounded by bookshelves with books piled on top of his desk. He sees the nameplate on his desk. Father Timothy Romano.

Father Romano sits at his desk as Bill sits across from him.

“I’ll let you start,” Father Romano kindly says.

“Um, well, it’s a bit strange for me. For many reasons, really.”

Why is this so hard? Bill thought.

Father Romano patiently waits in silence.

“Well,” Bill begins, “I guess I should say first that I’ve been an atheist my whole life, so I don’t usually believe in all this stuff.”

“What do you mean by ‘all this stuff’?” the priest asks patiently.

“Well, spiritual stuff, I guess. Angels and demons.”

“Ah, I see. The supernatural. You said ‘usually.’ Has something changed?”

A lot has changed, thought Bill.

“You could say that,” he says. And he told him everything he witnessed earlier that morning.

After some silence, Father Romano asked, “Are you sure that’s what you saw, son?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure.” Bill was getting frustrated now.

Father Romano adjusted his position in his chair. “It’s only that… well, a couple things. I have a lot of experience with demons, unfortunately. As does the history of the Holy Catholic Church, as I’m sure you know. And I’ve never experienced—and there certainly hasn’t been anything written—about anything like this. About demons appearing to people and conversing with them. Especially saying things that would actually put Christianity in a good light. Demons hate Christians, more than they hate unbelievers. And the other thing is, if you’ll pardon me, you look like you haven’t gotten any sleep.”

Bill shrunk back, uncomfortable. “Well, yeah, I’ve been having a case of insomnia.”

Father Romano nodded, as if seeming to understand everything. “Sleep deprivation. Tell me, is it possible you could’ve been hallucinating?”

Bill thought about that. He supposed it was possible. After all, he’s an atheist. All he does is doubt, especially when it comes to Christianity.

No, he thought. No, it was real. The sound of their voice—so alien. And their smell! Like rotten eggs and shit.

Bill looks up at the priest and says, “Thank you for you time, Father,” and promptly got up and left.