Chapter 13: Knocking on Heaven’s Door

Part XIII Character Refresher:

Josh’s Girls
Allison: Head of the household.
Emilia: Holy sister.
Jeniffer: Josh’s daughter.
Alice: Mayor of SF.
Mikaela: Alice’s daughter and chief brat.
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Father Paul pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing it and sighing at how this church had gone downhill ever since the new Mother Superior had taken over. Where once they had had thousands of parishioners and hundreds of kids for Sunday school, now they barely had enough families to fill the front pews. And the ones that did come ... oh boy. They’d somehow ended up with the dregs of society. Not the poor, just the scummiest souls around that only came to church in the vain hope that they might find some semblance of forgiveness for their horrendous sins ... not that it ever stopped them from doing it all over again the next week.

This had to be some devious plan by the Mother Superior to syphon all the high-end socialites from here to the mega-church next door. She was far too chummy with the Sisters there, going so far as to host joint events and introducing all their wealthiest congregants to them.

They should never have allowed them to break ground in the first place. Whatever students they had once had were now either in that place’s boarding school or had left for more progressive churches, ever since the hard conservative path she had put them on. Again, likely some plot to drive this church out while setting herself up nicely to move next door.

“Bless me Father, for I have sinned,” came the voice from the other confessional booth. “It has been one month since I have last confessed.”

Sitting back against the padded seat, Paul slid open the panel, giving him a muted view through the woven mesh of a young man in the booth.

“What has been bothering you?” he asked, suppressing his weary sigh.

He really needed to get a new gig. This ‘Father’ business stopped being fun years ago. Now it was all politics and money. No one even cared anymore. Why even should he?

“I’ve, uh, I’ve been doing some stuff that I shouldn’t be.”

“Like?”

“Well, uh.”

There was a light knock at the lower panel.

Paul stifled a groan. Ever since they’d moved to confiscate contraband from the confessioners, they’d been getting inundated with nothing but trash. When it wasn’t treated as a handy way of getting rid of illegal goods quietly and not getting the cops called on them, because of ‘rules’, then they were just giving him all the nastiest shit they could think of, presumably to ease their guilty consciences.

What would it be this time? Dildo? Pot? Casino chips?

God, please let it be pot. He could really use some right about now. Just enough to take the edge off.

Sadly, God was not so obliging.

Sliding open the panel, a crumpled box of condoms was handed over.

Lovely.

Paul deposited the contraband in the drawer, right between the shining butt-plug with a mocking sign of the holy cross encrusted in blue rhinestones on it, a cat o’ nine tails that someone had lovingly crafted from soft leather, and the ball-gag with more than a few teeth impressions bitten into it and, somehow, still glistening as if wet.

God, why did all the freaks come to this church?

“Anything else?”

After some hesitation an unmarked plastic bottle was handed over. Something small enough to house a few mints and be easily palmed.

It rattled as he shook it.

... Were these drugs?

“I, uh, I’ve been kinda, uh, living it up this last week.”

Popping open the cap, Paul inspected the tiny pills, a delicate ‘J’ carved into the surface.

Holy shit, this was the good stuff. The last time he had taken one he’d been spaced out for hours laughing at a lava lamp. With this much, he and the guys could get blazed down at the fishing hole and be tripping balls all weekend long.

“Father?”

“Hmm? Oh, uh, right, you’ve done well bringing me this, my son. Uh, five Hail Mary’s.”

Paul capped the container, slipping it into his robe for later.

“Um, that’s it?”

“Hmm? Then do ten. Get on out of here, I need to take a break in a bit,” Paul said, pressing the button to turn off the confessional light. The last thing he needed was more people showing up and crowding into his down time.

When the kid had left, Paul pulled out his phone and texted the Mother Superior that he was taking off for the weekend. He didn’t bother to wait for a reply, already texting his buddies to bring along some ‘entertainment’ for the trip.

The old bell tolled far above, the clear ringing carried across the warm courtyard and echoed off the stone halls of the boarding school. Laughter soon filled the once silent hallways as doors opened, young women adorned in crisp uniforms moving ponderously toward their next classes. The sea of giggling highschoolers moved as one, the watchful gazes of their school guardians panning across them, ever vigilant for improper words, attire, or worse ... boys.

The boarding school’s strict anti-boys policy was in place to keep them all safe. At least, that’s what the Sisters had all told them. They never specified how it was keeping them safe, though. Any further inquiries were usually met with severe scoldings and a ruler slapped against the backs of hands or calves.

Danielle had once heard tell of someone sneaking a boy into the school grounds. From years past, a friend of a friend’s sister’s roommate had apparently opened the gate in the back for him. Following the incident, The Sisters had bricked up the other exits, leaving only the heavy metal gates in the front, the cafeteria loading dock, and oddly, that same gate in the back, as ways in or out of the compound.

Regardless, after many hours, the boy had eventually been caught and expelled through the front gates, but not before he’d apparently kissed the girl. The girl had then been taken away, her belly already swelling due to her pregnancy.

No one knew what had happened to that girl, but some said she was still locked away in the highest steeple, her moans the only sign of her continued imprisonment.

Of course, the Sisters never entertained such gossip, severely punishing anyone who even whispered the tale, leading even more credence to the story.

“I think it’s true,” the girl beside Danielle whispered from her desk to the girl behind her, the Sister with her back turned to the class as she wrote on the whiteboard. “I swear I heard moaning last night.”

“From where?” the other girl asked, leaning forward in her chair.

“From upstairs,” the first replied. “It was late at night, but a voice was crying and moaning in the distance. I think she’s haunting our dorm, looking for her baby.”

The girls quieted down as the Sister turned back to the class, continuing their preparations for going out on a mission once they’d graduated. Danielle was barely listening though as that story gnawed at her.

When the Sister turned away again, the second girl leaned forward and whispered again, several other girls now leaning in to hear more.

“What about the boy?”

“He never found her either. He died and now haunts this place, looking for her while she’s searching for her baby. If you say his name in the mirror three times, he’ll appear and try to kiss you so that he can give your baby to her.”

“Oh no!” one of the girls gasped, recoiling as the Sister fixed her glare at her.

“Was there something you needed to say to the class, Margeret?”

“No ma’am.”

“Then sit quietly. One more disturbance from you and you’ll be sent to detention.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

A shiver ran down Danielle’s spine, thinking about how her belly could swell at any moment if a boy kissed her.

What would happen if a boy got loose in the school? Would he go on a kissing spree, impregnating all the girls unlucky enough to mash their lips to his? Would the Sisters lock her up, letting her rot away until she too became a ghost, haunting these halls in search of her lost baby?

Surely, there had to be a way to prevent this.

But ... who would know how to defend oneself from them? The Sisters would never teach anything like that. All they ever said was to have faith in the Lord and he would protect them. But, he hadn’t protected that girl, and now she haunted this place.

The story continued to gnaw at Danielle throughout class. While she would typically have sat in rapt attention to her lessons, learning all the things she would need to do to spread the word of the Lord, now she could only dwell on the hidden darkness lurking outside these walls.

Eventually, the bell chimed, releasing the class from their studies.

Danielle followed closely behind the girls that had been gossiping, hoping to hear more. Danielle melded into the growing group of girls that surrounded the original storyteller as they made their way down the hall.

“Did you hear about the 1C incident?” one of the newcomers asked, her bible held over her mouth so as to muffle the sound of her voice and keep the Sisters from overhearing. Receiving only wide eyes and head shakes, she continued. “I heard that there was a group of boys that had snuck in and hidden themselves in the back of the room. When the Sister left, they popped out and kissed all the girls in the class.”

“But ... we don’t have a 1C class,” one of the girls offered after a brief moment of shock.

“Not anymore,” the girl said grimly. “The Sisters had to take them all away. Some of the girls were already giving birth before they could even chase away the boys.”

Danielle blanched at the image of dozens of girls falling over, pregnancy inflating them as they helplessly lay there as the boys kissed the others.

Breaking off from the group, Danielle walked shakily down a silent corridor to center herself. The outer hallways, with barred windows to keep the girls safe from intruders, were rarely used by students as they were utilized primarily by the Sisters for their self-studies. While they weren’t prohibited from wandering these halls, the girls generally avoided them as a lonely spookiness often inhabited them. A draft always seemed to blow, even with the windows shut, somehow several degrees cooler than the outside. At night, ethereal shapes were said to move between empty rooms, as though searching for something.

Danielle didn’t believe in such nonsense though. As everyone knew, ghosts and spirits only haunted places with unfinished business, like that pregnant girl. They didn’t haunt empty classrooms and hallways. There wouldn’t be a point. But not all the girls here were as levelheaded as her.

These hallways were also a fascinating view into the outside world, something she hadn’t experienced in years. Once she’d hit puberty, it had been safer to sequester her here with other young ladies, lest they fall prey to the voracious appetites of boys. The bars here would keep them at bay, but still, she stooped a bit lower, only letting her head peak over the waist-high ledge to hide her shameful body from those lusty wolves.

Outside, a group of girls, likely no older than her, congregated around a bus stop, talking and laughing without a care in the world.

While everyone here wore the traditional white blouse buttoned to the collar, neatly tucked into their flowing black skirt that reached their shins, those girls wore significantly less. Truly, it would be scandalous if anyone were to step foot in the church so attired. One wore elastic pants so tight the outline of her underwear showed. Another wore a skirt so short it barely seemed to cover her behind properly. And the shirts! Only one wore a buttoned shirt, but even that had nearly half the buttons open, displaying an inappropriate amount of skin. Another showed her bellybutton, the flash of jewelry somehow fastened there. The third had on a top with spaghetti straps that barely restrained her heaving bosom.

These would definitely not be the kind of girls she should be talking to ... but they would be the kind that would know about how to fend off boys.

Casting a quick glance behind her, Danielle stepped further into the hallway, ducking into one of the unattended rooms. The space was small, barely enough for a chair and desk for self-study, but she only needed standing room anyway. Closing the door softly behind herself, she quickly stepped toward the window, twisting the old handle and prying the rusty hinges to tilt the lower pane down.

“Psst!”

As one, the group of girls who had been standing at the nearby bus stop turned to her.

Danielle checked behind herself, ensuring the door was still shut.

“Can I ask you something?” Danielle whispered through the narrow slit, beckoning them closer.

Perhaps the girls were hesitant to step onto the church’s lawn as they looked at one another awkwardly.

“Please?”

Stepping gingerly closer, the girls cocked their heads, as though trying to puzzle out what she had in mind.

“I promise, it’ll be quick. Do you go to public school?”

As though it were a trick question, the girls exchanged glances.

“Um, yeah? Like, doesn’t everybody?” the girl with the belly jewelry said.

“And, um, are there boys?”

The girls exchanged another glance.

“Um, obviously.”

“And? Do they, you know ... try to kiss you?”

Danielle must have asked something strange as the girls behind this one tittered nervously.

Rather than answer, the girl just looked her up and down, like she was evaluating if she should reveal a terrible secret.

“I promise, I won’t tell anyone,” Danielle said, signing the cross.

“What’s your name?” she finally asked, waving at the other girls to quiet down.

“Danielle. Danielle Ashton.”

“I’m Ashley,” she said, a warm smile finally replacing her puzzled look. “Have you never been kissed before?”

“Goodness, no,” Danielle said, aghast at even the thought. “I don’t want to get pregnant! I should wait until I’m married before doing that.”

The girls behind Ashley turned away, perhaps in embarrassment or shame, choking back sobs.

Those poor girls. Maybe they’d been kissed. It must be hard going to school with boys.

“Right, yeah, totally,” Ashley said, covering her mouth, obviously aghast at the idea.

“So, um, how do you avoid kissing?” Danielle asked.

“Oh, yeah, it can be a real problem,” she admitted. “You know, sometimes they’ll just try to kiss you while walking by. I had a friend who, like, went to a party, and got kissed three times.”