I'm Scott Malkinson

8- Confessions

Scott sat in the pews of South Park Catholic Church, listening intently to Father Maxi as he spoke. As he's grown older, Scott saw less and less of his classmates actually attending services. Butters still regularly showed up, as did Kevin Stoley and Wendy, but other than that, his classmates had stopped going when their parents stopped making them attend.

It made Scott sad to know that the majority of his classmates had only ever attended church because they'd been forced to. He came because he loved it, because he believed in it. It made him feel less alone to know there was someone somewhere who loved him and watched out for him, even though he was just Scott Malkinson. Maybe he only believed because the alternative was too sad, but he wasn't about to open that can of worms.

After the service was over, Scott made his way over to the confession booth. It had been a bit of a rough week, and he had some things that he needed to get off his chest.

"Greetings my child," said the priest at the other side of the wall. The priest in question was quite clearly Father Maxi, so the wall was really more for decoration than for actually maintaining anonymity. Scott figured Father Maxi had to be able to guess a good deal of the people who came through here, and he would be very surprised if Father Maxi wasn't able to identify his confessional sessions. Scott had a very distinct voice.

"Hello Father," he replied, sitting down on the chair inside the booth. As soon as he sat down he already felt better.

"Tell me your sins so I can relieve you of them. Let the weight of them be lifted from your shoulders. No longer shall they burden you," said Father Maxi.

Scott let out a sigh, preparing himself to confess everything he'd done wrong this week. "I accidentally witnessed something I shouldn't have. I was eating lunch alone in an empty science classroom, which I know is against the rules. I was in a place I shouldn't have been, and I heard a secret I shouldn't have ever known because of it. I feel like I've violated their privacy by not making myself known."

"The lord forgives you child," he heard in response. It was definitely psychosomatic, but Scott did feel a little lighter after letting that one out.

"Earlier this week my friend asked me who I was texting, and I lied and said nobody, when I was very much texting someone. I was just too embarrassed to tell her who."

"The lord forgives you," Father Maxi responded once more. This went on and on until Scott had nothing else to confess. He stepped out of the booth feeling cleaner, lighter, better. All around he felt like a new man. Scott always felt relieved to get the things that constantly weighed him down with guilt off of his chest. He loves going into the week with a clean slate, even if he would just end up scribbling all over it again.

Later that night, Scott received a text message from Clyde. Attached was a picture of a knotted cherry stem.

Clyde: I've still got it. ;)

Scott felt his cheeks go warm as he imagined Clyde's tongue swirling around, expertly tying the stem in his mouth. Then he quickly pushed that thought away. It wasn't the kind of thing he should be allowing his mind to dwell on.

Scott: How do I know you didn't just tie that with your hands and then take a picture?

Clyde: I swear on my mother's grave!! :0

Scott: Sounds serious.

Clyde: It is. Super serious.

Scott: Okay, I believe you.

Clyde: Yayyy! :3

Scott locked his phone, and set it off to the side. He closed his eyes and let sleep take him over.

Scott slipped into a dream, and images of a blurry nondescript girl entered his head. They're on a walk in the park, holding hands. Her features keep morphing and changing. One second she had brown hair, the next it's blonde, then it's brown again but the length is different. His brain can't decide what she looks like.

Scott and the girl make it to a nice spot by the pond and begin setting up a picnic. The sun is setting around them, illuminating her featureless face with golden light. She leans into him, he puts his arm around her, and they watch the sunset together. Her appearance keeps morphing. She has a ponytail, now it's a braid, her hair turns black, then blonde, then brown, it gets short, and for a split second she's not a girl at all, she's a boy with short brown hair and big brown eyes and just as Scott is about to place where he's seen that face before she changes again, to a girl with curly red hair.

He forgets about the boy he saw in front of him. That boy wasn't important, just a glitch, an error, a transitional stage between two versions of this ever changing girl. He's nothing, Scott feels nothing. Scott's heart didn't speed up for the brief moment he was around, the golden light illuminating him. Scott doesn't like boys.