For I Have Sinned

8

I had left Father Barnes to go walk outside the back of the church, leaving him to think about the things I had told him. I stepped out the back, feeling the rock steps under my feet, still warm from the sun. My arms were crossed before me as I stared out over the courtyard. It was simple yet beautiful, the main part was cobblestone, and roses lined the entirety of it, a second set of steps led to small garden.
     It was peaceful, and quiet compared to the busy street out the front. High brick walls contained the area and kept the world outside at bay. A knowing sensation crawled in the back of my head still, the demon and his statement. So far from home. If only I could remember home.
    "When I was kid I couldn't see them." Bucky's voice rose from behind me, I looked over my shoulder to him as he fully walked out the door. "I was twelve, me and my buddy Steve were playing at an abandon train station. Just boys being boys, pretending to warriors fighting epic battles."
     He stopped next to me, the warm glow of the sun lighting his face. A cool breeze caught his long locks, brushing them away from his face.
     "We were goofing off on the top of old train cab, and I lost my footing. Steve later told me that my arm caught on the metal stairs, it twisted awkwardly and snapped at the shoulder. I hit my head hard enough to break open the back of my skull." He sighed, his eyes still trained out before him. "It was touch and go for weeks, my ma told me that the doctors told her to prepare for the worst. It was hard on her and my sisters, and then out of nowhere I started to get better. A miracle the doctors praised, my ma swears angels were watching over me."
   He turned to face me, those blues tracked across my face. He turned away from me and headed back up to the open doorway, pausing with his grip on the wood. He took a deep breath, looking up toward the sky.
"That's when you started to see them." I stated, watching him from where I stood.
"Yes, it was on bus going to school with Steve. The concaved head, watching people, holding tight to the person it had possessed. It was then I knew what I needed to do, I knew I had been saved to fight them." He told me, there was sadness to his words as he walked in.
It made me wonder if he hated that he could see them, that it led him down the path it had. Slowly I walked toward the door, taking one last look at the garden as the light from the sun dwindled. The way he had spoke made me think he didn't tell to many people about his past, that it was a painful subject.
I walked back in, Father Barnes came back out of the room with the cots, carrying more clothes. He smiled softly, handing them to me.
"I'm wearing clothes." I said, confused by this.
"You are, that is correct Sparrow. But you need a shower." He laughed lightly, all signs of the sadness from before were gone.
"A shower?"
"Yes, here let me show you the bathroom." He said, shaking his head slightly, walking around me. I followed him to the open door way, I stared into the white room. My head turned to him, I knew what a toilet was and the sink, and the bath tub. But a shower?
"Do you mean a bath?" I asked him, he walked in and pulled the current back. He reached down turning the handle, water spurred out and then he flicked a knob, water came cascading down from the faucet up top.
"No, a shower. Kind of like a bath by instead of sitting in the water it rinses over you." He explained, pointing to the soap on the edge. I nodded as he turned and walked out shutting the door behind him.
Mist billowed up from the drain as I took the clothes off that he had hand me earlier. I stepped under the spray, feeling the warmth flow over my body. I let the thoughts from the last couples of day fall from my brain, allowing them to wash away with the water. I pressed my face under the spray, relishing in the feel, reminding me of a warm rain.
Wind rushing past, so fast, the sound of fluttering. Bright white light slowly fading away, getting farther, farther, a warm orange glow replacing it, slowly enveloping. Pain spreading out through the back, screams amongst the sound of wind.
BOOM! Sudden heavy pain through every part of the body. Blackness taking hold.
My body hit the edge of the tub, pain blossoming out through my side. The water was running cold over my body, as I cried out. The door flung open and Father Barnes rushed in, his eyes widen when he looked down at me as I curled face down holding my side.
"I'm not decent." I wheezed, trying to catch my breath.
"I know, are you alright?" The priest asked, his warm hand pressing gently on my upper back.
"Yeah, it hurts to breathe." I managed to get out between breaths. I felt fabric wrap around me from behind as he lifted me to my feet.
~~~
Father Barnes had been passing through hall, heading to his study when he heard the unmistakable sound of Sparrow slipping in the shower. He paused a moment, then he heard her cried out, sounding like a wounded animal. He didn't hesitated when he threw the door open, knowing she would be completely naked but that wasn't what made him stop.
He stood there, wide eyed, staring at her naked back as she curled forward. To long welted and deep crimson scars ran down her back on either side of her spine. The rest of her skin smooth and unblemished besides those.
"I'm not decent." She wheezed, obviously having had the wind knocked from her body.
"I know, are you alright?" He asked back, gently placing his palm on one of the scars. He could feel the flesh raised and knotted under his palm. Bucky shook his head, now was not the time to ponder what had happened.
"Yeah, it hurts to breathe." She huffed out, still trying to get air into her lungs. He pulled the towel off the rack next to him, gently wrapping it around her naked body. He helped her to her feet, her hair plastered to her face as she looked up meeting his gaze.
"What happened?" Bucky asked as he helped her down the hall, grabbing the clothes from the counter.
"I'm not sure." She replied, her voice trembling as she spoke, he took her to the bedroom and set her on the cot. "I was standing under the water and then it was like, I was falling, like really falling. So much light, and different lights, and then it's like I hit the ground or something really hard."
"Sparrow, are you sure it wasn't a memory?" Bucky asked her, grasping ahold of her bare shoulders. She lifted her head to look up at him, her brows pinched together.
"Father Barnes, how could I have a memory like that? If I had fallen from that height I doubt I would be alive." She replied shifting a bit.
"I don't know." He shrugged, the towel around her dropped a bit exposing the swell of her breast. "How's your side?"
"It hurts, and it's throbbing." She replied looking down, pulling the towel away slightly to look at it, exposing herself further to him, her skin just a flawless as her back had been. He could see her nakedness all the way down this time and had to catch him at his prolonged his stare. Quickly he turned away from her, biting his bottom lip.
"And your back?" He asked, trying not to think of how her body looked.
"My back is fine Father Barnes." She replied, he could hear the sound of clothing rustling behind him. "I'm sorry, I forgot, I'm decent now."
"It's okay, Sparrow." He sighed, but not really cause the same impure thoughts from the night before slowly started to creep back up.