Tales Of The Macabre

Don't eat the bread

I awoke to my mom screaming at me from downstairs.

"Hurry up we will be late for mass, get a move on."

I hated mass. "Why is it we get more religious the older we get? Grown-ups are weird, " I thought

I had to put on my white suit, with a white pair of shoes. I had to put horrible gel in my hair. My mother was so obsessed with us looking perfect.

My mom was never a churchgoer. Even my dad was never pushed about going to mass, but they really seemed to be embracing it lately.

It all started when we joined this new church. I liked the old church we were in called St Bridgets. It was the church my mom and dad got married in. It was the church where I was baptized. It had one priest, Fr Hannon, he was so cool, all my friends liked him. He didn't act like your typical priest.

I was sitting down at the breakfast table eating toast when I turned to my mother.

"Mom, why do we all have to wear white going to mass? I feel stupid." I said as I glanced up at her,

"It's because in God's eyes we are all pure, so when we visit God's house we dress in a way that reflects that."

I glanced back to my toast, "you are right Mom."

As I was eating the last of my toast my father walked into the kitchen dressed in the same suit I was wearing. He looked at my mother

"Are we all ready to get a move on the honey pumpkin"

My mom shot my dad a loving smile

"We sure are pumpkin."

You see, ever since we joined this new church things have gotten really cheesy around here. I mean creepy cheesy. I watched an old horror film once called Bodysnatchers with my dad. It felt like that film. It felt like my parents had been replaced by Aliens.

After a painfully, perfect, silent, car journey we finally got to the church. The church was new. It was grand, built to make a statement. The building itself was shiny white with a big glass roof. It had big stain glass towers on each corner of the building. It looked like a castle but ugly as hell.

As we drove through the car park we saw Mr Stevens and his two sons, but no Mrs Stevens. It was strange because she was at mass the night before.

As we walked over to them I pointed at the clothes the boys were wearing.

"Glad to see I am not the only idiot around here," I said laughing at the two boys.
They just stood there not even flinching at the fact I just called them idiots. The strange thing was I went to school with them. I was the one who gave them their nicknames. Tic-Toc or Tic andToc.

Mr Stevens looked troubled. He was angry, but with a sadness in his eyes. My mom put her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm surprised to see Suzanne isn't with you?" asked my mother.

Mr Stevens lowered his head in shame.

"She didn't take to the bread," said Mr Stevens.

"Did I just hear that correctly? Bread! What."

My mother looked at him. "Not everyone takes to the bread, she was not pure like us, and for that, she will burn in hell."

My father and Mr.Stevens just looked at each other and nodded in agreement as we all turned and packed into the church like some white army of freaks.

Soon as you walked into the hall you were hit by a wall of white. The white, marble pews, blended into the white, marble floors, leading up to a big, white Altar.