The Church of the Past

Santo closed the door to his office behind him after Judas walked in first. Judas sat himself right on Santo's desk, crossing his legs with a smug smirk that showed zero remorse or respect. Santo gave him a disapproving stare as he folded his arms.

"Would you like to explain yourself?" Santo asked.

"Nope."

Santo sighed, knowing where this was going. "We agreed on letting you leave Nevertown for trips if you behaved. Is that not a good enough reward for you?"

Judas shrugged his shoulders. "It is. That's all I want."

"But you realize you'll be grounded for this, correct? Meaning you won't be going anywhere."

"That's not fair!" Judas shouted angrily as he slammed his hands on the desk. "They're the ones messing with me! Why should I be punished for fighting back?!"

"Judas, they're children. They were playing. You could have told them to stop. Instead, you made John cry again. He's going to become scared of you."

"As he should be!"

Santo took a deep breath to maintain his composure, then seated himself in the chair Judas had completely ignored. "You've been getting along well with Timmy. The two of you have been attached to the hip since you arrived. It's because you've been so helpful getting him out of his shell that I know you can be good when you want to. I'm not asking you to be friends with everyone, but can you at least extend that kindness you show to him to the others? Even an apology would be a good start."

"No. I hate them."

"Then you're grounded for the rest of the month."

Judas groaned as loud and dramatic as possible. "Oh, come on! Okay, fine! I can say sorry. Just don't ground me."

"And you'll tell the children to leave you alone instead of attacking them?"

"Yes."

"Then we can lower it to the rest of the week. But next time will be a month if you act up again. No exceptions."

Judas turned his head and huffed. "Whatever." His eyes then caught sight of the locked, metal cabinets. "You got my record over there? This incident gonna be written down on it?"

"No, you don't have to worry about that," Santo said. "I keep my important documents over there."

"Like what?"

"Oh, you know. Deeds, licenses, forms, boring adult things..."

"And it's all locked up?"

Santo nodded and pulled the silver keycard out of his pocket. "It has a slot for the keycard. That makes it impossible to pick the lock."

Judas's eyes focused on the shiny object being waved around like a cat watching a bird in flight. "Ya really like to keep it secure, huh?"

"I do."

"A little too much, I'd say," Judas said while rubbing his previously injured arms. "That springtrap almost ripped my arms off!"

"Again, I am sorry about that. However, I did warn you and even showed you where the traps were. If you wanted to use my office, you could have simply asked."

"Ugh, I don't get it! Why go through those kinda lengths? Unless..." Judas uncrossed his legs and leaned back on the desk with a suggestive grin. "Ya got somethin' to hide? Something... dirty?"

Santo immediately stood up and lifted Judas up by the armpits, forcing him to get off the desk. Judas was taken back by this reaction, but even more so by the look on Santo's face. He expected him to be angry or disgusted by his suggestion. Instead, his face had been twisted into deep sadness, almost on the verge of tears.

"Don't make jokes like that," Santo stated, more firm and serious than he had been lecturing him a minute ago.

"Uh... sorry," Judas awkwardly mumbled, too dumbfounded to think of anything else to say.

The silence that passed between them was unbearable. As much as Judas enjoyed the trouble he got himself into, he could tell he might have gone too far this time. It twisted a knot in his stomach he never felt before.

Eventually, Santo broke the silence and said, "If you would like to know, I can tell you about my past. It might give you an idea of why I act the way I do, but I do warn you that it's not a pleasant story."

Judas perked up at the suggestion and made himself comfortable in the nearby chair, seeing this as a chance to get something to report. "Sure! I can handle it."

"Alright. If you want me to stop at any point, just let me know."

"Yeah, yeah. Lay it on me!"

Santo chuckled, finding the boy's enthusiasm to be strangely comforting. "Right. So thirteen years ago..."

---

The land that Nevertown was built on was a different beast years ago. Terror lurked within the sands as a group of arsonists attacked anyone who dared cross their land. Avoiding their territory was impossible as they continued to expand, burning down villages and gunning down civilians as they stole their farming technology to use for themselves. They had no name, banner, or symbol. What united them was their ideology and greed. They believed in the ancient art of survival of the fittest, conquering the world and its riches as their ancestors did. Anything that went against this was a threat to be destroyed.

Santo, Freya, and Talus were victims of these attacks. They were from different villages, yet found themselves brought to the same sanctuary to take refuge in. The Church of Mercy served as both a place of worship and rest, taking what used to be a mansion and renovating it to room as many people as possible. They usually housed a dozen or so children at a time, and sent people out to search for families who could adopt the children.

There were a handful of priests and nuns as part of the staff, and every child was assigned under one of their care. Santo and Talus were roommates assigned to Sister Zoe, and Freya was assigned to Father Benedict. They were split into different hallways, so Santo mainly saw Father Benedict during sermons. The silver-haired, middle-aged man would passionately read passages from the bible as he adjusted his oval spectacles, the wrinkles in his russet eyes crinkling when he smiled.

When Santo first met Sister Zoe, he thought he was seeing an angel in human form. She kept her hair tightly tucked under her habit, yet her gentle eyes were as bright and blue as a clear, sunny day. She never ran or rushed herself, maintaining her composure as she moved with each elegant step. She spoke in a soft, sing-song voice that rang like copper bells, yet her words were powerful enough to sway people in her favor. If she told the children to stop fighting, they would apologize. If she told the children to quit fooling around, they went straight back to work. If she told the children to eat their food instead of playing with it, they cleaned their plates. She was a figure of respect and admiration not to be questioned.

In the beginning, everything about the place seemed to be perfect. Everyone did their chores together, ate together, played together, and prayed together. Children would occasionally leave when it was announced that they found a family to take them in, and every departure was treated as a celebration. As long as the children were good and did as they were told, they had a chance at a good life too. It was the hope they needed after suffering from so much loss.

However, after a few years of residency, Santo noticed something seemed... off. First of all, every child left the church in the exact same black van, so they never saw who adopted them. Second, the priests and nuns clearly had their favorites, keeping them close to their side and buying them nicer clothes than the other children. Third, there was always a patron who came to visit the mansion right before a child was adopted. The overweight patron had a bushy, white mustache instead of a bed of hair, twirling it with his fingers as his amber eyes sparkled with unknown intent.

Santo went to Sister Zoe to share his concerns with her. All of her children were allowed in her room whenever they needed anything, and he trusted her more than anyone else. However, she was quick to dismiss his concerns as she tenderly stroked his hair.

"It's nothing to worry about," she said. "We just have a way of doing things. I know it may seem strange, but everything is fine."

Santo believed her without further agreement. At least he did until he noticed Freya frequently going into Father Benedict's room at night. When he tried to ask her about it, she would avoid looking at him and say it was nothing important.

"J-Just extra bible studying," Freya said, her voice lightly shaking. "I've been having trouble remembering hymns..."

She was hiding something. Santo could tell that much. He asked his good friend Talus if there was a way to record people, and he was able to get him a small camera to hide. Father Benedict also allowed children in his room when needed, so the trick was to make up an excuse and slip it somewhere hard to spot but had a good viewpoint. It was a gamble, yet he got away with a shelf full of religious figurines that fit that description.

What he captured in that room was... not what he expected. It showed Freya sitting on Father Benedict's bed and taking off her shoes, followed by Father Benedict kneeling down to wash them. He was slow and thorough with wiping her down with the moist cloth, cleaning each toe and the cracks between them. After her feet were cleaned, he spent another moment caressing them in his hands as if they were valuable treasures, recited a prayer that was too quiet to hear, then eventually sent her on her way.

Santo didn't know what to make of this. He had to tell someone. So of course, he went to Sister Zoe. Her face was blank, completely unreadable, as she watched the recording. Then, without any hesitation, she dropped the camera on the ground and stomped on it, shattering it into pieces.

"Sister Zoe!" he gasped. "W... Why?!"

She stared at him with clouded eyes as she answered, "You invaded his privacy. That was wrong."

"B-But-!"

"BUT NOTHING!" Sister Zoe shouted for the first time, causing Santo to fall to the ground in shock. She towered over him with her fists clenched, and all Santo do was quiver before her fury. "You have committed a great sin! You will forget what you saw, and you will not be allowed to talk to anyone until you confess to Father Benedict."

Santo fought back his tears and murmured, "Y-Yes, Sister Zoe..."

The clouds finally cleared, and Sister Zoe knelt down with a smile and a hand extended in peace. "Wonderful. You've always been such a good boy, Santo. I know you did it for your friend, so I forgive you."

Santo's heart swelled with joy hearing this, eager to take her hand to stand up. Since he wanted to be in her good graces again, he rushed off to go find Father Benedict as soon as possible. Maybe this was a misunderstanding anyway. Some of the children were embarrassed to admit they need help with things sometimes, so it was possible Freya was having problems with hygiene. That had to be it, right?

His haste led to him locating the man at a terrible time, as he was in the middle of conversing with their patron. The patron locked eyes with Santo, causing him to swallow nervously. He had been warned not to anger the man since he funded everything from the food Santo ate to the clothes he wore. He thought about turning around and trying again later, yet Father Benedict halted that plan by beckoning him over. Santo had no choice but to comply and stand by his side, straight and stiff as a board.

"Oho!" the patron laughed. "Is this one up for offer?"

"Not right now," Father Benedict answered. "He's under Sister Zoe's care, and she's quite fond of him."

"Ah, that's fine. Didn't you mention having a boy who was good with his hands? He'll be perfect for the factory. I'll take him instead."

Santo's eyes widened as the realization struck him to the core. There was only one boy who fit that description, and he was waiting for Santo to report what happened with the camera.

"Very well," Father Benedict stated plainly. "We'll have him ready by the end of the week."

"Excellent!" The patron eagerly rubbed his hands together. "Hopefully, this will show my son the value of good labor. He wants to replace my workers with machines! Machines! When the Midas family has always given people the jobs they need in this economy."

"That would be selfish of him."

"Quite! But anyway, we'll keep in touch."

After the patron left satisfied, Santo and Father Benedict were left alone together by the entrance. Santo could tell from his disapproving frown that Father Benedict was not happy to have him step into the conversation.

"You were looking for me, correct?" Father Benedict inquired. "What did you need?"

Santo lowered his head and fiddled with his shoes. "I wanted to apologize. I... saw you washing Freya's feet. It was wrong for me to peek. I was just-"

"Say no more," he interrupted with a hand raised. "I understand you were worried about your friend, but you have nothing to worry about. I would never do anything to harm her. She is one of God's angels, and to taint her would be a terrible sin."

Santo perked up hearing this, relieved that his doubts were unfounded.

Father Benedict placed a firm hand on Santo's shoulder and said, "Let's keep everything between us. That includes Talus."

Santo nodded and replied, "I promise."

He lied. Of course he told Talus.

"THOSE FUCKIN' LIARS!" Talus shouted as he tossed a pillow across their bedroom, slamming into the wall with a soft plop. "I knew it! We're pack mules to these people!"

Santo simply stood in the middle of the room, lost and confused. "I-I don't understand..."

Talus sighed and pushed his glasses up to rub his eyes. "I've been using my tech to keep tabs. Didn't tell ya 'cause I was worried you'd snitch. All I gotta say is... you trust people way too easily."

"I'm sorry..."

"No, don't say sorry. That's just how you are. Anyway, let me show you..."

Talus then pulled out folders hidden between his mattresses to hand to him. Santo grabbed the folders with shaky hands and opened them, inspecting the contents inside. He covered his mouth with his hand to hide his shock and disgust. The pictures contained scenes of children being slapped, punched, kicked, and other terribly violent acts by the priests and nuns. One picture in particular caused Santo to drop everything. It showed a young girl, Freya's age, running out of Father Benedict's room with the lower half of her body bare.

"H-How long has this been going on?!" Santo asked as he took a step back from the mass of sin.

"The whole damn time," Talus answered while bending down to gather the evidence. "I was hoping to show this to whoever adopted me so we could call the police, but I see now I was too naive. It's all a scam."

Santo kept his eyes on the pictures as they were put away, noting that Sister Zoe wasn't in any of them. "What do we do?! What about Freya? He said he didn't do anything to her, but what if..."

"He changes his mind?" Talus looked down at the pictures, clear concern written all over his face. "Yeah, I'm scared that too. We have to get out of here."

"How?"

"Run away obviously. I mean... it is a big risk, but it's better than staying here." Talus stood up and stared directly at Santo, his green eyes burning with resolve. "Look, I don't blame you if you want to stay. I can take Freya and we can leave on our own. I can protect her. But please... help us."

Santo nodded and held out his hand to shake on it. "Of course."

The two exchanged a solid handshake between men to seal to the deal. However, people outside of this were not given the same obligation. Thus, it didn't come as too much of a surprise when Freya initially refused the idea.

"Where would we even go?" she asked. "It's safer to stay here."

"We're fifteen. We're old enough to get work," Talus said. "Real work. Not whatever that guy has in mind for us."

"For you, you mean." Freya averted her gaze as she hugged herself tightly. "Look... I appreciate the thought, but I'm fine. He promised he wouldn't do anything to me. This is why I never said anything..."

"You can't take him on his word," Talus said.

Freya clenched her teeth, tears forming around her eyes. "His word is all I have..."

Santo felt powerless in his silence, unable to think of anything to say to comfort her. At this rate, he was going to lose both of his friends for one reason or another. What could he even do? As he found himself wandering the halls alone later that evening, trying to make sense of everything, he was broken out of his stupor by a familiar sing-song voice calling out to him.

"Santo? Are you alright?" Sister Zoe asked, very concerned. "You seem unwell. Do you need someone to talk to?"

Her tender words were enough to break through Santo's defenses, bringing him to tears as Sister Zoe pulled him into a comforting embrace. She then led him into her bedroom, where he proceeded to spill out everything to her. Sister Zoe intently listened to everything without judgement or interruption. At first, Santo was afraid she would be upset with him again, yet the way she lovingly held his hands wiped away any fears he had.

"It's true. I knew," Sister Zoe stated solemnly. "I got upset at you because I was scared I would get in trouble as well, but that wasn't right. What happens here isn't right..."

"So you never hurt anyone?" Santo asked, desperate and hopeful knowing what he knew.

She quickly shook her head. "Heavens, no! I would never hit any of you! You know that."

"Then why..."

"Safety. There's a reason why we don't get attacked by those... those monsters." Her face twisted in pain just thinking about it. "We don't have weapons or anything to defend ourselves. So instead... we trade. Mr. Midas takes our boys to work for money, and his... friends who can protect us... take our girls."

Santo's eyebrows shot up, baffled by this new information.

"But we can change that now!" she said, suddenly getting excited. "Talus has proof, right? We can take this to the police. We can end this together!"

Santo beamed, happy to see he had an ally on his side. "Yes! Can you help them get out?"

"I can. Have the three of you pack your things. In fact, have the rest of the children get involved. Tell them we're going camping outside for some stargazing. I'll take care of the rest."

Santo agreed, understanding her logic. Even if Talus and Freya escaped, the other children would be in danger. Getting them all out would be the safest option.

Using Sister Zoe's influence made the task easier than he thought. It was supposed to be a secret outing, so the children kept quiet, stuffing what they needed into their bags. Freya warmed up to the idea once she knew Sister Zoe was on their side, but Talus was the opposite. He went cold and refused to talk to Santo as he gathered his belongings. While Santo was concerned, he just assumed Talus was mad at him for snitching and could make it up to him after they were out of here.

Finally, it was time to put the plan into action. Sister Zoe had called for a vehicle to pick them up, so all of the children were gathered around outside the mansion to wait. Santo glanced around in search of Sister Zoe, but he couldn't find her anywhere.

Then a blood-curling scream broke out from the mansion, and everyone turned their attention to the building. An explosion immediately followed, shattering glass and igniting the mansion into flames. The children either shielded their eyes from the explosion or held each other in fear, but they were fortunately far enough to not be affected by the destruction.

The double-wooden doors fell, and Sister Zoe emerged from the flames, her clothes singed and splattered with blood. She limped out of the building with a tired smile, and Santo immediately ran over to assist her. As he brought her towards the group, he noticed that there were no wounds on her around the blood.

Before he could question what happened, another scream drew him back to the mansion. He let go of Sister Zoe to rush back over, but he stopped when he saw the figure trying to crawl out. It was Father Benedict, half charred and half boiled, dragging himself out of the church with the hilt of a knife sticking out of his back.

"DAMN YOU!" he cried, reaching out a melting hand towards a horrified Freya watching from a distance. "FREYAAA! MY ANGEL! FREYAAA!"

He then collapsed, losing the last of his strength as his body was consumed by flames. Loud, hysterical laughter soon followed, and Santo turned his head to see it came from Sister Zoe, who was clutching her sides with a maniacal grin.

 "How pathetic!" Sister Zoe yelled. "You thought being nice to one girl made up for all of your sins?! What a joke! Burn in hell where you belong!"

"Sister Zoe..." Santo mustered, confused and growing ever more afraid. "Why?! You didn't have to kill them! We could have arrested them!"

She stopped laughing and took a deep breath, composing herself to give off the appearance of being as calm and graceful as ever. "Oh, Santo. They wouldn't have been given the punishment they deserved. But it's okay now. They can't hurt any of us anymore. We can all be together. Happy..."

None the children were happy right now. They were still huddled together, crying and whispering to each other to try and make sense of this. The sight had reduced Freya to her knees, frozen in shock, but Talus remained strong.

"I knew you couldn't be trusted," Talus said bitterly.

Sister Zoe craned her neck to look at Talus and giggled. "Oh, are you still mad at me? I only offered you my bed to guide you away from sin. I would have taken good care of you if you let me." She turned her back to Santo to face the children, spreading her arms far and wide as if to pull them all into a loving embrace. "You have nothing to worry about! I'll take care of all you! My love is all you'll ever need! All you need to do is devote yourself to me!"

In that moment, Santo's perfect image of Sister Zoe shattered. She was never an ally. She did this for herself. They had walked out of one trap and were about to be ensnared into another. This was his fault. He couldn't stand idly and do nothing anymore. Something had to be done.

He looked back at the corpse on the ground, its form reduced to ashes, and he had an idea. A terrible, terrible idea.

Taking what little remained of the priest's robes, he wrapped them around the handle of the knife to safely grip on to. Then, tossing away all thought and reason, he pointed the knife towards his target and charged forward. No one could see him coming from his position, and even if they did, there was nothing they could do about it. Fate had been set into motion.

The knife slid into Sister Zoe's back without any resistance. Her smile faded as she started choking up blood, slowly realizing what had happened. She fell forward, silent and unmoving, and soon enough the lights in her eyes were gone. If the children hadn't been scared before, they certainly were now, many of them screaming at the sight of the blood pooling around her.

Santo saw the vehicle approaching not long after, and he shifted his attention to Talus.

"Get them to call the police," Santo said. "Threaten them if you have to."

Talus could only stare at Santo, unsure what he meant by this. "What are you-"

Santo ran off before Talus could finish, vanishing into the desert sands. He yelled for Santo to come back, but his pleas went unheard. It was over. Everything was gone.

As expected, the police were not overjoyed about having to clean up this mess. Using his evidence, Talus convinced them to drop the charges on Santo, and they gave up searching for him as a wanted criminal. The children were supposed to go to another orphanage, but the van transporting them was attacked by arsonists. No bodies were found at the scene of the crime, and they were never seen again.

Talus and Freya did manage to escape and find work. Freya worked as a waitress until she was recruited to be a hostess, while Talus found odd jobs to get him where he needed to be. Even if work kept them apart, their friendship persevered, bound by the trauma they both had to overcome.

As for Santo...

---

"I started working on building Nevertown," Santo said to end his tragic tale. "And now we're here in present day."

"Wow, that's rough," Judas said honestly. "Don't blame you for stabbing her though. She sounded like one crazy ass bitch."

Santo frowned. "Language, young man."

"Sorry..."

"Do you at least have a better understanding now?"

"Absolutely, sir. I promise not to stab you with a knife in the back."

Santo laugh a little at that. "Much appreciated."

After they finished up their meeting, Judas stepped back outside to see Timmy playing with the other kids. It seemed like they were really getting into some kind of board game, and the kids cheered when Timmy won. Timmy was all smiles and giggles as Wesley lifted him up and on to his shoulders while the crowd shouted his name. Timmy! Timmy! Timmy!

"So this is what he wants," Judas mumbled to himself. "Stupid..."

He then moved forward to join the crowd, blending in once more.