The Still Priest

“He needs people for his church… There’s less and less people that believe in god, so who’s there to listen to him?”

I moved in a countryside house near a stream when I was fifteen years old. My new home was far away from the city and there wasn't anything interesting to do in my new neighbourhood, except maybe taking a walk. The school I was attending wasn't too far from my house, so I could walk to school during the week.

So one night, there was a quarrel between me and my parents and I wanted to go outside to calm down. I was walking down the sandy road when I saw a priest waiting strangely; standing in the backyard of a church which I hadn't noticed ‘til yet. This man was not looking at me: he was looking at the cemetery, which made me feel both sad and scared at the same time. The priest was saying to the tombs, as if those pieces of rock could hear him: “You should have believed in God.”  I entered the church out of curiosity and there was nobody inside.... except a young man sitting on a bench. I could only see his back, but he seemed to be praying. I didn't want to disturb him so I got out of the place.

It was Monday. I ate up my breakfast really fast and left for school. When I passed in front of the church, I saw the same priest as the last time. He was still there, watching the tombs as if he was expecting them to move or something. He was still weirdly repeating: “You should have believed in God.” I had the feeling that something was wrong with this church, but I couldn't fight the urge to go in once again . This time, there were three persons inside, all of them sitting their back to me: the same young man as the other day and two other young women. I got out and went to school.

 I was coming back from school when I saw, once again, the priest standing in the backyard of the church. This time, I wanted to know why he couldn't stop staring at the cemetery. It has been more than two days now. I approached the backyard and asked him: “I'm sorry to disturb... but may I ask you why you didn't move in such a long time?” The priest turned his head to look at me. He had sunken eyes and he looked scary. “I'll move when I'll have a reason too,” he said. He just stared at me for a while, and then he gazed back at the tombs. I did the same. I looked at the graveyard and then my heart stopped: many holes had been dug, as if someone had desecrated the tombs.  Terrified, I entered the church, wondering why there were always people inside when the priest was always outside. This time, there were five persons: the young man and the ladies I had seen before, and two other men . Knowing the priest wouldn't help me understand what was going on, I walked in the church and saw the face of all those five people. They were all dead and putrefied. I ran out of the church. The priest wasn't in the graveyard anymore.

“You should have believed in God…”