A Different Kind of Church Service (RB Vs. The Shadow God, Chapter 3) · 8:59pm Jun 28th, 2022

Sorry this post is relatively late; it's not for no reason, though.

Managed to fall off my bicycle and break a finger. I spent most of my day in the hospital. Doc says I might need surgery.

Good times.

This may affect my ability to continue this series. Thankfully, I am several chapters ahead at this point, so there's a buffer. It is really hard to type with just my left hand, though.

Anyway, enough about me. Let's get back to what we're all here for.

Previously, on The Shadow God:

Satanic panic!

And now:

Following the pattern of the two previous chapters, this one centers on Todd, the third in Craig's friend group.

Todd Harris was an intelligent young man. He seemed to know an awful lot about life. Even though he was only twenty years old. He was understanding, compassionate, confident, insightful, well-to-do, and had a lot going for him. He was the kind of person who loved the thrill of a challenge and would not back down for the life of him. In other words, he was a well-rounded individual. Everything the ladies were looking for, right? Wrong.

Once again, it's the narrator telling us about Todd, when he could have shown us these things in the character's actions. I don't want to keep harping on about this, but it is a recurring issue.

He didn’t have Mark’s problem because he wasn’t a male chauvinistic pig; he didn’t try to score with every woman he saw.

Well, I'm glad we can agree on something.

The narrator continues to describe Todd; I will summarize. Todd is a romantic; he has had sex before; he plays no sports besides tennis; people think he's gay because he plays tennis.

He felt any kind of team effort was beneath him and his talents. Yes, he was a bit cocky. But that was what made him special and unique.

Rule of thumb: if you're writing about your character and you use the words "that was what made him special and unique", you're probably doing something wrong.

We learn that Todd's parents adore him, but that they don't approve with his friendship with Craig and Mark and think that the two boys are bad influences. We also learn that Todd is an atheist, that his parents are very religious, and that they attend Father Spiers' church.

Speaking of the church, Todd and his parents are on their way to it as we speak. The parents for obvious reasons, and Todd because he thinks Father Spiers might be banging his mother.

Nothing platonic; this was purely sexual. And it worried him. If it turned out they were fucking, then everyone should know right off, including his father. It was better to get everything in the open before things could escalate.

Making knowledge of an affair in your own family public knowledge in a community that has previously been shown to be not very charitable is not how I would handle things, but what do I know?

Anyway, they arrive at the church. Father Spiers is there to greet them.

Spiers casually glanced at Todd, shooting him a look of contempt. He smiled, flashing a set of radiant teeth. His eyes flickered and Todd could have sworn that there was a burning fire in the place where Spiers’s pupils belonged.

Very subtle.

His head was bowed and Todd gazed speculatively at the top of Spiers’s bald head. There was something moving under the bright sheen of his skin, which seemed to be trying to break free from its imprisonment.
Todd rubbed his eyes and looked up again, but the image was gone.

Much more interesting. I like this image. Not the way it's presented, but the idea is good. Very spooky.

The service finishes, and Father Spiers disappears into the back of the church. Shortly after, Todd's mother also disappears, so Todd goes to look for her.

A thought occurred to him. What if he turned the corner and found Spiers banging the shit out of his mother?

Considering that Spiers was described as looking like Ichabod Crane earlier, and that that was twenty years in the past, I imagine the scene described would be very disturbing indeed. It'd be like walking in on your mother having sex with a giant fleshy raisin.

Todd sneaks into the back of the church and heads up a flight of stairs to the second floor, where the classrooms are held. The floor here is marble, but Todd doesn't remember it being that way when he was here as a kid. He looks out a window, and sees that the parking lot is now empty, including of his parents' car.

He shrugged, knowing it only left more time for him to explore. He was going to crash Spiers’s party and eventually run him out of town. He cackled excitedly as he rubbed his hands together.

Todd out here acting like a real supervillain.

Todd finds a ladder heading up to a trapdoor in the ceiling, which Todd presumes leads up to the Father's living quarters. Todd, however, is deathly scared of attics because his father once locked him in one as a prank when Todd was a child.

Todd decides to face his fears, and begins climbing the ladder. Then, suddenly, the trapdoor slides open above him.

Then, an animal, from some unknown world, stuck its massive, razor-tooth-filled head through the opening of the ceiling and emitted a blood-curdling shriek. Todd looked fully at the creature. He saw the beast’s brown-black mane, its razor teeth, its deranged blood-colored eyes, and the maniacal way they gaped at him.

Todd runs for his life. In fact, he runs clean out of the church and back to his house, a stated six blocks away. His parents are waiting for him, mad that he apparently just disappeared on them.

Todd goes to bed. He wakes up at 1:48 AM with a strange buzzing sound in his ears. The buzzing changes to whispers. Todd leaves his room and sees a blue light emerging from the door to his attic. The door swings open, the whispers call to him, and he enters the doorway.

Craig, Mark, and Todd entered a world quite unlike their own. It had called them out. It had seduced them with its magical beauty and its quest for answers of the unknown. Hopefully, the three young men would find the answers they were in search of, and eventually, each other in the vast brilliance of the blue light.
The Shadow God had spoken to each of them, but only Craig had seen his face. And only Craig would know what to do once he saw it again.

Thanks for spoiling that, narrator. I appreciate it.

Anyway, that's the end of today's chapter. Look forward to more tomorrow.

See you then.

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