The weather again kept the others away so Maggie moved to the front, to the row where the nuns used to sit when she was a child. It had been a while since there were nuns in this parish and the old church reflected the absence of their loving care. The convent had been empty for over a decade or two. How long before the near empty church and the property around it were sold off to some developer? Maggie felt a rush of guilt and sadness. The Church was struggling and deserters like her were to blame. And more sadness still for the priest, saying Mass for just the two of them in this big, cold, neglected old church.

She concentrated her attention on Frank. He wasn’t just going through the ritual, prattling the words, carrying out the ceremony. There was a quiet, contemplative feeling about him and she could see that he was dedicating himself completely to the Mass. She wished that it was still in Latin, she wouldn’t feel self-conscious about joining in with the responses. It was so …… sad to hear him pray alone to an empty church, to a silence. If she knew the responses in English she would mumble them at least. All she could offer him was her presence.

from ‘Dark Angel’ …… fiction with a twist of the supernatural and a touch of the erotic …….

chapter 1

photo by Ron Co
Sony A700