The devil's Cathedral

Morning mass

Monday, July 11, 1927...(Present day)

Early in the morning around 5 am, the cold crushing weather is over the city and the Santus Bell suspended in a bell-cot at the apex of the nave roof of the cathedral tower was moving in an oscillatory manner, producing the loudest sound that morning which signifies that it was time for the morning mass and the beginning of daily activities for the people in the city. At the center of the city lay a semi-detached house just a few miles away from the cathedral, wherein the Freemans reside. Shola Benedict Freeman is sleeping on a wooden desk with books scattered all over the desk under the rays of a reading lamp which was the only source of light in the whole room. A faint footstep is heard coming up the stairs; as it gets closer, the footsteps get louder and louder till it stops and after a little while, the door to shola's room is opened slowly and the footsteps continue moving till shola in his deepest sleep with a little reserve of consciousness felt a hand tap him and his consciousness overrides the sleep as he jumps up startled. His pacing heart starts to drop speed as he realizes it was his grandma Mrs. Olufunmilayo Ayinlara Roseline. She came to wake him up so they both could go for the morning mass at the cathedral. She begins to scold shola for not sleeping on time and for not sleeping on his bed. She says that she is afraid shola is turning out to be like his dad Ayo that had not much time for anything other than his books. Shola would stay up all night reading and dose off on his desk in the morning. Shola becomes slightly angry and returns to her that she cares about nothing other than her religion and faith, he starts packing his books as granny stands there in shock, anger, and heartbroken. Shola packs the books into the drawer and granny begins to reminisce on what she had to go through to bring up shola since his parents died when he was younger. She gets more infuriated and starts to hit shola with her hand while yelling at him, telling him he has time for him, that she alone has been taking care of him since he was little. Shola feels sorry for her and he quickly apologized. She told him the Sanctum Bell rang some minutes ago and they were already late for church. She then dismiss him telling him to go get prepared that after all, it was the feast day of his patron Saint ( St. Benedict). Shola leaves the room and granny follows. As she enter the passage, a noise came from a small room that was locked in the house, she turns abruptly and after a pause, she starts moving towards the door stealthily. On getting to it, she raise her hand to touch the knob but got cut short by shola who calls her asking if she was okay. She looks back at the room and answers in the affirmative. As they both leave the place, the doorknob moves down on its own.

•••

They are seen on the street pacing to get to the cathedral and Granny tells Shola to walk fast but Shola was overwhelmed by the cold so he retreated into himself as he manages to keep up with granny.

•••

They arrived at church late during the first reading. The voice of the lay reader was so audible it could be heard vehemently as it overshadowed every other sound so no one noticed the both of them coming inside the church. The reading was gotten from Isiah 1:10-17 and the last two verses sounded so loud "wash yourselves clean. Stop all this evil that I see you doing. Yes, stop doing evil and learn to do right. See that justice is done l, help those who are oppressed, give orphans their rights, and defend widows." After a short pause, the lay reader says "this is the word of the Lord" and the congregation, responds "thanks be to God". Shola was spotted at the 12th sit in the first row and at his right hand was a girl fitted at the 2nd row. When they both turned sideways, their eyes always met. After responsorial Psalms, the lay reader proclaimed the Gospel Acclamation, which was gotten from (Mt 5:10) " happy are those who are persecuted for my sake, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them". On hearing this, the girl fell into a trance, her eyes became wide open without motion and her hands began to shake lightly but everybody was so focused on the mass no one noticed asides from Shola who was watching her in confusion. In her vision, she saw a man in a bishops' apparel tied to a cross in a weird-looking area, and next, a hand with a dagger slashes the man's wrist, and blood splashes. In reality the bishop. Of St peter's cathedral has mounted the pulpit and was already reading the Gospel(Mt 10:34 - 11:1). After reading the 5th verse( Mt 10:39) "those who try to gain their own life will lose it, but those who lose their life for my sake will gain it". The girl woke up abruptly immediately after this verse but she had a little panic attack for a while but then stood up and left the church as Shola followed in pursuit. Granny saw him leaving but because of her religious nature couldn't go after him immediately during the gospel reading and she also didn't want to cause a scene. Outside the church, the girl was trying to get herself back together and shola showed up from behind. Shola asks if she is okay and she turns immediately in shock and fear because she didn't know someone was behind her. After realizing it was Shola she sat on the pavement and answered him YES. The cold of the morning got to her because she was only on a long British housewife gown, and the next thing, she begins to shiver. Shola had sympathy for her and told her that if she was going to come for the morning mass on a cold morning she should come prepared. He removed his coat and hand her. She looked at him with distrust but condition gave her no choice and after a while of staring, she accepted the coat and wrapped herself in it. Before shola could further strike a conversation because he wanted to know what happened to her, Granny came out and calls out to show telling him to go back into the church. Shola moved towards her to go into the church, when he was about to pass granny, she held him and whispered to him, telling him to avoid all those girls because most of them are possessed. Shola passed her and entered the church while granny stood there and took a long stare at the girl before going inside.