The First Betrayal

For my boys, past and present.

You are with me always.

Matthew  6:14-5

"For if you forgive other people when

they sin against you, your heavenly Father

will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive

others their sins,

your Father will not forgive your sins."

A teacher once asked

‘What is forgiveness?’

A little girl answered

‘It’s the wonderful smell that a

the flower gives when it is being crushed.’

Chapter One

The ship and human debris crashed with the white frothy waves against the rocky shore. The seagulls were screaming at each other, not wanting to share the fleshy feast that lay strewn in their watery path. Stephen Powers looked in horror at the mangled wreckage before him. While out for his morning walk with his beloved collie Chequers, the terrible caterwauling from the gulls had drawn him over to the cliff's edge. It was his favourite time of year, and it was a stunning autumnal day. The heat from a still strong sun was complimented with a soft cooling breeze. The ruthless savagery of the water below was a stark contradiction to the day’s beauty.  His brain desperately trying to comprehend what his eyes were seeing and it was almost beyond description. The bodies banged against the rocks, their clothes shredded and showing the white bloated flesh beneath. Judging by the number of gulls and destruction already inflicted to the bodies, they had been lying in the water for some time. Stephen called Chequers and raced back to the house to call the coastguard.

Chapter Two

Further, inland a newly married couple were having their first row.

‘Look, Jen, I don’t want you working even part-time. We are married now and going to start a family soon. You’ll need to be here getting our home ready for the children.’

‘My god Johnny, how many children do you think we are going to have‘? A gobsmacked Jen wanted to know. 

'I haven’t really thought too much about it, three or four, maybe.' Johnny answered, lying through his teeth. Just as Jen was about to explode with what she considered justified indignation, there was a soft knocking on the door. As Johnny went to answer, Jen paced the living room floor, seething and ready to launch a verbal assault as soon as he got back. How dare he think she was going to be a baby making machine, especially so soon in their marriage. SHE had plans and it did not involve dirty nappies and chapped nipples. After a few minutes, Johnny returned with a strange man.

'Jen, this is Adam, he’s new to the island and was looking - - -—. Jen didn’t hear anymore, she had tuned out her husband's voice. ‘Oh my god he’s beautiful’ she thought, unsure if she thought it aloud or not. The beautiful stranger stood before her, tall, with blonde hair, cheekbones to die for and the most amazing emerald green eyes she had ever seen. His beauty astounded her and as he stared into her eyes, she felt that he was violating her very soul. Johnny was transfixed as he watched the man he had invited into his home, move towards his wife and pull her roughly towards him.  As if he was watching underwater and wearing goggles, Johnny could see through the fog the stranger kiss Jen. He kissed her hard on the mouth, so hard his teeth pierced her lip. She tried to resist, which pleased him, by beating her small fists against his strong upper arms. Her resistance was short lived and he watched her lips respond to his aggressive mouth. He watched her body tremble with excitement; she never trembled like that with him. The stranger lifted his wife off the floor and pushed her against the wall so hard that the pictures shook. She did not seem to care, and he watched as the stranger unzipped his engorged manhood, hike up her skirt, rip off her knickers and shove himself unceremoniously inside her. To his extreme shame, Johnny was also so engorged with vile lust that he thought he would explode. He tried to scream, to make them stop before he did explode, but he could not, and truth be told, he did not want them to stop. His body was betraying him, just as surely as his wife was. Jen moaned in pleasure as he devoured her body, her goodness, her faith and her sanity. His sanity was being destroyed by his inability to stop this nightmare and stop his carnal desire from overwhelming him. Suddenly a scream and a shudder from his wife signalled the end of the unnatural union before him. The stranger pushed Jen away like a pet that had become tiresome. Johnny’s paralyses did not want to give up its hold on him as the stranger turned his attention to him. 

'Thank you, Johnny, your wife made quite the willing whore, and I can clearly see your appreciation of our little performance.'  With that, the stranger cupped Johnny’s bulging groin in his hand and squeezed, gently at first, then harder, and harder. A moan escaped Johnny’s lips, and it was a moan of pleasure and pain. No man had ever touched him like that and the ache he was feeling was becoming unbearable. He had the most dreadful fear that he was going to ejaculate with this mans hand on his treacherous loins. With one last gasp-inducing squeeze, the stranger released him. The relief was so overwhelming, and as his body had finally surrendered to its baser level, he almost didn’t care what his wife had just done with this monster. Jen was cowering in the corner, her mind reverted to that of a child’s. Nothing coherent would ever leave her beautiful lips again. 

Chapter Three

'Thank you, Johnny and Jen, so much for your hospitality. I do hope the rest of the islanders are just as obliging. I'll be seeing you!' He walked out leaving them broken beyond repair. He went down the path and out on to the main road before turning to look back. With a click of his fingers the cottage that Johnny and Jen had only lived in for a short while but had made a home, became engulfed in flames. Their blood-curdling screams put a smile on his face as he headed towards the village to make more new friends.

Chapter Four 

Father Mike was in the sacristy trying to summon the words from the ether for his sermon for Sundays mass. He couldn’t concentrate. Usually, mornings were his inspirational time, but today his brain was having none of it.  He kept thinking of poor Lucy Woodcock.  She was only thirty-five and diagnosed with early onset dementia. Her husband had been lost at sea only last year while fishing, leaving her with two small children to bring up alone. Hearing her tragic news had made him think. This island seemed to have more than its fair share of tragedy. His church always appeared full of sick and dying people who were looking for some kind of miracle. Or at the very least an answer as to why it was happening to them. He knew it only appeared that way, a close community, as the island was, always made it seem worse than anywhere else. As he mused on the unfairness of life, he had one of those involuntary shivers. His skin crawled as if hundreds of centipedes were running all over his body. He tried to focus but couldn’t shake a horrible sensation that something bad was happening. That something had shifted in the normal scheme of things. Shaking out of the black hole that he allowed to swallow him, and conceding defeat, his want for a sweet cup of tea won the day. Father Mike put his sermon to one side and went out into his church. Every time he entered this sacred place, his heart surged with love. From as far back as he could remember being a priest was all he wanted to be. The sacrifices meant nothing to him. He knew many priests who struggled with their vows, especially humility, obedience and celibacy. Being humble was easy for him; he came from nothing, had nothing and always expected nothing. By taking his vows and being accepted by God, it had made him rich beyond his wildest dreams. Celibacy was never an issue for him either as his only desire was to serve his saviour. Thankfully, with his devotion to God and his constant work with his parishioners, he never had the time or the want for carnal thoughts. Obedience, on the other hand, was a prevailing thorn in his side. Rules and regulations never sat well with him, especially if he thought it was wrong. 

He stood before Gods altar and gazed adoringly at the life-size crucifixion hanging above. As if on cue, the sun shone through the stain glass windows, it's mosaic coloured beauty dancing upon Christ’s face. He was always caught by