SNAKES, snakes entangle his heart, crawl through the scant, tight, spaces in his blasphemous soul. The stained glass windows arch over their crouching forms forbiddingly; he feels so SMALL against the LORD’S holy light, it’s difficult to breathe with all the dust in the air, mingling like love starved bodies against the dark backdrop of the chapel. Robert Small enters this divine forest with purpose && a knife in hand: he’s ready to hack away at the overgrown ferns && chaparral riding up the side of the Church from years of DECAY, MISUSE, && NEGLIGENCE.
He’s prepared, to put that GOD-SERVING BLADE to use, && tear through the very gullet of the diabolical vessel that makes homage in the Minister’s honeyed, meridional, vocals. ‘ Please…’ He says, retreating backwards in his finally spit-shined church shoes. ‘ You’d be an idiot to pull through with this…’
IT WAS IMMEDIATELY OBVIOUS TO ROBERT THAT JOSEPH KNEW WHY HE WAS HERE. A snarl curled across his sharp features, gritting his teeth. Not once had he broke rhythm in his step as he stormed closer, blade adhered in calloused hands. He moves at a quick pace, stopping just short of the minster’s toes as he jerks his hand upwards, blade stopping just short of the thin layers skin of Joseph’s throat threatening to slice through, prepared for what would ensue if he were to follow through, ready for the blood to be on his hands. For once, this would all be worth it. God knows Robert would follow through if enacted.
He gives a husky growl, stale cigarettes and whiskey tattooed to his breath from years of abuse, though with his stance, it couldn’t be any clearer that Robert was shockingly SOBER. ❝Good thing I’m a fuckin’ idiot, yeah?❞ he’d reply, not once breaking eye contact. ❝I should have done this a long time ago.❞
It is with GREAT sadness pooling in his sapphire hues, that he regards the whisky glass held betwixt sun-kissed fingers as one would an old enemy. He can sense the cracks beginning to form along his porcelain complexion–like a doll that’s been dropped on its head at the hand of those CAUSTIC words.
‘ Please, neighbour, I’m only being hospitable. There’s no need to be so aggressive…have you…have you tried the cupcakes yet? I made them myself.’
❝And if I said no?❞ by this point, Robert was just testing the minister’s patience, seeing how far he could push Joseph before his facade cracked. The cupcakes did look quite delicious, though… Perhaps he could help himself to one once Joseph had the gall to turn his back ( Not that he couldn’t just eat one right in front of the other, but that would RUIN his spiteful composition ).
❝And NEIGHBOUR–don’t call me that. Don’t call me anything. Don’t even look at me. Your politeness is tiring. So go do the world a favor and go grab the fire cracker that Ernest chucked in your recycling bin.❞
❝Not t’say the offer isn’t going UNAPPRECIATED, but I think I could live without. Thanks. You should know better than ANYONE that I’m not a ‘people person’. Never have been. Don’t have plans on being one, either. ESPECIALLY with that damned church of yours involved, Joseph. Don’t fucking ask again.❞
‘ Robert, my, you’re the last person I expected to attend.’ A small bubble of a giggle grows betwixt his PERFECT ribs—innocently feigned, humbly delivered, like a joke shared over midnight cocktails. Oh! How ribald of him, a YOUTH MINISTER certainly did not delight in intoxicant, && he most CERTAINLY, did not approve of the whisky breath wafting from the other’s chapped lips. ‘ I’m so happy to see you, truly.’ The DIVINE man clasps pale fingers together at his chest, comically impersonating the Blessed Virgin.
GREAT,this was the absolute LAST person he wanted to see. Sure– it WAS Joseph’s party, and SURE, he had invited himself in to sit in the corner and drink until he was passed out drunk in the kiddie pool, but the LEAST this guy could of graced him by IGNORING HIS PRESENCE ALTOGETHER. He gives a deep, throaty growl, taking a sip of his whiskey ( which naturally, he had brought himself ) before speaking. ❝Don’t suck your own dick about it. I have other friends here I’m visiting, Joseph. Don’t you have other Bible Study attendees to be tending to?❞
