Pat and Lynn stood outside of the chapel underneath the sycamore tree, the alabaster branches radiating in the sunlight as if covered in snow.
“I hate this church. Why do you insist on coming here? There’s not a woman in the congregation the Bishop hasn’t slept with,” Lynn said, picking at the bark. She held her Bible at her side, the leather cover still firm as if she’d just plucked it from a store shelf.
“He hasn’t slept with you,” Pat said, winking. He switched his tattered Bible to the other hand and pulled her into him, kissing her forehead. “Today?” He whispered.
“Not to that sleaze ball?”
“You’re asking Jesus to be your Lord, not Bishop Reynolds.”
“If he’s supposed to represent Jesus, I ain’t interested.” She shrugged and walked inside.
The sanctuary was half-empty, occupied only by the Bishop, who wiped his forehead and neck with his handkerchief, and his former mistresses, who shuffled about in their pews anxiously.
“What’s going on?” she asked, but Pat was no longer behind her.
word count: 173
—Nortina
Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers is a weekly challenge where you write a story in 100-150 words (give or take 25 words) using the provided photo prompt as inspiration.
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Lovely Curses 
The title made me think of the rapture, but then I got pulled into the misdeeds of the Bishop and missed the clues. I did think it odd that the church only had the Bishop and his women. Excellent job! Gave us the clues, threw in a bit of red herring and let us figure it out!
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So how did he get to heaven, by sacrificing Lynn, the virgin?
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Hahaha! No no no! So the rapture came right as service was starting. He was a believer while she was like “eh, whatever,” so she got left behind along with the sinners & hypocritical Christians.
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Lovely humour here Nortina!~ I agree there may be questionable rapture involved here ~ 🙂
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The clues are very, very subtle in showing what happened. I liked that a lot of people were confused though because that just may be the reaction to the actual rapture. People will be looking around like, “what just happened??”
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Very interesting. Nice job!
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Hmmm what a sleazy bishop. And where did her friend go?
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He went up… 😉
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Very intriguing and leaves lots of questions.
Like A Writer’s Village, I think he may be a pimp or someone who deals with that sort of thing. If that is the case then Lynn should get out of there quick.
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Interesting you both got pimp out of this. It’s actually about the rapture…though subtly. But looking back, I can definitely see how Pat could be construed as a pimp! Haha!
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I’m intrigued about Pat’s role in this, and am inclined to think along the same lines as The Writer’s Village above. Pat’s definitely playing a dodgy game. I wonder what Lynn will do now? Fascinating story, Nortina.
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I hate to spoil it because these are great ideas, but this story is actually about the rapture! Threw you for a loop, huh? 😉
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I think Pat be pimping for the preacher (or in this case – the Bishop).
Randy
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So many hilarious interpretations for this story. I’m loving it!
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I’m intrigued. Enjoyed your piece, good description of the bishop lol
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That’s funny! Makes me think Pat has been doing the same thing. He got the H-E double L out of dodge! Hahaha! Loved this Nortina!
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Ewww, poor Lynn. I love this line: ‘the leather cover still firm as if she’d just plucked it from a store shelf’ – nice way to symbolise Lynn’s resistance. I hope she whacks the bishop with it… Great stuff!
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