A young priest knelt before the altar, silently praying beneath the glow of several rows of candles. Worn around the edges, a Bible lay open before him, but at the moment, his eyes seemed to be focused on the large wood and brass cross in front of him. His hands clasped in front of his face, he absentmindedly bit on one of his thumbnails, as he contemplated his prayers. As he reached the end of his prayers, he made the sign of the cross as he stood up. Closing his Bible and picking it up, he walked quietly across the large sanctuary, still biting his thumbnail.

Entering a door on one side of the sanctuary, he proceeded down a short hallway. Its low ceiling and narrow passage made his boxer’s build seem even larger than it was, and also served to make him feel a little claustrophobic. Fortunately, that led out into a foyer the size of a large living room, and past a small office that looked out on it. As he got to the office, he stuck his head inside, and knocking lightly on the doorframe, he said, “Father Canon, would you please inform me when His Grace arrives? I’ll be doing some research in the Archives. You can buzz me there.”

Father Canon was of slighter build, so the small office seemed to fit him well. He looked up from his desk, and the light glancing off of his round spectacles seemed to detract from his already slight smile. “Of course, Father Thyme.” He looked back to his desk, made a note on a Post-It, and stuck it to his phone.

“Thank you,” replied Father Thyme. As he continued through the foyer and down the next hallway to the Archives, he smiled to himself. Father Canon was a good man, and even younger than he was, but he was a man of few words. It made him hard to figure out. Father Thyme shook his head and laughed lightly as he entered the Archives. Something for another time.

He set down his Bible and took a hardbound journal off of a shelf above a desk. Laying it open to a blank page, he tapped the fingers of one hand on the blank pages, while momentarily biting the index fingernail of the other. Pacing the room for a few moments, he walked back over to the desk, looked at the blank pages, and then closed his eyes. He said, “Father, I need to know about a place called Sunset Falls.” As he said that, an oval of golden light, surrounded by a greenish gold aura, appeared in the air behind him, growing as large as a doorway. Without saying a word, he turned and walked through the portal, and then back out again. Looking at the blank pages once again, he said, “Thank You, Father,” and sat down and started writing.

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Story and characters owned by Chris Bishop, copyright 1997, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022.

Thanks for stopping in! :^D

Hmmm I will have to see the next one, as this is interesting but don't know whether it is enough to hold my interest

@batkevin74: I've always been iffy on this prologue and epilogue, as they're not necessary to the story- just setting some other stuff up. I leave 'em there though.

@cbishop: A tad strange, not an Arab or a night in sight but a reference to the in bracket title at the end.

I share your iffy-ness, but will press on

@4donkeyjohnson: I really am iffy on it. The epi/pro were added sometime after I had written the scene with the Arabian, with the idea that it would go further and all tie together at some point. At this point, I kind of keep it as an example of a failed attempt, y'know? Either I'll improve it at some point, or finally chuck it.

@cbishop: As I am going through it, this really adds very little to the story so far. If you ever publish this I would discuss with your editor about cutting this as at the moment it is iffy :)

@4donkeyjohnson: <shrugs> I almost cut it for posting here. I wrote the Sunset Falls scene first, and added the Father time pro/epi much later. I think I was experimenting with framing sequences at the time. I initially saw S. Falls as a Twilight Zone or Eerie, Indiana type of story, and I was kind of thinking of Father Time as the framing character, kind of like Rod Serling to Twilight Zone or the Cryptkeeper to Tales From the Crypt. ...I didn't pull that off at all, in my opinion.

Truly, it was a case of me trying to put too much into one story. I haven't changed it, because I kind of like it as a reminder of having screwed up a scene. :} ...It'll probably get edited out at some point though.

Bumped

@batkevin74: Really?! lol I'm still thinking about deleting the prologue/epilogue.

@cbishop: An interesting start but it doesn't seem to fit with the title of the thread

@impurestcheese: See below:

;)