The Sacrifice

The reverend waited a moment to make sure Prudence had finished. Then he patted her on the head and straightened to his full height. "Thank you, my child. You have cleansed your soul with this act of contrition. God bless you," he said. He then looked around the church, everyone cringing as they prepared for the worst. "My children, this is truly a sad day for our community. We have brought the devil into our midst. He did not come in the form of a black angel or a serpent, but in the form of an innocent girl, whom we adopted into our bosom as one of our own. Instead of repaying our kindness with gratitude, she sowed chaos and deception everywhere she went."

Reverend Crane approached Samantha, who stood her ground not out of courage, but terror. Even as the reverend closed within a foot of her she could not get any muscles in her body to function. To her surprise, Reverend Crane put an arm around her shoulder as he had in his kitchen. "My children, this girl we named Samantha Young is none other than Lucifer himself. She has told you fabulous lies from her unholy books."

Samantha at last found the courage to shake off the reverend's arm and shout, "They weren't lies! You're the one who lies to them about savages and monsters. You don't want them to know the truth because they might get the courage to leave this place."