The Vigil

Romanescu and Natalia have dedicated their lives to performing God's work, but they must rely on each other to protect themselves from the evil they face each day.

The old man searches the darkness. Just out of reach of the candlelight, he makes out the shape of the old woman across the burial room. He can't see her face, but he is sure that she is staring intently at the center of the room .... just like he should be. The rite of the Vigil demands that their gaze remains steadfast, unremitting. Their will must be set. They must perform the full rite of the Vigil to ensure that the soul of the recently deceased in front of them may enter heaven unabated.

Romanescu wishes his will was as stalwart as Natalia's. As his own end grows nearer, his will falters. He fears that their campaign to save souls will result in the forfeit of their own. His head bows slightly and he looks at the floor and wonders, "Is it enough to do the work of God? To be the tools of righteousness? Or will their souls be thrown away like a broken hammer when they are no longer useful?"

The old man forces himself to look up. The body still lies in the middle of the room unmoving. A shadow jumps to his left, and he spins his head around. Nothing. Must be a trick of the candlelight. And yet Romanescu can't look away. He feels that there is something more there. Something that he can't see in the darkness. He stares for several minutes before he realizes why he can't shake the feeling that something is there. There is a scuffling sound coming from that direction. He lifts his candle up toward the ceiling in that direction. The light catches sight of something as it flees into deeper darkness.

Romanescu silently pulls his tools from his bag. He jumps to his feet and rushes to the area where the sound is coming from. The light finds its way through the darkness to the creature hiding there crowded into a corner. The old man stops when the creature shows its face. A large coypu has found its way into the room looking for a free meal. Realizing that these rodents are never found this far from the river, the old man checks the body again.

The body lies in place. He looks to his wife who is still staring at the body. He feels foolish for allowing himself to be distracted by the rodent. He turns to return to his seat and can not believe what he sees. The hair on his neck bristles, and he lifts his tools to have them at the ready. He looks around the room, but the scene doesn't change. The body is laying in the center, Natalia is staring at the body, and he sits in his chair asleep.

With a jolt of his body, the old man jumps to his feet finally awake with his tools at the ready. The body is gone. His wife lies on the floor. Her candle lies close to her face. He can see that there is no color in her cheeks and no life in her body. Her mouth is open as if she was calling to him as her life slipped away. She was the will of the team, but he was the muscle. It was his job to over-power the dead long enough for Natalia to complete the Rite.

A figure charges the old man from the shadows. He grabs the body and pins it supine on the floor. He drives the metal stake through the corpse's chest and pins it in place long enough for him to get to Natalia's bag. While the corpse struggles to remove the stake holding it down, Romanescu takes his wife's hatchet and chops at the neck of the deceased. When wielded with expert hands, the hatchet can make a clean cut severing the head from the body. The old man has to hack at the neck for several minutes to remove it fully. When the head leaves the body, the eyes glaze over and the head lies motionless. The head will never fully die, but the body can be destroyed and the soul freed.

The body continues to struggle with the spike trying to get free. With trembling hands, Romanescu stuffs three bulbs of garlic into the mouth of the head, one bulb each for the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He sews it closed. He sews the eyes closed as well. The head is placed within a linen bag and doused with holy water. With the non-physical separation of the head and body complete, the body lies motionless. In the morning, the family will burn the body and the soul will be released. After the body is burned, the head can be safely buried.

Romanescu has one task left. For the next three to five days, he must sit quietly in Vigil of his dearly departed wife and ensure that her soul is free to enter heaven. He knows that when the rite is complete, he will never see her again. He will never perform the rite of Vigil again. He knows that turning his back on God's will is sacrificing his own soul, but he will not continue alone. He will go quietly into the night, and if he be judged, let God stand before him and cast him down himself.
 

Reviews

[Salvatore Buttaci]

ngratulations on your vampire-contest win!

Sal