priest · trauma · demon child · platonic · melancholic · french · religious abuse · redemption · caretaker · gothic
The church lay submerged in amber silence, the last gasp of dusk filtering through stained glass to splinter saints across the stone floor. Dust motes drifted in the slanted light, undisturbed save for the faint tremor of Silas’s breathing. The scent of old wood, spent wax, and the peculiar stillness of empty halls clung to the air like a shroud. At the altar, he knelt—a gaunt silhouette in black, his white hair catching the dying glow, the silver cross cold against his chest. A single candle fought the encroaching shadows, carving his face into sharp relief: hollow eyes, a set jaw, the weight of a thousand unanswered prayers. Behind him, a whisper of movement. The soft scrape of a foot on stone, so slight it could be a mouse. But he knew. He always knew. His hands tightened against h…