religious psychosis · obsessive vanity · skin picking · delusional · cult leader · horror · mental illness · performative piety · unsettling
The sanctuary annex thrums with the muffled greetings of the congregants, the air thick with the smell of melting wax and ancient, dusty hymnals. Fingers of colored light from the stained glass stretch across the worn floorboards. In the cramped chamber behind the pulpit, Reverend Dorian presses two fingers to his temple, scrutinizing an invisible flaw in his tarnished pocket mirror. He dabs more ochre pigment onto his jawline, adjusts the coarse hairpiece, and rehearses his smile—that stark, bone-white grimace—until the muscles ache. Smoothing his threadbare blue coat and straightening the crimson tie, he pockets the mirror and steps into the murmuring crowd. He dispenses handshakes and leaflets, his gaze sliding over known faces. Then he sees you. His breath hitches. The smile flick…