The cluttered southern church of Hicketaw, Alabama, stood falling on a muddy hill underbelly, the exterior of the small religious hut was sided with 1890 construction, white-painted wood cracked and splintered from rain and existence, the dead tree underneath showing deep black holes. Everything became worse in summer. The religious folk of three miles radius moved up three creaking wood stairs into their historic, rotting gemstone. They took seats on newly polished pews of oak, their backsides pushed foward unnaturally by the verticle incline of the seat.

Reverend Jacob Paul Harknon moved from the plastic stage seat and moved towards the audience for his spectacle. His black religious attire sculpted his stomach perfectly as it bellowed over a beltless pants, proudly tucked in. His collar cut circulation mildly and spilled neck-fat over the back of him as he raised his head, arms extending away from his sides and in the air. His gray comb-over flapped up as he sneezed down a-
"Praaaaise Je-sus! Praise him for being with us this Sun-day mornin'!"
The majority of the tenants sung back a healthy "Amen!" while others "mmhmmm!"ed. Like the reverend, the audience population was white, mostly in their older years, and majority female.

"An b'fo we get started with this hoo-ly ghost explosion on this wonda-full day the lord has given us, let us bow our heads and bless those we care for...
"Lord we bless you this morn' for your great deeds upon this earth!" He yelped, the crowd once again 'amen'ing him and giving respectful hums...
"Bless our children,"
'Amen!"
"Bless the meek,"
"Amen!"
"Bless this nation under your watchful eye, lord!" He started becoming more boisterous with the statements, raising his eyebrows just high enough to watch his people.
"Mmmmmhmmm!"
"Bless President of the United States of America,"
"Amen!"
"And lord bless the billionaires!"
"Amen!"
"Amen," He repeated, the heads beginning to raise from the opening blessing-

"We're sending out blessing for Je-sus today! We're gunna tell him from the mountains! Shout it on down from the mountain!" - "Oh Amen Reverend!" - "This morning we're gunna send uh message to Satan! We're gonna tell him to get on down! Get behind! Get off me!" -"Aaamen!"- "'Cause we got the hoo-ly ghost with us, and with the hoo-ly ghost, and Jeeee-sus, and the lord above us we will not fear him!" -Oh lord! Mmmmhmm!"

The crowd was bustling in their seats, ready for the Reverend to command their standing:
"Now get on up, y'all, we're gonna tell God from this looowly hill- we have him in our hearts!"
"Oh! Lord!" they began standing in unison, Reverend Harknon began them in song:
"Goooooo tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere, gooooo tell it on the mountain, that Je-sus christ is born..."
The crowd joined in as the Reverend howled the occasional off-beat word, getting the crowd to swing in their seats. He reached a scaly hand out and grabbed the collection plate- a rich golden bowl with a gleaming luster- and passed it to the right side first, watched and sang as it went around, being filled. The song settled down once it went through twice, and the preacher stood in front of them again.

"We praise you, Je-sus; for your presence here today. Lord knows some of you have a journey to get here. Heck," He almost chuckled, "Old Granna has been traveling here from the next town over..."
"Oh, Granna!"
"And we love you darlin' for staying with us each and every Sunday. You teach a proud lesson to the rest oh us!" He darted a look over at the old lady. He secretly considered her a hag. She had an aware look on her face and prideful stare, gums showing through by contorted purple lips, dust settled in an overlapping wrinkled face. The crowd cheered again with the same hums and token 'amen's towards her direction.
"She's been going from that town over for a reason, folks!" -"Mmmhmmm!"- "We've all been knowin' for a while there be a church in her town, but them nigrah's are bad for Je-sus blood." - "Amen, revren'..."- "They's-ah black like Satan himself, a dee-mon!" -"mmmhmmm! Oh!"- "One day when we get to thee promised land thar won't be them nigrahs in the streets with us! No Satan! No evil!" -The crowd sung back murmers of approval instantly without thought or question, sung proud and stared blankly- "Because they're devil worshpin' ain't gunna go unnoticed! God is watching!"
"Amen!"

"And you can't escape the eye of God! Oh noh suh, he is everah-where," -his voice had of a tone reminiscent of an auctioneer's- "He is in our hearts! In our minds! In our souls and each and every one oh us and he is watching us all in his light! Thank you Je-sussss! He is here in this room! He is behind us, in front of us, in the air we breath oh Amen!"
"Amen!"
"And that's where we want him, because with God on our side we can do no wrong! I say to him- I say 'watch me, God, watch me all the time! Donnot take an eye offa me! I want you to keep by my side lord! Keep by my side!" "By my side!"
"And I wanna tell you a story of where God was the other day. Little Danna came to me the other day-" Eyes and heads turned towards the small 8 year old girl by her mother's side, the preacher taking small steps down the isle to point at her- "She came for her first confession!" -smiles pressed towards the young girl's image. She, who hugged her mothers arm and made her proud, she who remembered the day clearer than moments minutes ago...

...She stepped into the private genuflect booth in the back of the church, her mother sending her up alone for her first confession with Father Paul Harknon. She got into the confessional on smell knees (hurting from poor nutrition and little food), and spoke through the mesh fence covered in a red veil.
"Father, this is my first confession..."

"...She confessed to me her sins! The sins of a child! They were so innocent..."

"...Hello Danna, what are your sins?"
"Y--y-yes father, well I lied to mah daddy the other day, I want-ted a piece of cake and-"
"Hold on darling what's wrong, are you nervous?"
"Yes, father"
"You don't need to be scared child, God is great, and sees all the things. Would you mind if I came in there with you? It'll help calm you down..."

"...She told me small sins, but they were honest ones. She confessed to me bravely..."

...The preacher moved out of his separate both and into the young girl's box, kneeled next to her in the tight room, spoke softly.
"Let's begin again,"
"He had cake from his trip the other day, and brought a piece home, just for him and mom and said so but the cake looked so good to me."
"I understand, go on..."
She began the stuttering tale of her claiming she saw a bug in the chocolate, not at first catching with her senses; her skin, the touch.
"C-cchocolate"
"Everybody loves chocolate, darling, go on,"
He moved a handful of dry fingers slow up the side of her leg -she remembered it was the left leg- around the buttox, slowly towards underwear- she felt a finger stroke under her underwear, she tried to shift up and to the right, but remained cornered in the confessional...

"...I tell you folks I was amazed by her innocence, she truly is one of God's little children..."

He pushed her body against the wall, taunted her: "God's... punishment..." she instantly felt she somehow deserved it... chocolate cake... punish... hands... "Father?"
"Shhh!" he scrambled with quick strength, pulling her dress down and pushing her against the mesh wire with hips. Her feet tumbled over the small kneel space, herself falling, head whacked against wooden arm-rest... dizziness. The priest shuffles through his pants...

"...May God bless her" - "Amen..."

...His cock surged into her young cunt, greedy hands grasped around her tight ass. He forged hard and felt her delicate thighs pushed sideways in entanglement as he lunged into and widened her up. She tried to scream but couldn't think, mumbled "mmm!" and twisted to her side. He fucked her hard, reached a hand up to snatch at an empty chest, found nothing and pushed fingers into her mouth for a gag. He felt her wetness streaming around his cock, she began to respond against her will. Her will! The child! He flashed her pain into himself with a blink, hating the action he was taking, yet unwilling to stop himself.
He finally had enough. Pulled her out and watched as she continued to writhe on the old wooden boards, skin gathering splinters...

"...She loved God so much! She took her penance like one of God's great children, it was a hoo-ly ghost explosion indeed..."

...She began to cum down her leg, pulsing and kicking the side of the box. She cried for the longest time, reaching down toward her crotch in immense pain coupled with an odd dose of strange feeling. Danna didn't understand any of it. Harknon waited until her tears ended and explained to her: "Mommy and Daddy are waiting for you at home. You go home now, and don't speak of any of this. Only God may hear of it, for he knows all and it would be a sin otherwise. Understand?"
She nodded and cast herself from the church...

"Amen reverend!"
"Because we have a holy ghost explosion in here! And our children can bask in his light an' have for generations! Amen! And there's no stopping this train we're on... no stopping this train we're on... no stopping this train! We're gunna ride on through the sunset, because we are God's children and we are so beautiful!"
"Amen!" The crowd spoke from the meager gut instead of their heart, noticed the ceremony was over. They began their leave.

Fadeout.