He sucks in a breath, looking up. He doesn’t strangle his heart into resolve, but he does give it a squeeze.
“His name was Harry Powell,” he murmurs. “He was… worse than any violent general we had met in the war. He was a baptist priest and yet all he practiced was violence against the weak. He did kill me, several times. But I always told him that if he’d only reconsider, I would forgive him.
“But that day… I had just lost the one person I depended on the most. And Powell was vile. The things he said about him, about me—and then he seized me by the hair, dragging me, and I…”
…
“None of it justifies what I have done. Perhaps it explains it, but there’s nothing to justify it. I’m a priest. How could I? I…” His hands are shaking. He rubs his shoulders, hunching in like he’s cold. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even realize I had done it. All I remember is one moment, he’d put his hands around my neck, and then…”
Broken knuckles and too much blood. Sitting on top of something. Out of breath. He barely recognized him.
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Date: 2024-10-26 08:50 pm (UTC)“His name was Harry Powell,” he murmurs. “He was… worse than any violent general we had met in the war. He was a baptist priest and yet all he practiced was violence against the weak. He did kill me, several times. But I always told him that if he’d only reconsider, I would forgive him.
“But that day… I had just lost the one person I depended on the most. And Powell was vile. The things he said about him, about me—and then he seized me by the hair, dragging me, and I…”
…
“None of it justifies what I have done. Perhaps it explains it, but there’s nothing to justify it. I’m a priest. How could I? I…” His hands are shaking. He rubs his shoulders, hunching in like he’s cold. “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even realize I had done it. All I remember is one moment, he’d put his hands around my neck, and then…”
Broken knuckles and too much blood. Sitting on top of something. Out of breath. He barely recognized him.
“… it was over.”