The Hour of Blessings

At about a quarter to ten, Matilda had settled into her bed for the night. After a long day at work and trudging through the snow, which was pretty heavy this winter, she was ready to get some sleep. But, sleep was the last thing on her mind.

Atop the dresser, opposite her bed, was a gold envelope that was the source of her distraction and the focus of her attention. The envelope was addressed to Hilda Copperstone, Matilda’s twin sister, and was from somewhere or something called the Hour of Blessings.

She had found the envelope tucked in between junk mail and bank statements in her mailbox. There weren’t any stamps on it so someone had clearly placed it there—someone who did not know or care that Hilda was missing. 

Matilda sat in her bed, bewildered about what to do. Should she call her parents? Or the police? It had been a little over a year since Hilda went missing and there was no clue, trail, or anything to indicate why or where she went. Everyone thought she had ran away, which wouldn’t have been the first time, but not Matilda.

Hilda had her problems, but Matilda believed that she had found something to set her back on the right path. In fact, a few days before she went missing, Hilda had spoken at length to Matilda about finding herself after feeling lost and adrift amongst all the drug use and drinking. 

Matilda couldn’t take it anymore and went to get the letter. It could be a clue or offer some sort of answer about what happened to her sister. At the very least, it offered something tangible to examine instead of all the speculation and guesses that surrounded Hilda’s disappearance.  

As she opened the envelope, a coin fell out as she pulled out the card inside the envelope. She picked the coin up off the floor and examined it. It was a copper coin, or so she thought based on the color, that was adorned with leaves and a pair of hands clasped together. The card was small and gold like the envelope. There weren’t any other adornments.

Inside the card, the words were written in black against the gold background. The letter was addressed to Hilda from someone called the Bishop.

 Dearest Hilda,

The hour is at hand and the genesis must begin soon.

We hope your time in penance was worth it and look forward

to seeing your progress. We will begin preparation, meet

us at the Red Clergy as early as you can or all of this would 

have been for nothing.

Yours Humbly,

The Bishop

“The Red Clergy? What the hell is that?” Matilda grabbed her phone from the side table and started looking through the internet to find out where the Red Clergy was. There were many results for clergies and other religious websites but nothing that was an exact location. 

She shifted her search and tried finding whatever was the “hour of blessings” mentioned on the envelope. There were, again, primarily religious websites or articles that popped up in the search results. But, after going through a few pages of results, she came across a forum result posted by a group called the Hour of Blessings. 

While there was not much about them online, Matilda was able to gather from their postings that they were interested in setting up a recurring drinking group at some bar called the Red Clergy. That gave her a more specific search and once she started looking for the bar she found it in the outskirts of Seattle, away from the more populated downtown areas.

She decided that after work tomorrow, she would go check out the bar and see if there was anything she could learn. After a year with no clue, it was exciting to finally have something to follow that might lead to Hilda.

She placed the card on the dresser with the coin and decided to go to sleep. Surprisingly, sleep came easy for Matilda. “Matilda…it’s time…hear me…” A voice whispered to Matilda as she opened her eyes. She was still lying in her bed but was surrounded by a sea of darkness. The whispers got more intense to the point where they felt like they were all around her.

“Matilda…Matilda….Matilda…hear me…” The voices moved from whispers to screams. Each time it said her name, it felt like a booming noise that deafened her ears. The bed started to shake and she was thrown off of it, falling into the dark sea.

The darkness was suffocating and heavy. It pulled her down faster and faster until she could no longer breathe or focus. Just as she was about to pass out, she was thrown out of the darkness and onto the solid, wet ground. Matilda rose up from the ground with some struggle. She felt battered and bruised. It was so bright that she couldn’t see properly. For a few heartbeats, she was blinded, bruised, and vulnerable.

The pain subsided and her eyes adjusted to the light. As Matilda looked around, the scene felt alien to her. The ground below her feet was solid and covered in a small layer of water that reflected everything back. It looked like a giant mirror. The sky was endless and vast with sparse hints of clouds. It was bright but she could not see the sun.

“Hello Matty” A voice came from behind Matilda, calling her a name only used by one person. She turned and faced the source of the voice. It was like looking into a mirror, just slightly off. 

“Hi Hildy,” Matilda replied, her voice raspy and tight as she held back tears. 

The woman in front of her was almost identical to Matilda. Where Matilda had auburn hair, Hilda’s was black from dying it. Where Matilda was tanned, Hilda was paler and had a scattered plot of tattoos across her arms. 

“It has been too long, but it is almost time.” Hilda’s voice was like an echo of a real person. Her expression was serious and her eyes teared up. “You’ve got to wake up now.” Hilda vanished into the water before Matilda could get a word in.

The land started to quake and everything started to fall apart. Loud cracking and tearing boomed all around Matilda and her body jerked awake. She jolted up from her bed, covered in sweat and feeling confused. Her alarm was blearing as the morning sun poked through her curtains. 

“Wha--what the hell?” She had not dreamed of Hilda in months, especially nothing as vivid as that. She reached over and turned off her alarm. Today was going to be on hell of a day. From breakfast in the morning to sorting out emails and tasks at work, Matilda’s thoughts were consumed by her dream and the letter. 

With the final paperwork sorted and meetings scheduled, Matilda left work and sat in her car. She did not know what to expect but hopefully, there were answers at the end of all of this. She started the engine and drove off to the club.

After about an hour in traffic, she finally arrived at the Red Clergy. It was flanked by a few different stores and restaurants that all had the same facade. The only thing that stood out was the red window trim and door of the bar. It advertised itself as a bar and lounge in bold neon signs.

Matilda parked her car and started heading to the bar. Perhaps it was the disturbing dream or a long day at work, but Matilda was not feeling well. Her heart rate was elevated and her head started to hurt. As she got to the door, everything felt quiet. There didn’t seem to be any sound coming from the bar, the streets, or anywhere else. 

She opened the door and entered the bar. Inside, the bar was dimly lit by sconces that dotted the walls. There were heavy curtains on the windows and every wall was painted a dark maroon color, perhaps to match the mahogany furniture. Nothing about it seemed welcoming in the least. There wasn’t anyone inside either, just drinks at the bar and tables, but no drinkers or bartenders.

“Hello?” she asked as she entered. “Is anyone here?” There was no answer so Matilda continued in. As she entered completely, the door behind her slammed shut with a loud bang, startling her. “Ahhh!” She yelped. “What was that…?” It could have been the wind or someone playing a terrible prank. 

She went to open the door but it wouldn’t budge so she tried the locks and still there was nothing. Try as she might, and she really tried, the door wouldn’t open. For the moment she was stuck in here. With not much of a choice, Matilda explored the rest of the bar. Everything seemed as you might expect it, shelves lined with different types of alcohol, stools and booths for drinking away the night, and even a jukebox. 

There were posters of bands from the ’80s and ‘90s as well as a board filled with flyers for piano lessons, lost cats, and group meetings. The group meetings caught Matilda’s eye and she examined all the different ones. There wasn’t any for the Hour of Blessings but most of the meetings mentioned gathering in the basement of the bar.

Matilda looked around and saw a door at the back of the bar. It did not have any signage on it so probably wasn’t a bathroom. She walked over to the door and took a breath. Something was clearly wrong here…bars are seldom empty after work hours and doors didn’t close by themselves. 

Unsurprisingly, given all the weirdness, the door was open. As she pulled the door back, there were stairs leading down into the basement. It was mostly dark with a faint glow coming from somewhere below she couldn’t see so she pressed on and walked down.

The steps of the basement creaked as she walked down. As she got to the bottom, there were boxes, tools, and mostly junk all over the place. Matilda looked for a light switch but she didn’t see any. She tried to turn the light on her phone, but the battery was dead. With only the faint glow as her guide, she made her way through all the junk to what she hoped was the back of the basement.

Something was wrong…she must have been walking for at least thirty minutes across an endless array of junk and there didn’t seem to be an end. She should have noticed, should have been scared, should have felt anything, but her mind must have blanked out. Realizing her situation, Matilda turned around only to be confronted with darkness.

“Where am I? What’s going on?” A tear fell from her eyes as Matilda was filled with confusion. With nowhere else to go but forward, she continued on towards the glow. Beads of sweat started to form on her head as the headache from early got worse and her heart started to race. Just as she was about to panic, she came to a glowing door.

This was not like any other door. This door was adorned with angels dressed in gold and wings so delicate they could float away. There were etchings across the door in a language Matilda did not understand and figures splayed across the ground in bliss as red rain fell from the sky. It was a haunting and beautiful scene whose glow captivated her.

Something was pulling Matilda towards the door. Her hands shot up and reached for the knob and twisted it open. She had lost control of it. Her legs propelled her forward unwillingly as the door swung open. Stone walls flanked the room past the door and the smell of burning roses and herbs filled the air. Torches lined the stone walls as her body moved past them. She could not speak or control herself no matter how hard she tried. 

Matilda’s body walked into a room that was covered with murals that mimicked the entrance door. There were people prostrated on the floor humming an unfamiliar tune. They formed a semi-circle that converged to a central podium with a hooded figure standing looming over them. Her body walked past them all and moved to the central figure.

“Hello Matty,” said Hilda as she pulled down the hood to reveal herself. Matilda stared in horror. This thing sounded like Hilda and had some semblance of her, but looked like a decayed corpse that was barely holding itself together. The terror in her eye must have been evident as Hilda took notice. “I know, I know. The years of partying really took their toll.” Hilda laughed at her attempt at humor.

“I came looking for you…the card…it said..” Matilda found her voice but Hilda cut her off. “I know what it said after all, I wrote it,” Hilda smirked and Matilda was confused. Hilda folded her arms and leveled her eyes at Matilda. “I did not expect that you’d be so prompt to follow the card, but you’ve always been the better half of us.”

As Matilda attempted to respond, a sharp hot pain came from her back. She tried to scream but no sound came out of her. The pain trailed down from the top of her spine to the bottom of her back, intensifying and burning even more than she thought possible.

She fell to her knees as two of the other people in the room grabbed her arms and held her aloft before she fell. Hilda bent down to Matilda. “I am so glad you kept our body in such good shape...Clearly, I took things a bit too far with this one.” She gestured to her own body, wrecked from abuse beyond drugs and alcohol. 

Matilda was filled with pain that seemed to burn endlessly. Every hint of wind that touched her launched an array of hot, horrible pain down her body. The room started to spin around her and her vision started to darken. Something red was pooling underneath her, soaking her clothes. 

“This is going to be fun.” Hilda smiled, showing her large fanged teeth as her face distorted into something inhumane.