[KINA]
Five... six... seven... the count continues as I drove passed churches and chapels, all with their iconic wooden-made cross displayed in front of the altar.
I can't help smirking and rolling my eyes when I noticed the flocks of people swarming around their so-called temple. It's Sunday and people go to church, attend the mass, and listen to their well-spoken and manipulative preacher.
Why? Why do they waste their time sitting inside the church, listening and then give money as an offering? How can they sit inside a well-made structure with antique chandeliers and let their minds be brainwashed?
I took a deep breath as I park my car in front of a three-storey commercial building just a block away from an old church made in the 1700's.
With a purple croptop and a fitted jeans, no one will suspect the reason why I'm here.
I carried my duffel bag as I take the open staircase. The first-storey of the building has a pharmacy and a mini grocery store, the second one is a dormitory for college students studying in a state university and the third one is the storage room.
I coughed when I opened the door in the third floor. Everything in the room is covered with dust. Most things there are abandoned rather than stored. There were sacks filled with sands, broken furnitures, and empty wine bottles. The room is entirely dark especially when I closed the door behind me.
The place is consumable by the dark if it's not for the single broken window across the room. I walked through the scraps, ensuring that the mess stays the way they are before I came.
I went to the window and I was glad that it was the perfect spot. From the third floor and a block away from the church, I could see everyone through the open cathedral window. I saw the priest walking down the platform with a mic on his hand.
"Does anyone here knows God's one important rule? Aside from the ten commandment, of course." The priest started speaking and I sat on the floor as I open my duffel bag.
"I bet all of you would say, love one another. Yes, it is but it lacks something." The priest talks and preaches with full interest, invested so much on the words he learned from the bible.
"Love one another... as you love God. My dear brothers and sisters, living in our world without knowing the important commandment of God is like having a life not worth living."
"Yes, you may know it but don't put it through your actions, it's like not knowing about it at all. You love other people because you love God and you're not even aware that you're following His important commandment, it's spiritual love." I continue to listen to the priest as I assemble my equipment.
"No matter how many days you go to church, even if it's everday and no matter how many prayers you've memorized, it weighs nothing if you can't fulfill the important commandment. Love yourself the way you love your neighbors, and love your neighbors the way you love God."
I can't help but laughing to myself. My laugh echoed across the abandoned room as I continue to slowly crouch.
I shake my head in mockery because of the nonsense coming out from the priest's mouth.
"Why they talk about love when they should talk about hypocrisy?" I whispered to myself.
I leaned on a very comfortable position as I maneuver my sniper rifle, pointing the end of it towards the church. I looked at the priest through the lenses and noticed the huge number of attendees. All with their usual faces, pretending as if they're listening, as if they'll follow whatever the Gospel is about.
"We existed through love and we've been free because of course, the love of our Father. He loves us more than we could ever love ourselves. He accepts the way we are more than we could ever accept ourselves and yet what? We choose to commit sins but our Father doesn't condemn us. He would never turn his back on us. He never did and never will be."
I licked my lower-lip with anticipation on what's about to come, on what is waiting for all of them.
I just need to hear those words. Those exact four words that makes my heart raise in so much thrill. The adrenaline pumping in my veins is another level as I slowly move my fingers toward the trigger.
Let's see if your God can save you.
"Let us all stand."
It only took four words, four words to end him. Four words to make the entire church thunder in horror. Wives and children came running towards the parking lot. Some men called help from the authorities and I can't help but resting my chin on the back of my palm.
The corner of my lips rose a bit as I watch the priest's cold body swam in the pool of his own blood. The gold cross pendant on his neck is now covered with blood, staining it. Just like how hypocrisy stain their so-called church... temple... chapel... or what so ever.
"Another easy job done." I said as I started to disassemble my weapon.
None of the assassination team tried to took this job. It has a huge bounty that can make any bounty hunters drool. They'd rather die trying to kill an overrated ex-convict than to hurt a priest.
Come on, they are all just the same. Priest or not. A huge cross on their chest doesn't make them less different from us. They're way sinful compared to those people they would point their finger at.
Wearing white from head to toe will never make you look pure. Their image is just an illusion, a deceptive scheme they've been pulling off since the first era.
Going to church doesn't make you good. Nothing can. We're live to commit sins, to go against the rules. The human race can never be the image the church tries to build.