"Sir please give me a chance!" I begged Steve for the third time.

" I told you again and again, why don't you understand? Do well in your current role and maybe you will get a chance in the future." Steve replied to me with a kind smile.

" Besides I don't have control over casting, Maric has strict instructions about that"

As I listen to his bullshit again I felt like punching him. He shows a kind and understanding demeanor but I know well how business-oriented and ruthless Steve is. Stefan Smith aka Steve is the producer of " A Song of Light and Darkness" a romantic movie in the making.

Maric Oschinski is the director. I thought since Steve is from the same hometown as me he would try to help me out.

" You know I always look out for you, but my hands are tied" Bullshit, I know he can easily get me in if he just calls in a favor. Guess I am not even worth a favor from him. Its not like I am asking for a lead role. I am just asking for the role of the male leads one of 4 party members.

"You know background actors are the backbone of a movie, it's not anything to scoff at. Every big actor of today started as a background actor, you just have to keep at it. You will get your big break trust me" Steve tried to encourage me as he got into his fancy limo.

Yeah right, my big break. What a joke. I came to Hollywood when I was 21, with big dreams and eyes full of stars. I had everything planned out. I will take 2-3 years to perfect my craft and by 25 I will secure at least one lead role. And Then Hollywood crushed my dream like a hydraulic pump crushing a soda can.

I will be 39 next month and all I have for show is a few dozen appearances in various movies and TV shows. All as a background actor and a dead-end job in a convenience store.

I say my goodbyes to Steve and start walking towards the production minivan assigned to drop off background characters like me who don't have cars.

My life has nothing been a disappointment to me, my family, and everyone around it. My family hasn't disowned me or anything but it's evident that they lost hope for me. No one from my family hardly ever calls me anymore. I don't have a girlfriend anymore. The last time I had someone I could call a girlfriend was years ago. Who wants to date a loser like me? I don't even have enough money to own a car for god's sake.

Sometimes I think of leaving everything and living the life of a hermit. Sometimes I think of just leaping from the tallest building I can find. But I am too much of a wimp to set out for something new and too smart to consider ending it all. I know I won't have my big break in this lifetime but I can't abandon my dream.

Getting back to the apartment we share among 6 people I decide to forget my worries among bottles of cheap moonshine. Just as I sat down in front of the TV with the bottle and a glass I heard the doorbell.

As I open the door thinking one of our roommates is back I see a man in a well-tailored suit. " What do you want? Are you looking for someone?" I ask.

" Sir, can I talk to you about our lord and savior for a few moments?" The man replies with a wide smile.

I don't know what happened but I just lost it and snapped at him, "Look, do you see my apartment? Do you see how dirty this is? Look at your nice suit and look at me. Look at this neighborhood. Do you think your lord and savior have time for us losers? Fuck off"

Amazingly the guy doesn't lose his calm. He smiles at me again " I can see you are angry and not in a mood to listen to any sermon. Sir, maybe you had misfortunes in your current endeavor. Please take this and I welcome you to join us at the congregation." He hands me a leaflet. Church of the Fallen, huh what a weird name for a church.

The man starts to leave and then stops as if he remembered something "We provide free food and drinks at every congregation and a gift card of up to 50 dollars to everyone present. Do join us sometime, who knows maybe your luck will turn around. My name is Archibald. If you decide to visit us you will need to tell my name at the front gate to enter." And then he turns around and starts walking.

50 dollars in gift cards !! That's like 3 hours of me working in the store doing manual labor. " Hold on, I have some questions for you" I shout after him.

Archibald turns around " Of course Sir, what do you want to know?"

" Do you give out 50-dollar gift cards to everyone?"

" Of course, I wouldn't lie to you."

" And how long does this congregation last?" I ask him thinking maybe these congregations last a long time. Why would they have to give out gift cards to the participants? That's just weird.

" Around half an hour, maybe add another 15 minutes if you want to partake in the feast" Archibald explained to me calmly.

" And what's the frequency of these congregations? Also, can I get a gift card every time I join a congregation ?" I ask him sheepishly.

" No sir you will get the gift card only for the first time you join us at a congregation. We hold two congregations each week, it's all in the pamphlet sir. Our next congregation is within thirty minutes, would you like to join? I was just about to go back to the church, You can join me in my car if you wish. " he explained to me patiently and invited me.

I was thinking about it. Is this some kind of scam? But what can they even get from scamming someone like me?

Or maybe it's like one of those organ harvesting rings or are they going to offer me as a sacrifice or something like that?

No no that just happens in the movies, but regardless it doesn't make sense. But on the other hand, 50 dollars is 50 dollars.

Ah, fuck it. What's the worst that can happen? My life is fucked up as it is. I will just power through the sermons, eat whatever food they provide, and take the gift card.

"Yeah wait a few seconds, I will go with you," I asked him to wait and go change my shirt.

On the ride to the church, Archibald asks me about my family, if I have any girlfriends, etc. I gave him short answers, I am not sure but for a second it seemed to me that hearing about my misfortunes he was smiling.

15 minutes later we reach the church. It doesn't look like a church from the outside though. It's a two-story brick-and-mortar building. Archibald directly takes the car into the garage. From the garage, we take a staircase to the first floor where we enter a large room. It looked to me that this was a large ballroom of sorts that had been turned into some sort of church gathering room in haste. I was going to look into everything but then my eyes fell on the table at the back of the room.

Holy smokes!! There is a lot of food there. I never knew church congregations had fried chicken, fish fillets, pizzas, and meaty sandwiches as food. There are also what looked like hot pockets, burritos, chips, some sort of rice dish, a couple of different types of fish, a few desserts, etc. Are churches supposed to have this much and this many variety of food? Who knows but all I knew was that I wanted to eat everything I could see.

" looks like there's around 20 minutes till the start of the congregation. Feel free to sit wherever you like. You can also eat anything from the table if you'd like. I will go to the offices upstairs for a few minutes." Archibald left me standing there after flashing a smile at me.

I went up to the table the moment Archibald left. There were another two people at the table getting food. My first target was the sandwiches, they looked so perfect and full of stuffing. Before I knew it I finished two sandwiches and was on my third. These sandwiches were heavenly. I don't think I have ever tasted something so delicious.

" These crab sandwiches are so good, right? you should also try the beef sandwiches those are also great but have different tastes"

So these are crab sandwiches, I have never tasted crab sandwiches. These are indeed very good. How is a church feeding people expensive food like a crab sandwich? Wait, there are different types of sandwiches here? I gotta try the beef sandwich.

And then I remembered, that I am allergic to crab. Even a small piece will make me rash all over my body, and with the amount I ate, I will go into anaphylactic shock if I don't throw up very soon. I might even die! I need to throw up fast. I looked around and searched for a washroom. There was a sign pointing to a corridor with the restroom sign. I followed it to the restroom.

Once there I forced myself to throw up, it wasn't a pleasant feeling, to say the least. After some time I was able to expel everything.

By the time I freshened up and got back to the hall, I was disappointed to find people were no longer eating at the table, Instead, they were sitting in the pews and Archibald was behind the podium in a black priest's dress. I was eager to taste delicacies but once again my shitty luck reared its head. No matter, I just have to power through the sermon and then I will eat to my heart's content.

The first two rows of pew were already occupied by other people. I went to the third row and sat down. I was vaguely listening to Archibald while thinking about the food. I was also thinking about Archibald as well. He is the priest, and he is the proselytizer.

"Who knows even the cook maybe him," I thought to myself and had a chuckle. And then two things happened. First I started to have bad itches all over my body. It was like my body was on fire. In my head, I was thinking "Oh shit even though I threw up I guess my body already digested some of the crabs.

The second thing was I seemed to hear Archibald talking about our lord and father the Devil.

It's normal for a priest to talk about our lord and savior the Devil. But I hope he is done with his talking soon... Wait what is wrong with me? Why am I thinking that it's normal? I seem to not be able to think straight. Now Archibald is talking about some sacrifice ritual or something. Oh, he is so funny sometimes.

Last year on the fishing trip we got no fish because, throughout the whole trip, we were just laughing at his jokes. No, that's not right I have never seen this man before today so how can we go on a fishing trip last year? And who is this we?

We have long decided today 13th of August 2023 was the day we were going to do the sacrifice. Ah at last an end to this suffering. But what are we sacrificing again? I can't remember.

Is that an altar in the middle of the room? With pentagram and all? Where did that come from, was it here before? I am supposed to do something, but I can't remember what.

Archibald brought a tray from somewhere, he goes in front of everyone with the tray and everyone picks something from the tray. Where is mine? Why isn't he giving me?

He is here in front of me at last. Oh, its daggers on the tray. They are so cool. But my body is on fire, it's itching all over. Should I itch the itch with a dagger? Haha " itch the itch "that's so funny.

What am I supposed to do with the dagger again?