Day of Dread, Part Twenty-Three

Continued from Part Twenty-Two

Snyder awoke and grasped his head. It felt like it was about to split in two. Snyder cursed. He sat up and buried his face in his hands.

Once the dizziness subsided, he looked up. He was in an old-fashioned doctor’s office.

In strolled an auburn-haired man wearing the odd combination of a kilt, a sweat shirt, and a lab coat. “I see you’re awake.”

Snyder groaned. Talking hallucinations.

The redhead said, “The pain you’re feeling is a good thing. It means you’re alive. You almost weren’t after last night.”

“I wasn’t?”

“You had a rather severe case of alcohol poisoning, but God healed you.”

Snyder rubbed his temples. “If God healed me, why do I have the headache?”

“To remind you not to do something so stupid. The bartender said you’d gone through two bottles of Scotch. You might as well have been drinking arsenic.”

“If it’ll help me forget.”

“I suspect a young man as brilliant as you will find that pretty hard.”

Snyder peered closer. “Hey, I was here a few months ago! You’re Dr. McIntyre. How’s the new security software going?”

“Fine, and please, call me Brother Kael.”

“I’m no brother to you.”

“Then I take it man has let you down, and you’re walking away from God?”

“It’s not just a man. It’s the Church.”

“That’s a shame.” Kael hesitated. “I can help you find a new church.”

Snyder laughed. Kael probably could; his folks deserved the credit for half the protestant Christian “terror cells” in existence. “You might as well ask me to find a new God. The Catholic church is the Church.”

“So you’ll punish the entire denomination because of one man?”

“If you want to view it that way, fine.”

“And you’re either you’re a Catholic or—”

“A heathen.” Which Protestants called him already. “And this heathen is leaving.”

“You friend John McGraw will be here in a couple minutes.”

“Fine, but no more religious talk. I thank you for saving me. You’re a good doctor. But I’m done with God.”

“But he’s not done with you, Snyder. Go your way, but our Father will call you home.”

Continued Next Thursday

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