The winter air held a peculiar bite to it as it danced in the twilight, flurries pirouetting down the avenue toward Cook Inlet as the throaty rumble of an Aston Martin Vantage trickled into the ears of the listener before the sleek silver car crept into view. Turning the corner at a stoplight to come down the avenue facing the camera with a flash of the headlights, the driver slowed to a crawl in front of the neighborhood cathedral before pulling into the parking lot and idling in a space for what seemed an impossible eternity. When the driver determined enough time had passed, a door peeled back from the body of the car to reveal a woman in a black dress that hugged every curve beneath a heavy wool coat, her head covered by a mantilla of black lace and her eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses. The mantilla yielded to the street lamp as she passed beneath it, a flash of crimson hair revealing itself underneath before she turned her back to the camera to pull the heavy oak door open and made her entrance into the sanctuary. When the camera rejoined the woman again, she was shrugging her heavy wool coat from her shoulders, draping it across her lap as her hands fumbled in the pockets. Her attention was drawn upward as the partition was scrolled back, her eyebrows perking up as she pulled a pack of Marlboro Reds from her coat.

"Father, forgive me for I have sinned. It has been..."

Athena Augustine exhaled sharply as she opened the pack to withdraw her lighter and a cigarette, sticking it in her mouth as she weighed her next words carefully.

"This... is my first confession."

"My child, your name?"

A weighted silence hung in the air as Athena considered her answer before waving her hand in dismissal at the partition.

"I guess names are not important. To confess our sins, we must know what they are, child."

Athena let a current of laughter erupt from her lips as she flicked the wheel of her lighter, cupping her hand against the flame as she held it up to her unlit cigarette. She took a long draw off her cigarette as she removed the sunglasses from her face and sat them on the bench beside her, exhaling her smoke toward the floor as the corner of her mouth crooked up in amusement.

"Oh, if you knew who I am, you would know what my sins are. Father, I imagine you have more worthwhile ways to spend your evening than covering a list that is truly a sight to behold. But that's not why I'm here."

"Then what brings you to God's house, daughter?"

"There's a man, Father."

"Do you lust after him, my child?"

"That piece of groupie trash? God, n-"

"Language. Honor the Lord thy God."

"No, Father. Quite the opposite."

Athena rolled her eyes in silence as she took another draw from her cigarette, holding the smoke in her lungs as she shook her head. She exhaled a cloud through her nostrils as she stretched her jaw.

"This is what I get for being a damned insomniac with a penchant for nostalgia."

Athena took a deep breath before she sighed, leaning her head back against the wall of the confessional.

"I used to be on TV, you know, Father? Travelled the world. Performed in more places than I care to count. Built a name for myself, brought it all crashing down, rinse, lather... and repeat. But then I lost my fire and settled for being a trophy wife."

"Perhaps it's not lust of the flesh but lust of power that bothers you, child."

"Of course it is, Father. I got dragged back into this sordid mess to protect my family and risked tearing it apart again but it felt so good."

"Your obligation is to your house, to your family... obedience to your hus-"

"I'm not finished, Father. Like I was saying..."

The priest could be heard sighing from behind the partition as he shifted his weight in his seat.

"About the nostalgia. I came close to losing it all because I got dragged back into this. It scared me. And what do I do when I'm scared? I run."

Athena took another careful drag from her cigarette.

"But I ran home. I needed to not feel afraid and where better to not feel than home."

"But you cannot run from your fear forever. The Lord asked his Father to let his cup pass from Him ahead of His Passion but nevertheless, he submitted... not as he willed but as the Father willed."

"I know."

Athena stuck the cigarette back into the corner of her mouth as she sighed.

"I couldn't sleep. Everything I've done... I couldn't escape my thoughts. So I turned on the television. Maybe if I could watch something so familiar, I could calm down. Then I saw him."

"The man you spoke of, my child?"

Athena nodded silently as she took a draw and exhaled smoke.

"Nothing so hurtful as I have done... could ever keep me up at night as what he did. And I... I can't let him get away with it."

"The Lord loves a merciful heart, child."

Athena's face seemed to turn a crimson shade close to her hair color in the light of the confessional.

"He spreads lies every time he opens his mouth. Said my... friend gave him herpes and now his balls itch every time he thinks of her."

"Perhaps you should focus less on what he said and-"

"I'll focus on what I please, Father."

Silence.

"He slept with her. Out of wedlock, if you must know. Now he regrets ever sharing her bed and bringing women that share her likeness on camera to pleasure him while sullying her name. Calling her a juiced-up ring rat and saying she has weird, puffy nipples- she doesn't."

"Child, if you have abandoned your marriage for the desires of the flesh..."

Athena angrily drew from her cigarette, her eyes lit embers in her skull and her mouth downturned in a scowl as she removed the cigarette and tapped the ashes away against the bench before draping her coat over one arm.

"Father, I came here not to seek penance for something I've done."

"Then what, child?"

"I came here for forgiveness for what this man is about to make me do."

Athena pressed her lit cigarette against the partition as she stood, firmly fixed in the throes of her fury and ignoring the protests of the priest as she flung open the door of the confessional booth into the camera and the feed faded to black.