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alice_darvilThe Last Hour
Fandom: Miller’s Crossing (movie)
Character: Verna Bernbaum
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Words: ~450
Praised is His name, whose glorious kingdom for ever and ever
Heaven could wait, was what she would have said most days. Her grandmother had been religious, and look where it got her. Survival was Verna’s game.
But all that day, she had felt an odd yen she couldn’t account for. When Leo left for the club, she promised to be along in a jiff. Instead she found herself slipping into the synagogue with a few others, mostly old ladies who didn’t have the legs for the full service. Just in time for the Ne’ilah. The last hour of Yom Kippur. Last chance for atonement.
We have been guilty, we have betrayed
Why did she suddenly feel like dirt? She was the one who had been betrayed. Her and Bernie. She had always known Tom for a son of a bitch, but she had been gutted to learn just how heartless he was. Liar. Double-crosser. Murderer. He stank like a rotten egg, all right, and the memory of him touching her made her sick.
We have spoken falsely
Except she still dreamed of him, sometimes, dark and handsome and a little bit brutal. Dreams that came back to her now not in images but in feelings. She shuddered.
Bernie, she thought, with a sudden stab of pain. The one constant in her life, gone now. Atonement … How could she ever make it up to him? He was dead.
The man responsible for her brother’s death, and she dreamed of him.
We have scoffed, we have rebelled
But she was a married woman now, doing her best to live a decent life. Was it possible to find forgiveness in God? Memories from earliest childhood were swimming up from forgotten places, of their Bubbe taking them to the service, her childish prayers and confessions. I told lies, I fought with my brother. And then a sense of happiness, like a white light in her heart.
We have gone astray, we have been led astray, we have turned away
But maybe the white light was something a screwy little kid would imagine, and those had been penny-ante sins, anyway. She’d learned a lot since then. She’d done what she had to.
The Lord is God
Her mind had been wandering, but she came back to the present with a jolt as she realized the service was almost over.
The Lord is God, the Lord is God
Tears sprang into her eyes as desperation took hold of her.
The Lord is God, the Lord is God, the Lord is God
Inwardly she struggled to find the light again, but found only a writhing darkness.
The Lord is God
No, please, she thought. Then the shofar sounded and the gates of heaven closed.
Written for![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
dailyprompt "atonement."
Fandom: Miller’s Crossing (movie)
Character: Verna Bernbaum
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Words: ~450
Praised is His name, whose glorious kingdom for ever and ever
Heaven could wait, was what she would have said most days. Her grandmother had been religious, and look where it got her. Survival was Verna’s game.
But all that day, she had felt an odd yen she couldn’t account for. When Leo left for the club, she promised to be along in a jiff. Instead she found herself slipping into the synagogue with a few others, mostly old ladies who didn’t have the legs for the full service. Just in time for the Ne’ilah. The last hour of Yom Kippur. Last chance for atonement.
We have been guilty, we have betrayed
Why did she suddenly feel like dirt? She was the one who had been betrayed. Her and Bernie. She had always known Tom for a son of a bitch, but she had been gutted to learn just how heartless he was. Liar. Double-crosser. Murderer. He stank like a rotten egg, all right, and the memory of him touching her made her sick.
We have spoken falsely
Except she still dreamed of him, sometimes, dark and handsome and a little bit brutal. Dreams that came back to her now not in images but in feelings. She shuddered.
Bernie, she thought, with a sudden stab of pain. The one constant in her life, gone now. Atonement … How could she ever make it up to him? He was dead.
The man responsible for her brother’s death, and she dreamed of him.
We have scoffed, we have rebelled
But she was a married woman now, doing her best to live a decent life. Was it possible to find forgiveness in God? Memories from earliest childhood were swimming up from forgotten places, of their Bubbe taking them to the service, her childish prayers and confessions. I told lies, I fought with my brother. And then a sense of happiness, like a white light in her heart.
We have gone astray, we have been led astray, we have turned away
But maybe the white light was something a screwy little kid would imagine, and those had been penny-ante sins, anyway. She’d learned a lot since then. She’d done what she had to.
The Lord is God
Her mind had been wandering, but she came back to the present with a jolt as she realized the service was almost over.
The Lord is God, the Lord is God
Tears sprang into her eyes as desperation took hold of her.
The Lord is God, the Lord is God, the Lord is God
Inwardly she struggled to find the light again, but found only a writhing darkness.
The Lord is God
No, please, she thought. Then the shofar sounded and the gates of heaven closed.
Written for
dailyprompt "atonement."