~✧Where the Light Falls Wrong✧~
Tags: protective!Jud, wife blaming, this man is trash, we all cheered for the punch
The rectory had become unbearable. Too quiet.
Too still. Too full of things that refused to leave. Jud had tried. Tried to read. Tried to pray. Tried to let the silence settle the way it always had.
Every room felt occupied. Not by presence, but by memory.
The bar wasn’t far. Low lights. Muted conversations. The kind of place where no one looked too closely at anyone else. Jud stood in the doorway for a moment longer than necessary, the low hum of voices and clinking glasses spilling into the street before he finally stepped inside. It smelled like old wood and spilled beer. Something warm beneath it all.
He had been there before. Not often, but enough. When he stepped inside, the bar was louder than he remembered. Not in a way that overwhelmed, not enough to drown anything out, but just enough to blur the edges of thought, to soften what would otherwise sit too sharply in his mind.
That was why he had come. Not for the drink, but for the noise. For something that didn’t feel like silence pressing in on him from all sides.
Donna, the owner, noticed him the second he stepped in. Mid-fifties, sharp eyes, sharper tongue. The kind of woman people mistook for rough until they stayed long enough to notice the way she remembered names. Orders. Stories.
“Look what the wind dragged in,” she said, wiping a glass with a cloth that had seen better days. “Didn’t think I’d see you tonight.”
Jud offered a faint smile, already shrugging off his jacket.
He didn’t answer that. Didn’t need to. Donna didn’t push, she never did. Instead, she poured him something without asking. Set the glass in front of him with a quiet thud.
“On the house,” she said. “You look like you need it.”
He glanced at it, then at her.
“Your secret’s safe with me, Father.”
The word secret lingered longer than it should have. Jud took the glass and took a long sip. The burn was immediate. Unfamiliar, but grounding.
For a while, they talked about nothing. Weather. Regulars. The same easy rhythm that came from not wanting to talk about anything that mattered. His gaze drifted, almost absentmindedly, to the corner. The shrine was still there. Candles half-burnt. A photograph. A poetry book. A vinyl. Two names carved into wood with care that hadn’t dulled over time. He remembered the night she told him. The way her voice had softened. The way it had broken, just slightly. People carry things, he had thought then, even the tougher ones. They always do.
“You see that guy over there?”
Donna’s voice pulled him back. He followed her gaze. At first, nothing stood out. Just a group. Early thirties, maybe. Drinks in hand. Loud laughter. A couple of women leaning into the conversation, one of them throwing her head back as she laughed. Nothing extraordinary.
Donna tilted her chin slightly.
Jud narrowed his eyes just slightly. Then he saw him. The man stood out. His hand resting on one of the girls’ waist. His mouth brushing too near to her earlobe. Jud didn't know why but something about it felt… off.
“What about him?” he asked, frowning faintly.
Donna’s voice cut through quietly, leaning just slightly closer across the bar, like she was sharing something not meant for the whole room.
“He’s married.” The words dropped casually. “And of course that's not his wife. A shame, really,” Donna added, quieter now. “His wife’s lovely. Quiet girl. Bit shy. New in town, I think, though he grew up here apparently.”
Something in Jud stilled.
“She came only once, but I have met her sometimes at the bakery.” Donna continued. “Always polite. Always smiling.” A pause. “A good girl.”
And there it was. Not loud. Not sudden. Just click. The pieces slid into place with a quiet certainty that made something deep in his chest tighten. New in town. The smile. The quiet. The way you held yourself like you were always trying not to take up too much space.
Jud’s hand stilled around his almost empty glass. For a moment, he didn’t move. Didn’t think. Didn’t breathe. Then, he set the glass down.
Donna watched him. “Hey, Father-” but she didn’t stop him.
Jud crossed the room slowly. Not rushed. Not aggressive. Measured. Controlled. Until he reached the table. The man - David, he was sure now - didn’t notice him at first. Too busy laughing. Too busy leaning into something that wasn’t his.
Jud stood there for a second. Looking at him, close enough to see it clearly now. The laugh. The lean. The hand. Wrong.
The man looked up. Confusion flickering across his face.
“Yeah?” he said. Jud held his gaze.
“Does your wife know how you behave when she’s not around?" His voice was calm. Too calm. Maybe it was the alcohol loosening something he usually kept tight.
David looked confused at first, then annoyed.
“What the hell are you talking about, dude?”
Up close, it was worse. The alcohol. The carelessness. The complete absence of anything resembling guilt.
“You should have more respect,” Jud said quietly. “For what you have at home.”
A beat. Then he stepped back and turned, ready to leave. But then, the voice came. Loud. Cocky. Drunken. Breaking through the room like it didn’t belong to anything decent.
“Oh, you mean my perfect little wifey?”
Jud stilled, but didn’t turn. David laughed.
“Yeah… she’s real good at playing that part.” Another voice tried to interrupt. It didn’t matter, he continued: “Maybe if she actually did what she’s supposed to-” he went on, slurring slightly, careless. “If she complied with her duties as a wife…”
Something inside Jud snapped.
“…maybe then I wouldn’t have to look elsewhere.”
Silence didn’t fall. It shattered. Jud turned, too fast, something in his chest rising, sharp and violent and impossible to contain. He didn’t think. Didn’t choose. Didn’t hesitate. His fist connected with David’s jaw with a force that shocked even him, the crack of it cutting through the noise of the bar in a way that silenced everything else.
The chair tipped. Glasses rattled. Voices rose. Someone shouted. But Jud just stood there. Breathing hard. His hand still half-curled like it hadn’t caught up with what it had done, the echo of it still running through his arm. Through his chest. Through everything.
David groaned, half-dazed, hand flying to his face.
“What the hell! You’re insane!”
Maybe. Maybe he was. Because this wasn’t what he was supposed to do. This wasn’t who he was supposed to be.
And yet… it had felt right. For one single, terrible moment, it had felt right.
David tried to stood up and fight back, but he was stopped by a couple of his friends. “Dude, that's the local priest” reached Jud's ears but he barely absorbed the words. He continued looking at David.
And all Jud could see wasn't him… it was you.
Taglist: @quietly-kept @sidelit