THE REVEREND POE
He was born Samuel Poe. The only child to William and Rebecca Poe. They seemed to be a very quiet, modest family from the outside, but within the walls of the Poe home it was a living nightmare. Mental and physical abuse was a very common occurrence in the Poe home, and Samuel was all too used to the bruises on his back. When Samuel was ten, upon returning home from the ol’ fishing hole, he was met by the local sheriff who told him there had been an accident on the farm and his mother Rebecca was injured horribly. From what he was told, it was due to her falling from the upper level of the barn where she had broken her neck. As the details were explained to Samuel his father would not look him in the eyes. Samuel knew that his Father killed his mother, as he had threatened to do so many times before. Scared that the same may happen to him, Samuel never spoke a word of it.
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They took his mother to The Parker House Funeral Home, where her body would be prepared to be laid to rest. It was there that he first saw her… Little Mary Parker. She approached Samuel and took his hand, “Come on, I want to show you something,” she said. She led him to the embalming room, where on the table was the body of a teen who was killed a few days before in a car accident. His body was mangled and almost unrecognizable. Mary stood next to the body and giggled, “He’s awfully funny looking now isn’t he?” She poked at the body with her finger and smiled as the blood oozed from his wounds. It was just then Mary’s father called out to her. “I have to go” she said. “Can you come back again and we can play some more?” Samuel shook his head yes, and both children ran from the room.
As time went on Samuel and Mary became closer and closer, and being that Samuel did not attend any school, Mary become his only friend. To escape the ongoing abuse of his father, he would spend nearly every day with Mary Parker. They would share their deepest thoughts and secrets and promised to always be there for one another. On Samuel’s fourteenth birthday he was sitting in his living room when his father stormed in from a night of drinking in town. “Samuel!” he shouted, “Where were you this afternoon? I bet you were off with that filthy Parker freak!! That girl, is the devil. She’s just like your Mother…. pure trash!!!”
Samuel’s fists clenched in rage as his father stumbled throughout the kitchen. Samuel’s eyes darkened and the world began to slow down. He walked into the kitchen and looked his father in the eyes. “What? Are you gonna cry?” his father said. Samuel calmly said “No, not anymore,” and before his father could even respond, the knife went into his side. Samuel repeatedly stabbed his father over and over, until his last breath left his body. Samuel then walked over to the phone and called the Sheriff. With no emotion he said,” My daddy is dead, I killed him."
Samuel was admitted into the Ratliff Sanitarium, where he would sink deeper and deeper into his madness. Samuel would pass the time reading all he could about religion and sin. Staff gave him the nickname “Reverend,” as he would constantly babble his religious rhetoric, and would often lead sermons in the hallways late into the night. He would often have violent episodes when his motives were questioned or anyone was to ever speak ill of any members of the Parker home. He would often find himself defending the name as rumors of their failing business would grow.
When Samuel turned twenty-one he was eligible for release, and was deemed rehabilitated with his new found spiritual being, and when he walked out the doors, at the bottom of the steps, through the rays of sunshine stood Mary.
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t Samuel Poe.”
“What am I supposed to do now?” Samuel said.
“Well, you always have a home at the Parker House, Samuel.” Mary extended her hand. Samuel slowly walked down the steps of the sanitarium leaned into Mary and whispered, “Call me Reverend.”
“Well, Reverend, come on, we have got a lot of work to do.”
The Reverend stood by Mary's side for the many years to follow. Until the fateful night when Mary was taken from him and the home she loved. The Reverend vowed to help Mary return to her rightful place and will do whatever it takes to make that happen. No matter how many have to suffer, Mary will walk these halls again.