A Saturnalia Miracle

I hope everyone enjoys my submission for the Winter Holidays Story Contest 2025!

This one is a little dark. It's about a woman who is compelled to degrade herself and watches her life fall apart. If you're sensitive to that kind of thing, this is your warning. I tried to add appropriate tags, but I think some people don't check those.

-=-=-= PROLOGUE : SUNDAY =-=-=-

It wasn't a sincere prayer. She wasn't desperate or in need. She wasn't inspired by the divine. She wasn't searching for guidance.

Kelly was going through the motions. She came from a religious family, married a religious man, and kept religious customs. She prayed because it was the thing to do. So she knelt in a church in early December and prayed.

"Oh Lord, please give me patience and understanding. Everyone in the neighborhood seems to be fine with my new neighbors, Frank and Thomas, and their sodomite lifestyle. Please grant me the forbearance to tolerate their sinful ways.

"Lord, I know and everybody else knows that Theresa, my husband's sister, has been sleeping around on her husband. I pray for the strength to bite my tongue and withhold judgment.

"And Lord, with the holidays coming I pray for your grace and charity to shine through me so that I may give of myself to help those in need. Amen."

"I hear your prayers, barbed and venomous as they are," a rich and resonant voice said. Kelly looked up to see a slight, pale wisp of a man wrapped in an ivory-and-gold robe. The carriage and presence of this man was somehow more than human. Kelly felt awe and reverence reverberate through her skeleton.

"Who are you?" Kelly asked, afraid she already knew the answer.

"I am a traveler from a distant land. The God Who Comes, they used to call me. I was twice-born, dead and returned. This holiday you look forward to is mine, no matter that it was originally named for the father of my father."

"My Lord?" She could not keep the disbelief from her voice. "Is it really you?"

The pale man turned, following her gaze to a crucifix on the far wall. He turned back to her with a chuckle.

"Not quite. I was old when the story of that one was first written." His voice was rich and dark like old wine. "I say that one, but the idol before which you genuflect is a copy of a copy of a copy. Besides, you have no real faith in him. I'm closer to the object of your worship than anything that idol represents."

"Why have you come to me, My Lord?" Kelly wondered if she could run or hide, but was too terrified to try.

"A God answers prayers from time to time," he replied haughtily. "If you don't actually want them answered, well..." The man gave an absent shrug. "Let's just say that I've always loved theater."

"I don't... I didn't ask for anything..." Kelly tried to understand if she was being punished, and why.

"I'll give you one chance to be absolved before I give you exactly what you asked for. All you have to do is partake of my sacrament. Drink of my blood." He extended a hand that held a goblet of wine. Kelly was sure his hand had been empty a second ago.

Kelly took the goblet tentatively with two shaking hands. She took a small sip, and found the wine tasted like the essence of summer.

"Eat of my flesh." The man tugged at his robe and it disappeared as though it had never been there. Kelly found herself at eye-level with a flaccid penis that was smaller than she expected.

"Wait," Kelly spat hastily as she pushed herself back. "You want me to..."

The man gave a thin, reedy laugh. "I only offer you a choice of how you will honor me." He crossed his arm over his body, somehow pulling his robe back into place. "When this is all over, I'm sure you'll realize it would have been easier to take the sacrament."

Kelly opened her mouth, but found there was nobody to talk to. A glance around the mostly-empty church showed her that nobody else could possibly have seen what she had. She rushed out, trying to convince herself that she had imagined it.

-=-=-= PART ONE : MONDAY =-=-=-

Kelly slept late the following morning. By the time she woke her husband, Kevin, was gone, no doubt at work. She was sure that her vision of the man at the church had been entirely in her head. She considered calling her doctor, but was worried she would refer Kelly to a shrink. Kelly didn't come from the kind of family that sees shrinks.

As she luxuriated in her bed Kelly felt a tingle of arousal, in a lazy unfocused way. It wasn't uncommon for her these days - her husband hadn't touched her in months. She looked at the wedding photo she kept on her nightstand, feeling a dull, well-worn anger and contempt.

In the photo she was eighteen and Kevin was thirty. Back then he had been so relentless in his pursuit, and she could refuse and deflect like a good woman should. Now that she was in her mid twenties and Kevin was nearing forty, he seemed to mostly give up and redirect his efforts into his infuriating hobbies. She was humiliated to think Kevin would choose to spend his time on woodworking or cultivating pepper plants when he could be spending that time seducing his wife.

Kelly briefly touched herself, but it was no use. She thought she must not be in the right mood to enjoy herself. She checked the time and sighed when she saw that it wasn't time for her yoga class yet. She was happy to be a housewife, but with a cleaning service, a personal chef, and no children she found that her biggest challenge was finding ways to fill her days.

Kelly made another attempt to pleasure herself, as much to kill time as to fill any need. She conjured a fantasy about David, her yoga instructor. She had heard rumors about other women she knew having affairs with him, but she wasn't sure whether they were true or just bored, idle gossip.

She thought about the way he looked at her and the way he would touch her when he corrected her form. She thought of herself as a good woman who would reject him if he made an advance, but she found herself yearning for him to make that advance.

Even with the image of David in her head Kelly couldn't get herself into the mood. Her arousal was buried somewhere deep inside of her, and she couldn't seem to access it. She sighed and changed into a workout outfit, at a loss for what else to do.

*****

Kelly returned home in a foul mood. David had paid more attention to a woman named Aisha than he had to her, even though she was sure she looked good. She regarded herself in her full-length mirror.

She pulled her bleached blonde hair from its sporty bun and let it fall in waves over her shoulders. She wondered if her hair had too much volume, but thought she still looked better with it down. She compared the face she saw in the mirror to the one in her wedding photo and wondered why she didn't still look like she had.

She stripped off her sports bra and scrutinized her breasts. They looked smaller than they had been then. They had started to droop for sure. Her nipples were the size, shape, and color of pencil erasers. They had always been prominent, but now that they pointed down and not up she felt more self conscious about them.

She turned sideways to regard her ass. Her hips were wider than they had been in her wedding photo. In a fit of nostalgia a year before, she had tried to put on her wedding dress, but it had been a doomed effort. These days it took constant effort and willpower to keep her ass from growing larger than she would have preferred. She frowned at herself, not sure if all the dieting that had deflated her breasts was worth it when her ass was still as round and wide as it was. She sighed, noting that at least her stomach was flat and there was a subtle but noticeable definition to her abs.

In the shower, Kelly found her gnawing pit of arousal was still there. Her nipples were sensitive, and the pressure of the water on her skin felt almost like a lover's caress. She leaned against the wall of the shower and slid a hand between her legs.

Kelly growled with frustration as her body failed to respond. She could feel her own touch, but it completely failed to stimulate her.

Kelly rushed through the rest of her shower. She was thorough, but hurried. She was soaping up her backside, and when her soapy fingers rubbed her asshole she felt her knees buckle. She almost collapsed from the intensity of the sensation. She steadied herself and her mind raced to find some explanation.

After a minute her curiosity overcame her. Kelly soaped her hand back up and reached behind herself. She pressed the tip of her middle finger to her asshole and felt it yield slightly. She didn't dare insert more than the very tip of her finger, but found the same rush of sensation. She wiggled the fingertip slightly and felt herself quiver in her core.

Kelly withdrew her finger and washed her hands a dozen times before she finished her shower. She turned off the water and stood silent for a minute, slowly dripping. She was a grown woman, and she knew her body. She had never felt like this before. This shouldn't be possible.

She walked out and toweled herself off. Was there actually something wrong with her? How and why would her body be changing like this?

Something looked odd in the steam-fogged mirror. She picked up a hand towel and wiped it clear for a better look. In the mirror she saw herself standing in front of the man she had met at church. He pushed her mirror-self forward somewhat roughly, and she caught herself on the edge of the sink. Her mirror-self sank lower, as if the man was pulling her backwards by her hips.

In the mirror, Kelly saw her reflection bite her lip and her green eyes grow wide. The mirror-Kelly's body shook and her arms trembled as she was repeatedly shoved forward and allowed to drift back in a rhythmic manner.

Kelly spun around. She was sure that nobody was in the bathroom with her, but desperately needed to make sure. When she turned back to the mirror she only saw her own shocked and confused face staring back at her.

*****

"I just don't see why it's such a big deal if Thomas wants to join our book club," Christy said with a flip of her bleached hair.

"Because this is supposed to be a space for just us women. I don't think we should be allowing a man to invade women's spaces, even if he is gay," Kelly replied.

"Oh come on," Christie retorted. "We had drinks the other night and talked about decorating, hair removal, and sucking dick. He's already more fun to have around than half of the women in our book club."

Kelly wrinkled her nose. She could tell she wasn't going to get her way in this conversation, so she decided to change the subject. "Did you hear about Angela and the yoga instructor?"

"No, but I did hear about Angela and her husband's family's lawyer," Christy said conspiratorially.

"No! What did they do?"

"Apparently she wasn't allowed to know what was in his family's trust. I guess there was something in their pre-nup," Christy explained. "Well, she became convinced that he had a secret mistress, and he was paying for her apartment out of the family trust to keep it hidden from her. So she went to the attorney's house late one night and convinced him to let her see the books."

"Oh my god," Kelly said with equal parts disgust and delight. "And was it true? Did he have a mistress?"

"No!" Christy exclaimed with a giggle. "When he said he had been working late all those nights, it's because he was actually working late. She just got bored waiting at home and let her imagination run away with her."

Kelly sobered slightly. "Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever imagined things?"

"I think so. It was a long time ago," Christie responded distantly. "I was convinced Eric was having an affair with one of his students. This was before I got my nose job and had my tits done, so I was pretty insecure."

"What did you do?" Kelly leaned forward, hoping for some insight.

"That's when we started role-playing," Christie said with a sly smirk. "I dressed up like a schoolgirl and let him keep me in detention."

"Oh," Kelly responded, feeling deflated.

"Then I caught him checking out the maid, so I had to get a maid costume. I pretended I was just trying to dust the bookshelves until he decided he had to have me," Christy continued. "We joke that he only had kidney stones because he was trying to get me into a nurse outfit."

"Sounds like you have a pretty good sex life," Kelly said, mostly to stop herself from frowning.

Christy shrugged. "It saved our marriage. We were both pretty unhappy, only we didn't realize it."

Kelly chewed on her lip thoughtfully.

-=-=-= PART TWO : TUESDAY =-=-=-

The next morning Kelly woke up with her pillow between her legs. She was humping it vigorously and moaning. She became aware of herself and her surroundings, and was relieved to find she was alone in her bed.

She was filled with a ravenous need. She explored herself with her fingers, playing with her clit and digging in her sopping wet pussy. Her touch did nothing for her arousal. Kelly whined in frustration.

She stripped and walked into the shower with a feeling of defeat. She worked her fingertip into her asshole with a mix of disgust and excitement. It felt wonderfully delicious, but also painful as she tugged at her own sensitive sphincter. She lathered her finger with soap and tried again.

She shivered with relief as her finger slid in to the second knuckle. There was also a considerable amount of discomfort. She focused on breathing and relaxing, on not fighting it. When she was relaxed enough to start working her finger back and forth, she squeezed in a second finger and nearly collapsed from ecstacy.

She was full in a way that made her feel complete and at peace. She tried to work her pair of fingers in and out of her ass, but she was too tight and didn't have enough leverage.

After a long while she pulled her fingers out and finished her shower. She spent the next few hours moving from room to room listlessly. She tried to read and couldn't focus. She tried to watch TV and caught herself with her hand inside her pajama pants, with her thumb ineffectually rubbing at her clit and her middle finger painfully intruding into her unlubricated asshole.

Kelly grabbed her purse and sunglasses and rushed out to her car. She remembered seeing an adult store on the side of the highway and spent the better part of an hour finding it. She nearly crashed a dozen times when she couldn't stop touching herself, but somehow made it.

Kelly walked the aisles in her oversized sunglasses, pajamas, and bare feet. She was horrified to think of where she was, but titillated by the possibilities each product offered. She bit her finger to stop her hand from drifting into her pants.

Kelly piled a double-armful of items on the counter. She felt rage and shame at the amused smirk on the cashier's face. She tried to storm off to her car with her shopping bag, but found her bare feet too tender to stomp on the asphalt of the parking lot.

In her car she pulled out a shiny black dildo the length and diameter of her forearm and looked at it with awe. She opened a bottle of lube and squeezed it over the dildo until it dripped on her upholstery. She wiggled her pants down to her mid-thighs and bent herself over her car's center console.

She lined the dildo up with her asshole. She braced for pain and pushed.

Nothing happened.

She pushed again, but the dildo wasn't close to going in. Her ass wasn't anywhere close to accepting it.

With a sigh, Kelly tore into a box of four black silicone butt plugs. They were successively larger in size, and the box stated that they were intended for training. She lubed up and inserted the smallest one. It felt slightly uncomfortable on its way in, but the feeling went away immediately. She felt it a bit, but it wasn't enough.

Kelly replaced it with the second smallest plug. This one made her feel more pleasantly full. She was more aware of it in her body. She wrinkled her nose at the plug she had pulled out. Kelly had no idea what to do with it. She threw it onto the floor and quickly lost it on the black floor mat.

Kelly reached back to play with the butt plug she was wearing, pulling it slowly out to savor the feeling of being expanded and letting it slide back in to savor the relief.

She dug in her bag for a shiny silver vibrator. She scanned the packaging to figure out how it might work, then twisted the base. Nothing happened. She twisted the base bank and forth several times, until she somehow twisted it off and saw the empty battery compartment.

She continued to dig in her bag and produced another vibrator. This one was a silicone-coated lozenge that was designed to be inserted. It had a rechargeable battery, and when Kelly tested it she found it came with a charge.

She inserted the lozenge and started to touch herself. She worked the butt plug back and forth with one hand and rubbed small circles around her clit with the other while the lozenge vibrated inside of her dripping pussy.

For the first time she felt like she was getting somewhere. With agonizing slowness she could feel her body respond. The desire that had been gnawing at the pit of her stomach started to unfold, building and building.

There was a sharp tap on her window. Kelly looked back to see a middle-aged woman glaring at her and shaking her head. Kelly sat back in her seat with a sudden flush as she realized what she had been doing.

The vibrating lozenge and the butt plug kept Kelly's libido manageable for the ride home. It was distracting, but she found that she could focus on the sensation and reposition her legs to get the same stimulation she got from touching herself on the drive there.

When she arrived at her house she saw her husband's car in the driveway. She fought down the urge to curse and kept driving. She parked behind a gas station and tried to think.

She had no reasonable story for why she was out in her pajamas or where she could have been. She was sure the smell of her wet pussy clung to her like a cloud. She could see a white crust where her juices had dried in the front of her pants.

She desperately needed to shower and change. She needed to sneak into the shower without him noticing. Should she park her car up the block so he didn't notice her in the driveway? Or was that only going to be one more thing she couldn't explain?

Kelly pulled the toys out of herself and dropped them back into the bag. She searched the floor and found her other used butt plug. She tried to pick it up by the base, but somehow got her finger slick with unclean lube.

She pulled up her pants and got out of the car so she could throw everything in the trunk. She drove home and parked in the driveway. She counted to twenty, trying unsuccessfully to calm her nerves. She walked slowly around the house to peer through the sliding door that led in from the bank yard.

Nobody was in the living room. Kelly slowly opened the door, trying to make no noise. She crept gingerly, slowly settling her weight with each step to avoid creaking floorboards.

When she snuck past the door to the basement she heard loud music and the intermittent sound of power tools. Kelly breathed a sigh of relief.

It occurred to her later, in the shower, after she had given up her futile attempt to masturbate, that he couldn't have avoided noticing her coming home any more completely if he had been trying.

-=-=-= PART THREE : WEDNESDAY =-=-=-

Kelly woke up touching herself. She didn't know what to do with the viscous slime she found on her fingers. She wiped it on the leg of her pajama pants, peeled them off, used them to wipe at her achingly wet pussy, then threw them into a corner of her bedroom.

She walked downstairs bottomless in only a thin T-shirt. She was already retrieving her bag from the trunk of her car before she even thought about whether the neighbors could see her. She looked around nervously and hurried back into her house.