God is Dead

Abstract

‘What do you think really happened?’ he [Dyer] asked softly. ‘As a nonbeliever. Do you think she was really possessed?’

‘No,’ she [Rosemary] said, ‘no,’ the knife hanging at her side.

‘No. It can’t be. No.’

‘Go look at His hands,’ Minnie said. ‘And His feet.’

‘And His tail,’ Laura-Louise said.

‘And the buds of His horns,’ Minnie said.

‘Oh God,’ Rosemary said.

‘God’s dead,’ Roman said.

She turned to the bassinet, let fall the knife, turned back to the watching coven. ‘Oh God!’ she said and covered her face. ‘Oh God!’ And raised her fists and screamed to the ceiling: ‘Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!’

‘God is DEAD!’ Roman thundered. ‘God is dead and Satan lives! The year is One, the first year of our Lord! The year is One, God is done! The year is One, Adrian’s begun!’

(Ira Levin, Rosemary’s Baby, 1967)