Stranger Nights

Chapter 5

Henry Baker ran through the streets of Roanoke. His house was on the other side of town. The cold wind was biting at his face and his nose was bright pink. Even so he felt warm. He couldn't help, but smile as he ran even though the fear of getting in serious trouble for staying out all night was still there.

He had made a new friend and Henry did love new things.

His cabin was just like all the other cabins in the village. Instead of one light on though all the lights were on. His parents were probably getting ready to go to church then work. Just like they had for as long as Henry could remember. He sighed and walked in.

He walked into the living room where his step-mother ,Linda Baker, was making a fruit salad for breakfast.

Fruit was just one of the many crops grown in God's Republic. They also grew vegetable, grains, and herbs for medicines. Meat on planet earth no longer existed because most animals were extinct before the sun vanished and the remaining ones died from the cold after.

When Henry's mother noticed he was there Henry prepared himself for the questions she was going to ask, but they never came.

"Good morning, Henry." She said smiling as she made the salad. Henry raised an eyebrow.

"What you aren't going to bombard me with questions?" He asked skeptically.

"Your sixteen Henry. I'm sure you can take care of yourself," she said gently, "Besides your here now, why does it matter where you've been?"

"Okay....cool." Henry said smiling that he got an easy way out. "So what's for-"

"You better go clean up. We're going to church soon." Linda said and just like that he had taken a wrong turn and wasn't on easy going lane anymore.

"But I don't go to church." Henry said to her confused that she even brought it up.

"Henry, I covered for you all last night. You owe me." She said pointing her wooden spoon at him.

"But Mom I can't just sit there and listen to Minister Elliots weird speeches. That guy creeps me out." Henry argued. Church was the place all the adults went before going to work and the place he wouldn't be caught dead in.

"Don't talk about Minister Elliot that way. What he's saying is from God. Now go get changed. I left some clothes on your bed."

"But-" before Henry could finish is father, Eddy Baker, walked into the living room.

"Good morning Henry, how was your early morning walk." He asked with a smile on his face. Linda raised her eyebrows at Henry as Eddy kissed her on the cheek. This must have been a lie she told his father to cover for him . He looked down at his feet.

"It was good." He said defeatedly and went to go get his clothes.

His mother died when Henry was six. She died from a virus. Henry didn't remember much about his mother. There were no pictures of her. When he asked his father what she had looked like he always said:
"A lot like you."
So Henry always figured she had blond hair and blue eyes just like him. Sometimes he would look in the mirror and would try to find her in his own face, it never seemed to work though.

Some days he smelled a flowery scent and had always guessed it was memories of her perfume. All the flowers were dead so it couldn't have been that. The only clear thing Henry remembered about his mother, was her smile.

His father had met Linda, who was a nurse, when Henry was eleven and married her when he was twelve. Linda quickly earned the right to be called mother. She gave him space when he needed it and kept him close when he didn't. Sometimes Henry thought she understood him better than his dad ever could.

She looked nothing like Henry had imagined his real mother had. She had brown hair, that was getting silver streaks in it as the years wore on and hazel eye's. Even though she couldn't replace his real mother, which Linda accepted, she came pretty darn close.

After Henry changed into his white button down and dark red sweater vest, he put back on his green letterman jacket.

His mother at first objected to him wearing his dusty old jacket, but soon gave in because there wasn't enough time to find a jacket that went with his church clothes.

After they walked about twenty minutes they got to the church. The church was the biggest building in Roanoke and the one that took the longest to build.

The church loomed over the village with smooth dark wood and stained glass windows. It was at the center of the small town and the adults liked to think it was the heart. The younger kids however, especially the ones who liked to hang out at Aaeesha's place feared it. To them it was an infection that was taking over people's brains. When ever they walked past it they tensed, it was as if it wasn't suppose to be there. As if it was never meant to be there. That's why most of them stayed away.

Henry was one of those people. After his parents went in he stared at the church. He first looked at the tower which had a clock on it that was illuminated by small lights behind it. Then he looked at the at the Belfrey. Then he looked at the tower with the old rusty bell inside of it. Then he looked up at the gold cross perched upon the spiral. The church was a dark brown, so dark it looked black.

'Instead of a gateway to God,' Henry thought to himself,"It looks likes a gateway to hell.'

The bell rang signaling it was time for church. Henry took a deep breath before walking through the doors under the stain glass window of Virgin Mary.

The inside of the church wasn't threatening, it was just creepy. The walls were white and the pews were made of a dull brown wood. The carpet was an ugly beige. There were two windows on either side. In the front there stood a podium where the Minister gave his preaches. On either side of that were chairs where the council members sat during village meetings. Then on the wall behind it, right in the center and way up high where everyone could see it was a crucifix.

Henry quickly found his mother and father who, unfortunately for him, were in the front row. Henry took out his inhaler and took a long breathe before sitting down. It was around that time Minister Elliott took his place at the podium.

"Welcome my children!" He said loudly so everyone could hear him. "I am glad you could all make it this fine evening. I know you are all very busy people and I and God are very proud of your strong loyalty in our beliefs!"

Henry resisted the urge to roll his eye's. The minister started his real sermon of the day.

"I know most of you here remember the sun and to most of you it's a blessing. You all think that to be able to remember the warmth of the sun, the color of the sun,and the way your eye's watered when you stared at the sun is a blessing!"

Charlotte was sitting next to Henry then. Her yellow scarf was up to her nose and her cheeks were red from the cold. When she came in Henry didn't know. Why she was there Henry didn't know, but he was glad she was because that meant he didn't have to sit through this alone.

"I'm here to tell you that it is not. It's a curse!" he bellowed, "Remembering something that can never be again can only bring darkness to pure hearts! It is best to let go and live in the world we are in now! So forget it my children! Forget the sun!"

There was a pause. Silence filled the church, but soon it was filled with applause. After awhile, the Minister motioned for them to sit quiet themselves.

"Thank you my children, I hope you take God's words to heart. Now please join me in a prayer."

Henry silently lowered his head and closed his eye's like the rest of the crowd. He grabbed his mother hand on his left and Charlotte's hand on his right.

But Henry did not pray. No he only thought about how empty Minister Elliott's eyes looked.