One and only warning: This book contains religion, catholic guilt, sex addiction, drug abuse, graphic sexual content and heavy violence. Read at your own discretion.
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"I am a priest, Anna. A child of god. You are a temptation," He whispered out, h...
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I was kissing the ground on the creaky floors of my apartment when I got back home. I almost couldn't believe that I made it home in one piece, but I did. With that being said, I called in a substitute for work for the next couple of days because I really couldn't just go back to work and act like nothing happened.
I still felt myself drowning in that lake, or hearing Nathan's horrid screams in the back of my mind. It made my stomach churn. I had heard from Michael that he was moved to the hospital in a separate car when we left the cabins.
I hadn't seen him since. I wondered if he was okay, or even alive. I had heard he was alive, but with the immense pain he was in, I wouldn't doubt it if his body had given up on him. This whole weekend was fucked.
But need not worry, they gave us a fuckin' pamphlet on how to stay close to God and how they've changed the name of the church and that we should invite our friends to come worship. I rolled my eyes, knowing I would never bring anyone to that church after what had happened. I very much doubted that I would ever go back at this point.
Gracie didn't have to say anything, I knew why her parents wanted to leave now. It made a lot of sense.
Nonetheless, I still went to Gracie's after we had gotten back and I wanted to check up on her to see if she was okay. After finding her crying in my bedroom, I couldn't help but feel like this was my fault. I had drug her to that place and it was because of me. I was the one that made her come with me.
"Are you okay?" I asked her while the warm scent of cinnamon and apples wisped across the air. Her mother was baking a apple pie, just for us. It was like a welcome home from your trip gift.
"After seeing what they did to Nathan and Michael.." She whispered shakily, her hands clutching the coffee cup tightly, "We are leaving the church for good and you should too, Anna. This isn't healthy. Things like that don't happen to people like us. It's like a fucking--a fucking cult."
The word, there it was again.
Cult.
Harry had mentioned it to me before the trip.
"Don't paint me as sheltered, but can you explain to me exactly what a cult is? I mean, I think I know, but it's a very slim grasp." I whispered back to her as I pushed my chair towards her with a sad smile on my lips.
"Oh, Anna..." Gracie chuckled out, shaking her head softly at me as she took my hands, "A cult is simple manipulation. Going after the weak that are easily influenced. They are weak, yeah? So what makes you think they aren't gonna stick to a group of people that tell them otherwise?"
"But if that's true, then why would they punish us like that? Those people surely won't come back after what happened, right? There has to be an explanation." I frowned. It didn't make sense. Those people should have been afraid of what happened, but instead they were opening to it. It was like a warm invitation to a fuckin' dinner and those people were going one by one into their punishment.
