The Burning

Chapter 2

        August and I sat for what felt like hours connecting dots on who went missing and when. "Well, Betty went missing right after she found out about James. Betty will be in some serious trouble with the ladies in black if she ever were to return. She would get more than a ruler." I had never seen such worry fill a person's eyes. I couldn't even begin to imagine what Betty would go through.
"Where do you think they all would be hidden and by who?" I stared intently into Aug's eyes. Her eyes paced back and forth like a pinball trying to find a reason as to why someone in a heavily religious borough would do such a heinous crime.
"Why isn't the church getting involved? Could they be a factor?" August began to rock back and forth. I spun my head around to assure nobody had listened in before signaling her to take her volume down a notch for what I was gonna say next.
"I think everyone who went missing has had a sin that was not forgiven." August's eyes widened before she sprung her hand towards my arm and hit me. It was very heavily against the church to believe they could wish harm upon us, the man above only could do so. It's hard to feel real some days when you are surrounded by people who believed someone is higher than the clouds controlling each and every move of ours like a puppet. How could a man so important wish harm upon us? I knew it was against the church, but I simply couldn't wrap my brain around a man being higher than me wishing for me to get beat with rulers for every wrongdoing that he "forces" me to do.
"You are not against the church, are you Marj?" She stuttered when she spoke and leaned away from me as she feared me. I shook my head no but the girl in my head wanted to say yes with every bit of me. She pounded her fists on the walls of my brain, she was trapped in a mindset forced upon her since the moment she could walk. August broke a smile across her face and lit up as she felt united with me. I had to change the topic before I said something I wouldn't be able to take back.
"Do you think we can get out of hall early and sit in the square?" My legs shook out of weariness as I stood from the ground. I reached my hand down and pulled Aug up as she slid her hands down her skirt to push the wrinkles out of the material. She nods her head and we made way out of study hall to the passage out. Following a narrower path to the square where kids our age and younger sat to play and converse. The sisters sat around on wooden chairs while the others set up chairs in rows in front of the stage.
"That is weird, what use could the row of chairs have?" August pointed while I was looking at my hands yet again. I could see veins and I had fingerprints on my fingers. I was real and this made me feel such. I turned my head up and acknowledged the rows that sat before me. One sister held a stack of blank papers before rushing down the narrow path to the school. I felt the urge to follow her, she didn't look like she was up to much of anything that could be good. I kept it to myself waiting for August to suggest it, she didn't though.
"Do you think the man above had Liam, Betty, and James sent to purgatory?" I instantly had no idea why she would even suggest that. It hit me at that moment, earlier I had suggested they had unforgiven sins.
"Well I would like to believe the man above is protecting them and they haven't reached that point yet." My heart ached and longed to be in the presence of them again. It hurts to think such thoughts but I can't help but blame the ideals we were taught were normal is the reason they are in this mess, to begin with. These ideals are the whole reasons I never feel real anymore. I can't feel my limbs and I am sweltering like the sun is beating down on me with a thousand degrees. I seek desperation in the people around me, I am silently pleading for help. August always agreed with me and in my personal opinion, I was all she had. She was all I had.
"How do you always think so positively?" August smirked and then leaned her head on my shoulder. What I really wanted to tell her was I didn't, I just needed to be convincing enough. I just grinned and chuckled. Was the love August and I have for each other a sign that I was real too? Did she love me as I did her?
"We should go back up to the study hall, I forgot my pouch up there." I secretly wanted to find the sister who was up to no good. Aug hopped and started walking. I took this as a yes, I stood and ran to catch up.
"Hey! Wait for me!" I nearly caught her when I felt a sense of reality-bending again. I felt hot and restricted. I felt dehydrated as if I had roasted in the sun for days at a time. It slowed me, I had no energy. That's when I collapsed.
I woke up face first in the ground, Aug had her hands under me attempting to roll me over. I was now conscious and could do so myself. For a tiny moment, I had felt like I was in an alternate reality, now I had returned back to reality. I hopped up to my feet and kept walking. August didn't ask any questions like usual. I could tell she worried about me but I was all she had. We entered the schoolhouse and I walked in circles before picking a hallway.
"Are you looking for something? The study hall is this way." August started in the direction to study hall when I grabbed her arm. I pulled her close and signaled for her to be quiet.
"I am looking for sister Inez, I saw her with a stack of papers in a hurry." I started her intently in the eyes debating my next line. "I think she knows why there are rows of chairs and I just wanted to know." I had never seen Augustine look at me with such disgust.
"You are going against the church, I knew it all along." Augustine paraded towards the exit when sister Inez walked in.
"Are you two supposed to be in the square, are you not?" I aimed my eyes towards the floor in disobedience. "When I speak to you, look me in the eye." Sister Inez folded the papers in half before ushering me and Augustine toward the exit. I was hoping she had not heard what August had accused me of moments before. You can get whipped for that kind of thing maybe even kicked out. Every irrational thought in my body told me to steal the papers, the rational thoughts told me to ask. Luckily, I was thinking rationally at the moment.
"Do you happen to know what the rows of chairs are for in the square?" I glanced at her making sure to keep contact with the eyes.
"Good thing you asked, I actually do know. It is the very very important Ceremony of Ignominy." She said while nodding with a grin on her face. I had no idea at the time what this ceremony would entail but it must be soon. I turned back to the exit when I noticed August has disappeared. I thought we had agreed we would stick together. I went down the path back to the square to see a name assigned to every seat. I had never seen anything like it, they didn't have chairs for the missing children. The missing children had their names on the stage that presented itself in front of the rows. This was a very odd occurrence and I had a really bad feeling. Not only did I have a gut feeling but I started to feel a hundred degrees hotter and weak. This seemed to happen at the times when I suggest something related to the missing people. I turn to see August in her seat already.
"I see you just couldn't wait could you?" August had a face of anger, a facade I had never seen on her before. She was tapping her foot, she was trying to be angry at me but deep down she was just as worried.
"At least we got seats next to each other, that is a good sign right?" I smirked trying to lighten the mood.
"You had to go against the church. You just had to." Augustine turned to face away from me in mere embarrassment to be associated with me.
"How did I go against the church?" I was honestly stunned to believe she would even consider that from me. I mean I personally knew I was against it from the beginning but what would she know.
"This is all your fault, everything. Just know if people die today it is your fault. Not the man above. It is your fault." Tears streamed down her face and her skin tone was as red as her hair. My knees felt weak and I felt sweaty, I took my seat in the chair with my name beside her. I couldn't help myself tears streamed down my face too. I covered my eyes with my hands. All that could come to my head was the day I had not forgotten, the day I had wished I forgot.