Nightmare County (Reader x Seed brothers)

Chapter 5: Lies Can Only Go So Far

      "What are you doing spying on my brother John?" Jacob asks you, giving you a stern look. You start to feel a huge amount of nervousness. Your thoughts start to race around trying to think of any good excuses you could use.

     "I- I was curious, is all." You stutter your eyes avoiding anywhere but the ginger's eyes. "I have never been baptized in my life and had taken an interest in it, that's all." That was a good excuse, or at least you hope it was.

     "Is that so?" Jacob asks, you could clearly hear it in his words how suspicious he was of you. "Well then let's pay John a visit." Before you could say anything Jacob grabs you by the shoulders again pushing you towards the baptist. You wanted to refuse but if you showed any signs of resisting you would sound more suspicious than you already had seemed.

     "John, I found her spying on you from over there." Jacob says, you watch John quickly direct all his attention to his older brother. Jacob points at the spot he caught you by. You watch as John stares between the two of you. "She claims she was curious about this."

     "The baptism?" John questions getting a nod from Jacob. He goes up to the two of you grabbing a hold of you from both of your shoulders as he looks into your eyes. "And why's that?" You felt so under pressure wishing the world could just smite you right here right now then having to deal with all of this. Jacob starts to nudge you, signaling for you to say what you said to him earlier.

     "I have never been baptized. My family wasn't really on the religious side." You say trying to convince the two, stuttering every now and then as you were slightly shaking from the sudden pressure of all their gazes. John's icy blue eyes pierced into your eyes and you were terrified. You watch his face relax into a smile. Though the smile wasn't sweet, at least that's what it looked like to you, it had some kind of hidden intent behind it. The kind of hidden intent that you knew showed that this whole church thing was a cult or at least you hope that was the case.

     "As much as I love having to give a good baptism to someone who is willing to atone, that is not up for me to decide. At least for you at this current stage." John says to you his hand still holding your shoulder tightly. "I have a question for you, why aren't you at Joseph's sermon?" You almost jump from the question. You couldn't use your sick excuse because well you were out of your house, out of your bed.

     "The, I..." You stop yourself, you can't let this screw you up. You went all this way and you weren't going to falter because you were caught in the act. You have been caught in the act many times before for various other things you will bounce back from this like always. You inhaled deeply. "Like I said, I noticed you guys were gone every few sermons and found out that you did baptisms during these times. I decided to skip this one to check out the baptism."

     "Let's say that is the case, and you're not telling a complete lie." John says, admitting that he found everything you said to be complete bullshit. "You could have told Joseph if you could participate in a baptism. Or even me, considering I am there during some sermons. Or any one of the other siblings."

     "I'm just a shy person in general." You confess now using any excuse you can. You watch John look up at his brother who stood behind you. Then back at you having his same devious smile.

     "You seem so devoted to get baptized, someone with that much determination to try anything they can to get this far. How bout this..." John's grasp on your shoulder tightens causing you to wince a little from the sudden pressure. "I will cut this baptism short, just for you." He points at you. "And we can all go to Joseph and ask him if you are ready for atonement." You shake your head vigorously, not agreeing with his idea one bit.

     "No no no, that sounds like a lot of work, I'm not that special of a person. We really don't have to. I can just wait till the next sermon to ask about it." You try your best to stop him but that doesn't stop him as he claps his hands together. You watch as the people behind him start escorting the people they had tied up and dunked in the water out of the lake. The people who had been supposedly baptized struggle as they are escorted away.