why us?

Part 2

My luggage grinding across the dirt road had brought memories from when I left the island. The sadness I felt, anger, and disbelief. Hopefully, I will never feel that again.

We got to the steps of my new home, it wasn't particularly new though, it had missing shingles on the roof, and the gutter had mini cracks so the water was constantly flowing out of the sides. The door was covered in dirt from the road. I felt some needed relief to see I have a set home, for now at least.

"Thanks, Dad." I put on a brave face.

"Oh umm, anything for you of course. I missed you so much, it's been lonely living in this house without you." he frowned, in a way I have never seen. I hugged him immediately, I didn't know he felt this way. I thought he wanted me to move away from home.

It felt as if more weight was lifted off my shoulders, that now more hope than burden was resting on my back.

My dad started laughing, something I haven't heard in a while. He was laughing because he finally knew that he made a good choice. That my life and his life will be changed for the better. I finally let go of the embrace. I opened the door, the door was creaky and loud. And the floor was squeaking every time I took a step. I love it. Everything was kept in the same place from when I left. My heart melted to see the same sofa we all cuddled on while watching movies, as a family. I walked to my room. Same lavender-colored walls and my same stuffed animals. I always thought I was too old for stuffed animals. But this time im going to do what I wanna do. No more persuasion. So what if im 16? I can still use stuffed animals. I giggled. My dad was leaning on the door frame admiring my love for my room.

"Ready to see some people?" he chuckled.

"Uhh," I nervously looked up at his smiling face "ready as I will ever be." I gave a crooked smile. We walked out of the house. Thankfully it got warmer as I was exploring the house. We were walking around the dirt roads. For some reason it was empty.

"That's weird. Usually, there are people always walking around." he raised an eyebrow. "Oh! I totally forgot! It's ash Wednesday."

"What's that?" I smiled.

"It's basically a potluck. All you do is eat with friends. That's about it." he pointed at the field with dozens of people walking around.

"Oh yeah! Monsignor Pruitt. How is he doing?" I jumped up in excitement.

"Well..Aria he got sick. For now, he is on the mainland getting better. We have been told he is resting up fine. But he's very old you know. He was the priest when i was your age." he gave a awkward face.

"Oh. then who is the priest?" I turned my head.

"I think you will like him. He's one of the youngest priests I have seen. He's very nice." we continued walking. I smiled.

We got to the potluck and we were looking around to see if anyone was there that I recognise.

"Aria? Is that you?" I heard a voice behind me. I turned around

"Oh my god! Ms. Greene?" I smiled. she was my elementary teacher.

"Wow you have grown up so much!" she smiled while giving me a quick hug. "How have you been?" she gave a big smile

"I have been managing. You?" I nodded. 

"Well I don't know if you heard but im pregnant." she smiled while putting her hand on her stomach.

"Wow! That's great! Congrats." I smiled. "It was nice seeing you!" I gave her a quick hug again.

I was starting to get hungry so I decided to walk to the table with the assortments of food. My dad wanted to talk to the new Sheriff Hassan. I started to sit down with my plate of food.

"Uh excuse me." I turned around to see who was behind me. It was a man who looked like he was in his early 30s. He had dark brown gelled back hair And brown puppy eyes. He was smiling confidently with nice teeth.

"Hi?" I smiled nervously.

"Have I seen you before? I mean..have I seen you at mass?" he continued to smile at me. I just finally noticed he was the priest filling in for Monsenior Pruitt. I noticed he was incredibly tall he was about 6"4 from what I could see.

"Oh! Uh no..I actually just got here." I laughed Putting my hands on my lap.

"I see. Is this your first time being here?" he looked at me, and he seemed genuine in his questions.

"Not exactly, I used to live here, but I moved away to Oregon when I was 9." I looked at his outfit. Everything seemed so clean, his shoes were shining with no dirt on them.

"Wow, Oregon. That's far away. Well, im glad you are here," he looked at my neck to see if I had a cross necklace. "I can't help but ask, but do you celebrate Ash Wednesday?"

"I did, I haven't in a while," looking away from his beautiful gaze, his eyes were like nothing i have seen before. "But I guess i have to get back into the swing of things." i laughed. He motioned to the jar of ash he was holding, i nodded. He gently rubbed his thumb in the jar of ash, it just looked like burnt paper. He raised his arm his eyes still looking into mine, and softly said

"Body of Christ." my face got warmer as he painted the cross on my forehead. He smiled "well its nice to see a new face, isn't it? My name is Father paul, but you can just call me Paul."

 "Im Aria, it was nice to meet you." I shook his hand. And he politely excused himself to walk around a little more.