Burn Your Local Church

Burning to Save

The town was pitch black but our torches illuminated the city streets. There wasn't even a whisper throughout the crowd of people I was leading. Everyone was silent and dark. We must've looked like a giant pile of light in this depth of darkness. It was warm outside, and the air was heavy. There was no breeze or even a sign of cool air. I felt myself begin to sweat, and the heat blazing off of the torches that surrounded me didn't help. Which felt like forever, we arrived at the tunnel gate. No one was working at the gate because everyone was in the crowd. A sudden surge of energy electrified my body and my breath became shallow and I felt myself begin to have a harder and harder time breathing.

We finally reached the city. The streets were completely empty and it was only the massive group of us that staggered the streets. We walked around the streets were no one roamed. Along the way, house lights flickered on and I know we had been sighted an easy hundred times. But what was anybody going to do? They knew what was coming. I didn't exactly know where the hell I was going since I didn't go to a single ceremony regarding the scheme for tonight. I followed closely behind the leader as he lead the group of us to the consecutive oldest church... I suppose after tonight a different church will be the new oldest. When we reached the church, the front row of us stopped and every body else seem to stagger to a position which everyone followed until the entire village was surrounding the front of the wooden and stone building. It stood proud on a solid ground with a wooden cross standing at the top. Broken bricks were staggered on the rooftop and dead grass was around the doorway. This church clearly hadn't been used in quite some time and it was obviously a not so precious building. But, it was only proper to burn this Christian church to ashes and honor the devotion of the blood which runs within all of us and separates us from the rest of the world.

The leader looked at me and aggressivly grabbed my forearm and pulled me up the steps of the church. We were standing in front of two wooden doors that had vines growing up the sides of them. It appeared that the doors haven't been opened in decades... And they will never be open again. The leader looked at me and I looked out to the crowd staring at me, intensely. It was a feeling that until now I had never experienced and I hope I never have to experience again. My stomach was stirring itself up, and the voices in my head only grew louder. The words were too loud and messy to make out, but every other time I heard a voice, I heard burn. Just burn. This is the last time I'm going to put you back together. I looked out the the crowd again gut it felt more like I was looking into myself, into something I never even bothered to glance at before, and now, here I was, looking to myself for answers.

In all honesty, I didn't want to be here. I didn't want to do this. I just wanted to fall into the ground and disappear, but just for now. I could feel it inside of my that for every person I looked at in the crowd my heart simotanulously grew colder. But I still had the slightest feeling inside of my that I could do something. I wanted to be major, but when I stepped up to say something, it was like the voices in my head hasd developed a sense of grasp and they pulled me back. But then again, there was a feeling of wicked that always knew in advance. A torch was handed to me, there was nothing I could do. I looked up to the sky but there was no answer because only the devil was there. I have a self destructive nature and I don't know how to handle it, and I'm more than sure that my nature was inflicted upon someone else and was influenced by a different person too.

The torch that was burning in my hand had started making me swear even more than I already was. I opened my mouth to say something, but then closed it. I didn't have to get anyone's attention because everything was already deasd silent. I took a small step forward for no apparent reason. I opened my mouth again, and this time, words came out.

"Burn this church." My voice hung in the air. "But I won't. And if that means the end of your stupid tradition; then so be it. I will not take part in any of this. You're choosing to continue this destructive tradition because of something that happened how long ago? You're getting no where." I stuttered briefly and I could feel my hands shaking. The crowd of the people I had been around my whole life were looking at me as if their torches should be thrown at me and not the church. "I, um," I stuttered again, then cleared my throat, "um I have been taking quiet frequent trips to this city for quite some time now. I've been breaking rules since I was about of teen-age. I recently met a boy. Now I'm aware men should not change a women's decision, and for what it's worth, it didn't change my decision, it just made me reflect on them. This boy has since then died. And from what I heard, another boy from here has been the murderer." A slight whisper feel upon the crowd. "Exactly. You are all in shock now at the mention of a murderer, but what the fuck are you? You're raiding into someone else's city to burn shit. No sin is higher than the other." My heart began racing at the mention and even the thought of Cameron. "But, this boy, he taught me something. Something that I will hold onto for their rest of my life. When I met him, I was emotionless because of the way I was raised, the way you raised me. I did not believe in love, or basically anything but my forced religion. But after being with this boy for a short period of time, I realized how easy it is to love someone. Maybe not with all your heart. But at least a fraction of your heart." The crowd had stopped talking, and they seemed motionless. "I guess what I'm saying, is that you are all raising your children around this nature of emotionless destruction. I had to break the rules to figure this shit out and do you have any idea how many people before me had been in this exact position but did everything the way you taught them to and carried out your bullshit tradition and did nothing for the better because they didn't break any rules? I want to out an end to this, and create a better life for my generation and the however many more to follow." I looked back out and there were people crying. "So my last prayer, is don't let me end up like the people that's down here."

I shoved my torch to the leader. Speechless he was.

I walked down from the steps and walked around the crowd instead of through them. I never looked back, but I could hear and feel people moving behind me and following me away from the church. I walked the fastest way I knew to get to the forest where Zach was meeting me. The people all took a different turn than me and they followed the road to get back to the village. I followed the less traveled dirt road to get to Zach. It was a longer way home from the end of the road, but I knew I wasn't about to go home.

When I reached the meeting point of the end of the road and the entrance of the forest I saw Zach. I walked up behind him. He jumped and I guess I scared him a bit, he turned around and saw me. He smirked at me.

"You did it."