Three Converts

Part 2

I pulled the note from under my sleeping pad. It was taped to our front door the day of Misty's twentieth birthday.

Dear Lucy,

Are you freaking out? Don't freak out. I've known for years I wouldn't get that third convert. Honestly, Luce, I didn't really want to. It sounds crazy, I know, but I just didn't have it in me. And leaving here isn't the end of the world for me. Except for you, there is nobody here that loves me. I wonder if maybe there is a better life somewhere else? Stop crying!

Luce, you're the best person I know. I know you're worried about not hitting magic number three. It seems like the most important thing in the world to get that third convert- trust me, I get it. But it's not the most important thing. It's just not.

Love you, Luce!

~M

Despite Misty's command to stop crying, I couldn't. I cried the first day I read it, and the hundredth. I had so many regrets. I should have talked to her more about her conversions, made sure she was on track, tell her how important it was that she get them. I traced Misty's plump, bubbly writing. "Honestly, Luce, I didn't really want to." That was the part that stunned me most of all.

The day of our birth, the council prayed overus, "May this child serve Diety all her days; may she fulfill her purpose bybringing others to Diety; with every breath, may she inhale this purpose andexhale our message." Then our parents prayed it over us every day until we weretwenty, or achieved three converts. This very morning, I knelt before my familyand mom, dad, and Sophie prayed it over me. To no avail, of course. Misty'sparents prayed it over her too, but with a lot less love, no doubt. Still. Howcould she not want to honor Diety? How could she say such a thing? I folded hernote up and stuck it back under my bed, wiping the wet off my face. I might beangry with her, but it didn't mean I didn't miss her.