𝙩𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙨

Act 9

We all sat down on a pew in the very back, since all the other pews were already taken. All of us took up one whole seat. The preacher was in his traditional Wednesday clothes, a black suit, a red tie, and his glasses. His family sat on the platform behind him. Giana was sitting pretty as usual and Daniel was obviously making faces at Cathy. Mrs. Alline was side-eyeing Daniel to try to get him to stop. 

"Let us bow our heads and pray to begin this Wednesday service," Mr. Alline announced, "Dear Lord please bless this service in your name and bless all of the families who came to be in your presence. More than ever, bless the Bettigan family in their time of need. And god's house said,"

"Amen," the congregation simultaneously mumbled.

"Beautiful. Now, I suppose some of you have heard of Caroline Bettigan passing this past Monday. This service is dedicated to her and her family as I know that they are going through hard times," he clasps his hands together for emphasis, "I met Caroline when she was a Check, on this same isle of Inkwell. She was good to her mother and always talked about starting a family herself. Things took her for a turn when she fell in love with a former gambler from the third isle. They settled down just down the road from here and had now ten lovely children. I thought this was a very encouraging story to share today to all the youth in here." 

Here he goes again.

"Young adults nowadays are not taking their future seriously. Jesus knew from a young age that he was the son of god. If you have your future set out, why not go ahead and start. Jesus did not run around and waste his time here. We have to continue to grow in the lord's best interest and expand his kingdom. I will happily wed any couples that feel like this is calling out to them. All in all, what I'm trying to say is that the younger folk need to take on some responsibility and start re-growing the town. We need to take action and do just what the lord would tell us to do. Our small prayer groups can go back."

Giana is the leader of my prayer group. We don't ever actually pray, but it's nice to go and talk with a bunch of people about your problems. We only have five people in our group, all of us girls. We sat outside on a picnic table with our bibles while Evelyn read us a part of scripture that she had came across last night. She had been admitted into a fancy school on the next isle over and was learning how to read better than any of us. She also was allowed to wear pants, unlike any of us, just not to church and only to school. The other girls in the group tried to talk about my mom, but Cathy answered all of their questions while I thought deep and hard about what was happening tonight. I only had an hour left before I walk to go get on the train. My nerves were tore up and I couldn't focus. New things kept hitting my mind. What if he just wants to murder me? Why am I trusting some random guy I met at a casino? This isn't a very smart decision. How can I go to church and then stroll right into the devil's casino? I could hear the other girls talking around me but my mind had created a white noise that filled the void of my brain and exemplified the bad thoughts making their voices sound like water running in the background. I tried to snap out of it, trying to find one of their sentences to grasp onto to make it mellow out but it wouldn't. 

"Century, lets go on a walk," Giana offered, standing up with her hand held out to me. 

I could hear her, but I still couldn't answer. I could feel a tear run down my face. 

"I'll take that as a yes. C'mon, get up," she laughs and pulls me up onto my feet. 

We walk behind the church and onto the wooded path that we've made. 

"What's troubling you? I know the stuff about your mom but you've never let her bother you this bad before. Is it about something with new baby? If you need me to come over and help you watch her for the next few weeks I can. I-" 

"Giana, It's not that. I need to tell you about where I've been for the past two days."

"Go ahead,  I'm sure it's nothing too bad. 

"I went to see my brother. At the devil's casino."

"Oh my. It is that bad. How are still alive?" 

"It isn't as bad up there as everyone says it is. That's another big thing I have to address."

"The only thing that could be worse is you going back,"

"About that-"

"Century! Buon Dio!" 

Giana tends to talk in her parent's language whenever she gets mad. Or, at least the little pieces of it she's heard. 

"Hey, that's taking the lord's name in vain. Robert wouldn't like that,"

"He's reverend Robert to you. He's made that clear multiple times,"

"Oh hush, he's full of himself,"

"Yeah, I know. But, why would you even want to go back to the casino?"

"I got asked to by.... someone,"

"Who?"

"A guy...,"

"What about Julien?" 

I had totally forgot about him. When I used to sneak out at night and party, I had fallen for him. He said he loved me, but I got put on house arrest. I went to visit him one night and he said he was traveling far away and would be back soon. He told me that I was the only woman he'd ever loved and would wait for me. I said I would wait for him too. It's been 7 years now, and I don't feel the same way anymore. I never really did love him. Giana would watch for him when her family took trips to the beach. I would hope and pray that he would never come back so that I didn't have to break his heart and tell him that I didn't love him. I just stopped thinking about him, I gave up on everything. 

"He's not really top priority anymore. He hasn't came back yet," I shrug.

"What about this new guy? What makes him better than Julien?"

"Well for one, he actually bathes. He's smart, he's the manager there,"

"The Devil?"

"Oh no, someone else that works there. I wouldn't go out with the devil,"

"With all of this new behavior, I wouldn't put it past you,"

Ruby walked towards us, calling for us," Hey, church is about over. We need to go back inside."

Giana pulls herself up and then helps me get up too. We giggle a little bit as we dust ourselves off. The church wasn't any temperature wise different than outside. It was just as hot and murky. 

"My final words for you today are, no matter what life throws at you, stay righteous. No family member, no friend is worth breaking your relationship with lord. Amen. Church is dismissed."   

Mr. Alline stepped off of the platform and into his office signaling that everyone could finally leave. We tried to shove ourselves out the door first, but multiple families got out before our pew. I was eager to get out. That means I get to the casino earlier. That means I get to see Dice earlier. Chip, too. I think about how many days we spent making fun of the preacher in this very pew. I felt like if I kept going to the casino, I could have that same person back. I could feel my life starting to get back together. My brother was back. I had someone who may love me. For the first time in years, I felt good about my future.

"Cents, you better get goin. Don't wanna keep that man of yours waiting," Cathy came up behind me and teased. 

"Of course," I joke.

I really like the way that sounds. My man. Screw not flirting with Chip's co-workers.