"Church girl, don't hurt nobody.."
Pastor's wife trapped in an arranged marriage with repressed feelings about her sexuality. She's always been able to keep a great poker face but what happens when she meets, Beyoncé..
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Good evening everybody! I'm sorry for my tardiness but we have time to go through one song before service starts.." I said quickly as I walked into the choir's robbing room.
"That's alright First Lady. You okay?" LeToya asked as she stood to her feet.
I threw my coat down along with my purse and let out the breath I'd been holding since I left my house. Today could've very well been the worst day of my life but of course it wasn't even close compared to everything I've suffered through.
"I'm fine Toya...Where's Tavi?" I sighed as we walked out of the room along with the other five people who made up our praise team.
"Running late like you. She said she would be here by the time service starts.."
"Okay, that's fine. She doesn't need rehearsal." I nodded as we made our way onto the choir loft.
We went over the song just in time for service to start. I started to sit in the choir loft along with LeToya until I realized my seat was already spoken for.
It was on the pulpit next to the pastors chair, my husband. I hated that seat even more today than I did the first time I sat on it.
"Do you need anything, First Lady? Water? Tea?" One of the ushers asked the minute I sat down and I politely shook my head with a smile before replying 'no, thank you'.
I stood to my feet as my husband processed onto the pulpit. I could hear everyone clapping so I did too. I presented a fake smile as always and he came straight to me pulling me in a hug.
For a split second I imagined this moment was real. That this wasn't a facade for the congregation. That my husband was a decent man who treated me with respect and dignity like the First Lady everyone else saw me to be.
However, as his mouth hovered over my ear and the grip he had on my arm grew tighter I was brought back to reality.
"Get a lap scarf." He muttered with a smile so to everyone else it seemed as if he complimented me.
I smiled as he pulled away and quickly sat down before pulling my scarf over my legs. I sat politely in my seat until it was time for the musical selection.
The moment I stepped in front of the mic I felt everything I went through in the past few hours fade away. Singing was always my gift but these days it felt like my escape. It was how I coped with the life I was stuck in.
"Can we have a hand clap of praise in God's house this evening?" I said and the congregation erupted on cue before the band began to play the music.
I began to sing, When Sunday Comes, with the praise team behind me as many members began to stand up. These were the moments that reminded me that I didn't hate my religion, I just hated the people who abused it.
