A slow fall

Chapter 7 - Caleb

    The night of the Church annual lock-in arrived faster than I would've liked.

It took place on a Friday, after our regular weekly youth sessions. We'd save the games for later, for the slight influx of kids who were Church goers, but participated in other extra curricular activities that stopped them from attending the after school sessions.

Instead, we'd arrive later than normal, and spend only an hour doing our Bible study, with smaller group discussions.

The weekly youth sessions normally consisted of these two parts. It was two hours of Bible study, religious discussions and prayers. Then it became more of a youth club. It stayed open for two more hours so people could be social in a supervised environment. Only twenty of us normally showed up for the first part, another twenty or so joining after.

I tended to leave after the two hours were up.

Shane and Marcus didn't attend any part of the weekly Friday sessions, but came along to the lock-in anyway.

With such a small town, these annual events became something to look forward to on the social calendar of every 12-17 year old, religious or not. The students outnumbered the adults, but the well structured evenings usually went off without a hitch. There were games planned, a film projector prepped and ready to go, food and snacks on stand by, and a little bit of religion thrown in every now and then.

Marcus came because of us, but always claimed that the Christianity being forced down his throat made his atheist self sick. Shane was a baptised Christian himself, his parents often came to Church, but none were devout believers.

The large hall beside the main building, with tall white ceilings and vinyl flooring, was the base for the night. Tables remained set up for the first half, and a supply of spare blankets sat piled up in one of the corners waiting to be used.

People soon began piling into the hall, friends greeting each other with hugs and laughter as if they had been apart for years and not hours.

The noise in the room steadily increases, the high ceiling creating an unpleasant echo.

Twenty became thirty, became fourty, fifty, fifty four and counting. Sleeping bags lined the floor like minefields you struggled not to step on.

"I always forget how busy this gets." A voice said from behind me. I hadn't noticed when Shane and Marcus got here, my focus on the air being consumed in the room, the oxygen supply dwindling, the bodies too many and sounds too much.

"I have snacks."

"Healthy snacks, because if so, ew."

I focused on their voices. Their bickering over the best try of snacks and what was acceptable to bring to a sleep over. I drew my attention to their bodies, close enough to offer comfortant, but not crowding.

With them present the idea of being in this place, one too full—of people and fear—felt a little bit easier. I'd always preferred this building to the main chapel anyway. Laurel, our session leader and the woman who helped run the lock-in, was one of the kinder members of the congregation.

Maybe because she didn't know. Maybe if she did, she'd treated me how I deserved to be treated as well.

Mary Culkin was also present during the first hour as well, that was she could be there to greet everyone at the entrance. Helping out was voluntary, though with such an involved community, over ten people showed up to help out.

Nothing rebellious tended to happen, avoiding participating in scheduled activities tended to be at the top of the list, but watchful eyes scanned the room regardless, an unnerving thing.