Living Water

16. The gathering

July quickly bled into August, the constant rainfalls coupled with the vengeful heat, and the ever raiding presence of vacating students heralded the long awaited summer holiday.

Timothy despised the long vacation, it simply meant more work for him, but not anymore. This summer, he would be too busy training for the upcoming States swimming championship, so there would be no time to teach snotty kids how to flap their legs in water or to calm down the chaotic tantrums thrown by kids too scared to enter the pool in the first place, all the havoc for a measly salary.

He was a creature of focus, hellbent on catapulting himself to the next level through his swimming capabilities, so he took extra measures to achieve that goal, during weekdays and even on weekends he was at the pool, so he barely saw his mother, who had kept so much to her self since Dr Yabo's wake keep. Timothy had tried his best to reach out to her, create conversation and have a little bonding time, during the few moments they got the opportunity to see each other. But despite his efforts, the bravado of her personality had been on airplane mode, making his home a tomb of silence.

Meanwhile, Ayla has been on a therapeutic healing journey, engaging in consistent meditation, prayers and in depth study of God's word, expanding on the predicates on forgiveness and redemption. She also spent her time ruminating on the promises and doctrines instituted in the Bible, in more occasions than she could count she found herself taking dreadful walks down the creaky parts of memory lane, Dayo was a big part of those memories, causing her to spiral back into that pain of many years ago.

She stopped going to church for a while, had to switch off her phone away from the ambush of messages, mostly from concerned church members. She genuinely appreciated their efforts to check up on her, but she just wasn't ready to be amongst people again, even Deaconess Tobi had to bear the brunt of her withdrawal.

It was a rainy Friday evening, Timothy hadn't returned from the pool, so Ayla was home alone as usual, encumbered by the comfort of dwelling in her own thoughts.

She leaned back on the couch and stretched her legs on the center table, taking light sips from the steaming mug of coffee in her hands, while her Bible rested on her laps.
She closed her eyes and pondered on the passage, it was a direct message to her. For the past few days the Holy Spirit had nudged her to get back to church, it has been a tussle of will within her. The people in church were nice, welcoming and friendly, they were like a family to her, even despite the few bad eggs she was unfortunate to had come across once in a while. She wasn't ready to be engulfed in a sea of questions and attention.

But here she was, after being lead to study the book of Hebrews, she couldn't get over a certain verse;

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another: and so much the more as ye see the day approaching.
Hebrews 10:25

She covered her face with her palms taking a deep sigh, she knew it was time to yield. The message was undeniably clear and tomorrow was Sunday, how convenient.
She looked up to the ceiling in a dreamy daze, succumbing to the sounding army of rain droplets that marched furiously on her rooftop, just beyond the warm, dry refuge of her little home.

"Thank you Jesus." She whispered into space.

A loud knock was heard at the door, making her jump at the sudden intrusion of her quiet time. She quickly checked her wall clock, and noticed it was just few minutes past six pm. Realizing it must be Timothy, she excitedly jumped up from the couch and opened the door for him.

Despite the umbrella he took along with him, rain still beat him badly, causing him to shiver from the chill of the rain bath. He was used to being in water as a swimmer, but he believed he had had enough of water for the day. Anything that'll make him get into water again was out of the question, except if it was a hot shower, of course.