BEGINNING OF THE END.

.3.

Hot tears spilled down my face as the reality of what was happening stared me in the face.

This can't be, Lord, no!

"The secretary got through to your father," the cold voice of the Dean of Discipline rang in my ears as I slowly and painfully took in the CCTV footage on the laptop set before me.

Jerusha leaning comfortably by a wall...

Raymond comes to her, his face blurred in the video...

He talks with her for a while...

Then he walks across to her, their bodies too close... too close!

He leans in and kisses her—it doesn’t look like a peck on the cheek at all...

The angle of the video showed it to be a mouth-to-mouth kiss, with Randy having cocked his head.

His mouth trails Jerusha's ear...

He pulls away, holding her hand romantically before walking away...

Video ends.

I sobbed uncontrollably, my face cupped in my hands as I turned away from the video.

That twisted video.

That unfair video.

"Your father will be here soon. The video has been sent to him as well," the middle-aged man's voice was filled with so much venom.

All of a sudden, my voice failed me when I needed it most. My legs were failing; I was bent over, crying my heart out. My heart was hurting like never before.

Never in my life had fear, pain, and shock crippled me all at once like this.

A lot of questions swirled in my mind. Questions I didn’t have answers to.

The fear that kept me paralyzed was Daddy's coming. I knew I couldn’t face him. I knew he wouldn’t understand, just like everyone else. He would be so disappointed. I knew I didn’t have answers to his questions.

The embarrassment was too much—that my video had been watched by my class teacher, by the third most important authority in the school...

I hadn’t even kissed him! Oh, why did I allow myself?! Why have I been such a fool?

Panic gripped me from all directions. I wanted to end it all—life and all its nonsense!

The Dean of Discipline pestered me with questions.

"Mention the boy's name."

My mind went blank. I didn’t know why. My voice failed me. I still sobbed. I couldn’t speak up.

"You're such a disgrace to whoever brought you up," the Dean said.

That pierced my heart. I was hiccupping, and my tears were wetting my uniform. My eyes were bawling out.

"You very much know this is a school, and a Christian school for that matter. Why have you allowed lust to fill you this way? Look at you, such a nice young lady!"

"Looks like your beauty is a façade. You are foolish on the inside!"

No one had spoken to me like this. Why was he judging me?!

"Do you know the seriousness of what you've done? No institution in this country encourages sexual sins! What if the video leaks out? You would have destroyed the hard-earned reputation of the school! You will pay dearly for this!"

Where was God in all this? Hadn’t Petra prayed for me? I had thought the CCTV in the hallway never functioned. Why was everyone and everything failing me?