Apocrypha

Chapter 25

"Correct me, Lord, but only with justice- not in your anger, lest you will bring me to nothing."
Jeremiah 10:24

THE NEW MAN kneeled in front of the house. He watched the house members all look at one another. And yet, out of all the faces from the crowd, one person caught his eye. Nestled in the bunch was Gabriel Barrington.

"Holy! Is that Gabriel?" Sempronius announced.

"Well, shit." Cassio said.

Gabriel turned to Kari and Timon. "What's he doing here?" Gabriel asked them.

Timon shrugged his shoulders. "Exactly what I asked. But for some reason, they decided to keep him here." He replied.

"Kari?" Lysander said.

"He tried to break into my car. And he then tried to fight Alcibiades. We figured we should tie him up and keep him here. Ya'know, citizen's arrest." Kari explained.

Gabriel let out an exhausted sigh while Lysander rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"Look, we just arrived from our trip. Gabriel and I are going to go shower, eat a proper meal, and then we'll deal with this." Lysander said.

"Got it, captain," Cassio said.

The men that had just arrived stood up and went upstairs. They first placed their bags in their room and then took a long shower. While they showered, Lucrece and Horatio prepared a meal for them.

Now freshly bathed and cleansed, the men ate their lunch. Mamillius sat with them at the table and made talk with them. He told the men about what adventures he had gotten up to during their absence.

"Gabriel looks tired." Mamillius said.

"Mamillius, leave them alone." His mother scolded him. "They just came back from a long trip. You get tired after being outside for five hours. Imagine being out for days."

"Woah! Did you guys see bears? Or lions? Tigers?" Mamillius' face lit up with excitement.

"Uh. well," Gabriel said.

"We saw something worse," Lysander said. The boy leaned closer. "We saw a politian."

Mamillius feigned passing out. It was adorable to see him be his usual chipper self. A bit of laughter was what Gabriel needed.

"Are you two done?" Kari asked.

"Can't a man eat in peace?" Lysander jokingly said.

"You can't put this off. We've waited for weeks because the both of you are also valuable members of the house." She explained.

"Fine," Lysander said. He grabbed Gabriel's empty plate and washed them. "Come on. Meeting's in session."

A HOUSE was finally united for the first time in several weeks. And today's agenda was regarding the man that now kneeled in the middle of the living room.

"So, should we vote?" Horatio asked.

"No," Gabriel replied. "Let's give him a chance to plead. As someone who was in his position a few months back, I think we should allow this man to make his case."

"I agree with Gabriel." Lysander agreed.

"You have the floor," Kari told the man. Alcibiades removed the tape from his mouth.

The man looked around the room. There was an Indian woman, two Ishmaelites, an old man, a young child, and the rest were young adults. And the most intriguing of them all was the disgraced Gabriel Barrington.