Chasing The Sun [ON HOLD]

6:05 pm

The air-conditioning hits me like a brick wall. I look around, expecting to see a couple dozen smiling faces. Instead I'm met with blank walls coated with peeling white paint and an empty gym.

The next thing I notice is the smell, which reminds me of burned rubber covered up with too much flowery air freshener.

Pastor Jack waits for us all to come in before closing the door and turning the lock. "All of the kids are in the back room. I couldn't have them out here while y'all were coming in. I love every one of 'em, but I know that there are plenty who would run right outta here given the chance."

And I wouldn't blame them. The windows let in so little light that they might as well not be there at all, and the fluorescents up in the ceiling are so bright that they turn the walls a bleak hospital green. And that smell. My eyes are leaking tears and no matter how many times I scrunch up my nose it won't stop burning. I must look like I'm having a stroke.

"Are you okay?" Shannon whispers worriedly.

I nod. The last thing I want to do is complain and cause a scene, especially since no one else seems to be bothered by it. Shannon doesn't seem to believe me but turns back to Pastor Jack.

"I'll go let our doctors know that they can bring 'em out!" he says and walks towards a door on the far wall. The entire group starts to buzz with excitement and begins to set up. In addition to my speech, they will be teaching the kids several songs (The B-I-B-L-E among them).

"Can you help me with name tags?" Shannon asks.

"What?" I croak. I can feel my throat beginning to close.

"Name tags," she says, handing me a pile of white stickers and a pen. "When they come in, introduce yourself and ask them what their name is. Our goal is to learn as many names as possible tonight so we'll know them for the rest of the week! Got it?"

I move my lips but no sound comes out. I have to clear my throat three times before I can get out a quiet, "got it." How am I supposed to deliver a speech like this?

Behind her I see the door on the back wall open and a few kids emerge. And then some more. And then more.

I stand shocked as more than a hundred kids walk into the gym. And they're not just kids- I see a few who have got to be at least my age. How bad does a situation have to be before they take sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds out of their homes?

"Miranda!" Shannon has already waded into the crowd and motions for me to join her. I brace myself and approach a young boy standing on the edge, clearing my throat and putting on my best pageant smile. I hope it doesn't look as fake as it feels.

"Hey there! My name is Miranda, what's your name?"

"Jonathan."

"Hi Jonathan," I say as I write down his name. I peel off the nametag and stick it onto his tee shirt, right over a small hole.

I do this again and again for what feels like hours. I'm down to my last name tag when I turn and my eyes meet the center of a chest, and for the first time I have to look up to meet someone's eyes.

"Hey. My name's Miranda, what's yours?" I ask.

"Kenneth," he says, and he's the first one to look back at me. The younger kids mumbled their names to their shoes, but Kenneth's voice is clear and confident and his eyes stare back into mine.

"Hi Kenneth." As I look down to write his name I see a book clutched in his hand- It by Stephen King.

"Are you a fan?" I ask.

"Of what?" he says, and I nod down at the book.

"Oh. Yeah, you could say that. You?"

I shake my head. "I'm not much of a horror person."

"Then what kind of a person are you?"

I smile at that. "I'm a book person. I'll read anything."

"Except horror."

"Except horror," I agree.

"Why not?"

I shrug. "For the same reason that I don't watch horror movies. I just don't see the point of being scared for fun, especially when in some places what's going on outside your door is scarier than any book."

He gives me an odd look, half amusement and half concern. "Thinking of anything in particular?"

I sigh and shake my head. "I don't know. Wars. Violence. General world suck. Why add to the misery?"

He stares at me for a long moment before the corners of his mouth turn up and he grins. "Why indeed," he says, before taking the name tag out of my hand and sticking it onto his shirt. "I'll see you around, Miranda," he says, and then disappears back into the crowd.