II. Gods and Monsters

3. Man of God meets Devil's Servant

Oli had two stops to make. He was looking forward to neither. There was no hiding it anymore. He had messed up. Badly. His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth as he thought about it. He had run over so many different sequences of events, so many ways of saying it. None of them worked. They were in danger now, and it was entirely his fault. Oli pulled into a layby, tears welling up in his eyes. He slammed his fists against the steering wheel in rage, yelling at the top of his lungs. This was it, the day he lost everything. Each person would have a reason to hate him, each one would see him for what he was.

No, he had to suck it up. This wasn't about him, this was about those who he loved, whether they would feel the same or not. He wiped his tears away with one stroke of his sleeve and headed for the first of two stops. He headed back into town, making sure to avoid any patrol cars as he knew they would be looking for him. After twenty minutes of what should have been a five-minute journey, Oliver pulled up to his own house. How long it would stay that way, he had no idea.

As he exited the car, he made special care to not slam the door and to check nobody was watching him. No flashlights shone, no sirens blared, just silence. At least one thing was going right today. As he walked up to the door, he caught sight of something on the door.

"Oh shit..." Oliver muttered.

It was a golden cross. Oli had completely forgotten, his uncle was a Chrisitan, and a good one at that. Every Sunday he went to church, some nights Oli had wandered past his uncle's room and heard him praying to God, asking him for the guaranteed safety of his family. Oli's confession just became so much more complicated.

As Oli eased the door open he saw his uncle and Gabe sitting in front of the TV, a news report displaying snapshots of a warehouse and its accompanying courtyard. His uncle clearly heard Oliver's keys in his pocket because he turned to him with a relieved look on his face.

"Oli, thank the heavens you're home!" he sighed with relief, his choice of phrasing not helping Oli's current mood.

"Gabe, can you turn the news off for me bud? There's something I need to talk to you both about," Oli asked, gesturing for his uncle to sit down again.

As Gabe messed with the remote, Oli pulled up a chair to face his family. No going back now.

"I didn't want you to hear this from the report, you need to hear it from me. The whole truth."

Gabe and Joseph were looking worried now.

"What do you remember from the attack?" Oli asked his brother, who subconsciously ran his hands over his legs.

"Do you mean before or after I thought you were dead?" Gabe asked abruptly. He had become even less open to talking about it as time passed.

"After," Oli replied.

"Well it's like you said, there was a good samaritan. He pulled up on his motorcycle and dragged me away from the wreck. He then went over to check on you. Once he saw you were ok, he drove off again."

Oli hung his head; "That's not how it happened."

Gabe and Uncle Joseph exchanged confused looks before Oliver continued.

"I've tried to hide it for so long, but I can't. Not anymore."

"Oliver," Joseph interrupted, "All that matters is that you two survived. It doesn't matter what you did up to that point, you're both safe."

"That's the thing uncle, that's not true."

Joseph leant back, a look of concern etched into his face as he allowed Oli to explain.