Favor From Above

Chapter 9 ~ The story

Matthew knocked on Lily's door. She opened and was shocked to see him there. He didn't blame her though. It was 6:25 and he was sure Lily expected him to come late. Matthew wanted to hear Lily's story. Frankly speaking, to him, she looked like she had no story.

"You're early." Lily said.

"Is that how you say hello nowadays?"

Lily rolled her eyes. It's not like he answered greetings like a normal person. He would probably say something rude to her in return.

"Hi Matthew! Its so good to see you."

"I prefer the former you know. At least it didn't sound as fake as this. " Matthew complained.

Lily rolled her eyes again.

"I wasn't faking. It is good to see you." She tells him.

"Whatever. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes I am."

It was colder than Lily expected and the thin jersey she had worn looked like a bad idea. Once they were inside the car, she realised the temperature was a little higher than outside but it was still cold.

"So tell me this story of yours." Matthew said.

"Which part do you want to hear?"

"Maybe you should start at the beginning."

"Oh okay. I was born to Christian parents. I went to church every Sunday. It was a ritual to me. When I was ten, I went to my uncle's for vacation. One night, my aunt went grocery shopping. My uncle and I were watching TV when someone banged on the door. My uncle quickly told me to hide behind the couch. He opened the door and a bunch of men entered. They demanded for their money. Apparently my uncle was dealing drugs and hadn't given the main dealer his money. They shot him right before my eyes. His face fell where I could see him. His last words to me was 'shhh'. He didn't want them to find me, and they didn't."

By this time Lily's voice was cracking. Matthew felt like he was intruding, reopening old wounds.

"Look you don't have to continue-"

"It's okay. Its not like I haven't told it before. After that nothing was the same. I became a revenge seeking maniac. My life goal was to find the men who killed my uncle and kill them myself. It got worse as I grew older and I started high school. I was withdrawn from others because I feared the world. I got bullied and I had inferiority complex. To top it off I was always sick. I would sleep at the hospital at least once a month. I tried everything to take the pain away. I even attempted to kill myself twice."

Matthew looked at her in shock. He would have never expected such from her. Her story was deep but he had a feeling it wasn't the end.

"This continued until I was sixteen. That is when I met God. I went to church all the time but I didn't know him. I learnt that Jesus died for my sins, all of them and that he loves me despite everything that went on in my life. I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior and nothing was ever the same. Depression changed to happiness. Sleepless nights turned to peaceful nights, revenge seeking turned to forgiveness and hate became love. I was healed and I've never been to a hospital since that time. God changed my life Matthew."

Matthew laughed to himself. Lily was really brainwashed. How could she believe in a figment of her imagination like this. She was just too religious but her story, that was a lot for one person to go through.

None of them spoke all the way to the church. They all seemed to be lost, each in their own bubble.
Matthew was surprised to see so many young people in the church when they arrived. They also looked quite different from what he had anticipated. They dressed like normal people you meet on the road. Of course they were not wearing crop tops or shorts but Matthew hadn't expected them to wear denims and shirts either. Floor length dresses and black suits would have been more like it.

He was surprised that they even had a band. Someone mentioned that it was 'praise time' and the whole church cheered. Matthew wondered why everyone was excited by this. A few moments later music blasted throughout the room. Everyone around him was dancing seemingly enjoying it. Even Lily was jumping up and down dancing and smiling. After some time the tone of the music changed, it became slower and more deeper. People were crying, lying on the floor and kneeling down.

Matthew felt heaviness in his shoulders. He felt like he was carrying a big bag of sand on them. The load became heavier and heavier until it suddenly vanished. He felt a wave of peace and calmness blow on him. Then it was gone just as fast as it came.

Matthew looked at Lily who was standing beside him. She had her hands raised high and tears in her eyes. Matthew didn't know what to make of what everyone was doing. How can so many people come together to deceive each other? He was just waiting for the service to end so that he'd go home.

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Lily ran after Matthew once service was over. Lily didn't like the fact that she wouldn't be able to greet anyone. She also noticed that Matthew wanted to leave before anyone spoke to him.

"Hey wait up. I can't walk as fast as you."

Lily was almost running as she tried to catch up.

"Then you shouldn't be walking at all." Matthew said.

"Hey that's not fair."

"The world is not fair princess" Matthew said throwing his coat into the boot and getting into the driver's side of the car.

"Princess?" Lily asked getting into the car too.

"Yep. That's what girls like you are."

"Girls like me?"

"Yes. I saw a pile of Disney princess movies on your table when I picked you up."

"Ugh," Lily sighed "I watch cartoons but that doesn't make me a princess."

"It does."

"It doesn't"

"It does."

"Enough!"

Matthew looked at her grinning. He had just found out that she didn't like being called a princess. She always made him do things he didn't want to. It was time for payback.

"Okay princess." He grinned.

Lily face palmed herself and groaned. He was enjoying torturing her. She was happy though because he had just grinned. All he ever did was frown but now he just grinned. Time to wipe that smile off his face and get into serious business.

"How was church for you today?"

Matthew shrugged but didn't answer.

"Matthew?"

"What? "

"Say something."

"I just did princess."

"Say something about how church was today."

"I hated it."

Wow. Lily wasn't expecting that.

"Okay. What do you think they should have done to make it better?"

"Nothing. That whole environment depresses me."

"I'm sorry but you have to get used to that environment because we are going to go there quite a lot."

Lily didn't know what to do since he hated virtually everything about church. If it was something she could change, she would have. She wasn't going to give up on Matthew. Not until he got saved.

Matthew blocked every thought out of his mind. He decided that the best way to handle the situation was to pretend that what happened in church didn't happen. That way everything would be just fine.

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29/06/2017