A Priest's Deadly Obsession

Chapter 8 - Kiss

The young frightened girl avoided Zach's every phone call, text and voicemail during the weekend that followed the night of the party, afraid of what to say, afraid of what he would say and unwilling to hear an explanation. She wasn't ready for it, each time he called the anxiety in her heart was unbearable.

"Elizabeth,  you coming to mass sweetheart?" Her uncle tapped on her bedroom door, but she laid on her bed unwilling to get up and come out. She knew he would most definitely be waiting there for her.

"Er...no I have a ...really bad headache. I'll stop by for evening mass later." she groaned slightly from her bed making it seem as though she was in pain. Her uncle bought it and headed out to the church alone.

Zach waited at the front of the steps, his heart in his throat hoping he would finally be able to apologize. Even if it meant getting on his knees but he couldn't have her be mad at him, couldn't bear the thought of her hating him or them no longer speaking. In truth he didn't know what happened at the party, he had been drunk many times before but never to a point where he had taken advantage of a girl like that. It was unlike him, and truthfully he was disgusted with himself.

He watched as Elizabeth's uncle stepped out of the car and walk up the steps alone. Confusion and worry slapped him in the face as her uncle took a seat in the back of the pews. Where was she?

During the entire service Zach would look over his shoulder at the doors but no one came through them, not the girl he so desperately wanted to see. I'll just have to wait for school tomorrow then, he told himself trying to ease his desperation. As he exited the church, he saw Rohan in the parking lot and decided to approach him.

"Good morning Rohan, how are you? " Zach asked as bright and cheerfully as he could. The man looked at him for a few seconds before registering in his mind who he was.

"Oh Zach, Elizabeth's friend from school. Sorry, I forget things easily, how's it going?" he asked nonchalantly opening his car door and started it to warm up from the cold frigid morning.

"Good, doing well...I um was wondering how Elizabeth's doing? " the boy tried to force a smile but it felt to awkward, instead his lips fell into a straight line.

Rohan rubbed his hands for warmth. "She's fine, she had a bit of a headache this morning so she didn't feel like accompanying me. But I think she said she'd come to evening mass."

I'll catch her then, Zach thought. "I hope she feels better," he said stepping away.

"How was the party?" Her uncle inquired, tucking his hands into his coat pockets. Elizabeth had left him completely in the dark about the events of that night, not that Rohan had worried but he was concerned why she did not mention it at all .

A rush of panic spread throughout Zach's body, for a moment he thought Rohan might know something but he breathed in deeply to keep himself calm. "It was good, I had too many people over though ...so the mess wasn't fun to clean up in the morning." he chuckled nervously.

Rohan nodded a few times, he had hoped to hear something regarding his niece. "I see...did Elizabeth have a good time? She just came home that night and went to bed. In the morning we didn't talk about it so I was a bit concerned." The uncle pried, squinting his eyes at Zach.

He continued, " I just, I don't want her to feel to overwhelmed with everything. I worry a lot about her; about her fitting in or having friends."

Zach's guilt was eating away at him, he felt awful for lying to her uncle's face about the events of that night. That's why her uncle's next words stung him deeply.