Forgotten Souls

Chapter 4: Go To Church With Me Please?

“So.. uhm.. Bray.. I have to ask you a major favour. I don’t want to bother you, but this is an absolute must for me. I cannot go without it or it will drive me to be a crazy cat lady.” I frowned at her, slightly worried at what could be this important, but listened anyway. She took a deep breath and continued “Do you mind maybe giving me a ride to the  church? I can’t miss assembly. I need to worship with fellow brothers and sisters. Please?”

Of everything she could have asked, this is what she felt she needed. More than a car, she wanted to go to assembly. Really? I think I underestimated her passion for God. I wanted her to feel she could fully be herself around me and that I won’t hold her from what she want and so I surprised both her and myself saying, “Of course I will take you there. Do you think I can uh.. join you?”

Her face literally lit up like a Christmas tree as soon as those words left my lips. She stared at me with an open mouth, eyes as big as saucers and then the next thing I know she is hugging me and thanking me over and over again. Who knew I could make her this happy so easily?

She connected her laptop to the internet as the food was baking in the oven and found the address of the congregation she went to. It was about an hour away from my apartment. Did she really walk that far to end up in front of my company? She is just full of surprises. We ended up playing board games and eating sweets until about 2A.M. then she shyly bid me a goodnight of sleep and entered her room.

That night was the first night I went to bed feeling carefree and relaxed. For the first time in two years my dream was about something other than Angelique, or should I say someone.

We left my apartment at 7:40 A.M. on our way to the Church building. I felt a feeling of both nervousness as well as excitement to share this experience with her. Before her I hadn’t even considered going to any church whatsoever. Angelique asked me millions of times before I snapped at her and after that she never bothered to ask again. I can still remember the argument.

“No Angel. I am not going to church. It’s a waste of time. It is filled with people who pretend to care, but as soon as you turn  your backs, they are either gossiping about you or trying to get your money. You can forget about it.”

“But Brady.. I want to go.. And besides, you have lots of money to give so it shouldn’t bother you that they requested money from you. You’re a billionaire for crying out loud!”

“Yeah well. I don’t have time for hypocrites who pretend to be holy only to be the devil in disguise.”

“Fine! You know what, whatever! You are such a selfish man. Why did I ever think moving in with you would be a great idea?”

After that she stormed off and that was the last time I ever had a conversation with her. Why I agreed to go with Zaylee so easily I still don’t know, it could be because of my guilt with what happened to Angelique but it could also be the fact that Zaylee didn’t come across as being a hypocrite. She genuinely tried to follow what she believed is right and I respected her for that. Besides, if there’s more people like this then I would love to meet them all.

I thought I would be uncomfortable among ‘holy’ people knowing full well that I don’t come close to being holy, but instead of treating me like dirt, they welcomed me with open arms. The people didn’t know I was a billionaire and yet they had better conversations with me than my own family.

For once in my life, I had hope. Hope that not all people are conniving and greedy. The sermon preached was about living a Christ-like life. The preacher was explaining how our lives and actions affected how other people looked at Christianity as well as Christ and I couldn’t agree more. Zaylee’s purity and example is what intrigued me about Christianity.