MARIEL

2~ Comet ~

After switching radio stations at least ten times, Fr. Jerome finally found himself tapping his fingers against the steering wheel in rhythm to 'Stayin' Alive' as he drove down the interstate. The air was warm. As Fr. Jerome drove with the windows down and the music up, the sun peeked in and out from the clouds.

"Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me," the old man sang, as he passed a pickup truck with an old couch bouncing inside of its bed.

He'd been on the road for over an hour. For the first time in a while, Fr. Jerome felt the tightness and sorrow leave his chest. Finally, he felt free. He had felt a little guilty at first, leaving his son without an explanation, but it had quickly diminished. It wasn't that he didn't care... he simply needed time away. Just for a little bit.

As the priest sped down the interstate, he felt no regret. At first, Fr. Jerome hadn't known where he would go, or where he even wanted to go. For sure, he knew that he didn't want to leave Harlow for too long, as he didn't entirely trust Mariel to remember to feed the poor fluff. However, he brought a map, headed East, and followed the strange outline in the sky.

Fr. Jerome had noticed it when he had first started driving. Behind the bright clouds, he'd seen a very large, oval shaped outline, but it was camouflaged within the daylit sky. It was hard to determine the size, as most things in the sky gave an illusion of being smaller than they actually were. It seemed very large. He had decided to name it the UFO, and then he had travelled East to follow it.

Why not?

There was nothing to lose, except gas, money, and maybe himself since he wasn't entirely sure where he was going or where he'd end up. As the priest journeyed onwards, stopping a few times to relieve himself and purchase a snack, he tried not to think of the incident at church. He tried not to think of Mariel. He'd deal with all of that later. Right now, he wanted to let the negative energy leave his body. He prayed, snacked, sang, tapped the wheel, and even found the courage to smile shyly at an attractive man twenty years his junior. It was the first time in a long time that he'd actually even noticed someone in such a way. It felt... abnormal.

But good.

However, he didn't dwell on it. Thinking about it too much made him feel the cold loneliness he had often felt his entire adulthood, especially now that Mariel was...

Different.

Fr. Jerome found himself in several different tourist attractions throughout the afternoon. He spent time at the Indiana Dunes National Park. Due to the weather's unusual accommodation, the beach was crowded. Joyfully, children ran about the beach. For a moment, as he watched them, Fr. Jerome thought about the children that had dispersed in the chaotic church that morning.

'Come and receive healing!'

Shaking his head, Fr. Jerome paced the beach as the wind tugged at his clothing. He finished his ice cream cone, glanced towards the sky, and then started to his car.

At 4:02pm, the strange outline had not disappeared from the sky. Fr. Jerome continued onwards.

When the priest crossed the Michigan border, he smiled a little. He hadn't travelled this far in years, and it felt wonderful to enter a completely different state that was hours away from the chaos at home. He did, however, miss his cat. He missed Mariel as well, but he missed his son even while he was at home.

Fr. Jerome detoured and stopped in St. Joseph, Michigan for dinner. It was a quaint beach town alongside Lake Michigan, and he dined at a restaurant and bar near the lakefront. As he waited for his food, he journaled.

'Hello again. To be honest, I didn't think that I'd write in this journal again. It appeared to be destroyed several days ago, but somehow not. I won't question it, because it makes me question reality and, right now, my reality is quite nice. I am in St. Joseph, Michigan, and I am prepared to eat a dinner of salmon and wild rice. I feel as though I am taking myself on a nice, long date. I've spent a lot of money today, and will probably regret it, but at the moment I don't care. Time to live life, correct? I realize now that I haven't for quite some time. It's been a while since I've been selfish. It's nice. I pray God can allow me this time. I just remembered, however, that I completely forgot that I had a meeting with a young police officer this afternoon. It is giving me some anxiety just thinking about it, because I do not ever ignore requests from individuals looking to find God. I will have to contact her and apologize. I hope she can forgive me. I still don't believe she is looking for God, however, considering that the vision I had of her involves her killing me. Good timing. The food is coming. It's probably best I eat before I try to figure out why a blonde police officer is going to shoot me. Take care!'