Southern Gothic // Joshler

8. Altar

Homophobia / Forced prayer / other church related horror / gore.

Josh wasn't in school the next day. Tyler had been forced to go, because according to his mother, 'staying home isn't usual'. He was terrified of what was going to happen when he walked in through the school doors. Kids were laughing and playing as usual, yet Tyler couldn't shake the feeling that he felt eyes on him as he walked through the halls down to his locker.

Josh had met him there every morning they were both in school. Tyler didn't know whether or not it was unusual for him to be absent, having only known him barely more than a week, but he sincerely hoped to himself everything was okay. The thought of him being pulled out for someone finding out what had transpired yesterday crossed his mind, but he dismissed the thought, praying that wasn't true.

As he passed to go head to his first period, he could've sworn he heard somebody whisper, "Faggot."

Tyler turned around so fast he almost fell over, looking around for the source of the noise. No one was remotely looking at him, everyone too caught up in their own conversations to even realize he existed.

He took a shaky breath and walked into his first period class, trying to ignore the comment that was echoing around in the back of his head.

Mrs. Olivia was in her chair, not looking up from the paper she was grading as Tyler slid into his seat. First one in there, once again. He hated the silence.

"Good morning, Tyler." She said quietly as she marked the paper and jotted down a note on it.

"Good morning, Mrs. Olivia."

"We missed you yesterday."

"It was a Monday, ma'am. I had a head cold." Tyler lied as he pulled his work from his backpack and set it on his desk.

"We deviated studies from Jeremiah 11:11 yesterday," She responded casually, placing the paper aside and grabbing a new one. Tyler stared at her red pen that she was using to mark the paper with as she spoke, "We studied Leviticus 20:13. Are you familiar with that one, Tyler?"

Tyler nodded, before speaking aloud in a small voice, "Yes, Mrs. Olivia. I am."

"Can you repeat it for me without looking?" She gave him a half hearted smile, holding up the paper she was marking. He saw his name written at the top. "Do it with no reference and I'll give you fifteen extra points."

Tyler saw the amount of markings on his essay he had written about the old testament, and gulped, seeing that he had a lower grade than he had hoped. "Uh..."

"Go on, Tyler," She cooed, placing the paper back down onto the table, folding her hands and staring at him expectantly.

Tears threatened to fill his eyes as he looked down at his desk, picking at his nails. "If- if there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act-"

"Very good!" She exclaimed, picking up her pen and jotting down on the paper. She held it up to Tyler and he saw a +15 written at the top, bringing his final score upwards of a low B. "You did good on the essay. There were just a fair amount of grammatical errors."

Tyler nodded as other students started to pour into the room. "May I go to the bathroom before class starts, ma'am?"

She nodded, not saying anything, and Tyler stood up and rushed out of the room, heading to go find the nearest bathroom. He slammed open the door and barely made it into a stall before he was throwing up in the toilet, tears streaming down his face as he did so. He collapsed onto the floor of the stall, wiping his mouth with his sleeve and crying into his hands. He wanted nothing more than to be dead.