Later on, Morris explained to all of us that Tinton was built 100 years ago below the normal surface level by 50 feet, surrounded by high ground, and the only way in and out of the town is a bridge that is several miles north from the town and away from the townspeople’s sight. Only the town’s officials know about the bridge along with the older generation, but my generation and the generation before and after me were never informed of the bridge; probably it was in fear of being found out, or people leaving here and telling outside people what happens here; those are my opinions. Since all of us were southeast on the outskirts, it would take an hour or two to reach the bridge, and we decided as a group to return to the town when it became dark.

.   .   .   .   .

It’s now nighttime, Seth decides to go back to his realm, he told me he was going to wait until I got out of Tinton to finish our wish; I know it’s not just my wish anymore, it’s his as well. As a group, we all made our way from the fields, walking past the remains of my home, and finally making it to the Tinton city line; taking us half an hour to get here. At night, the town is quiet and still, but something doesn’t feel right. It feels so eerie, like you know something is going to happen and we saw nobody outside. Everyone splits up to go to their homes and kept their heads down, I decided to join Arlena in going to her house. She decided to sneak to the back of the house other than the front door, understandable, and I wasn’t far behind her. Arlena tries using her key on the back door, but it’s not working.

“Dammit!” Arlena curses quietly. “My dad must’ve changed the locks while I was out.”

I look up to see that one of the windows is open on the second floor, and it’s dark inside, and I see a wooden lattice on the side of the house that reaches the open window.

“What if we climbed inside?” I ask.

Arlena looks up to see what I’m talking about, and her interest piqued.

“Good idea, Talia. We might as well climb.”

Arlena was the first to start climbing on the lattice and I followed behind her. As Arlena reached the top, she was able to get inside the window. I get to the top where Arlena helps me get inside. With the help of the moonlight, we find out we’re in the bathroom, spotting a toilet, a bathtub, and a sink. Before we got out, we tried to hear footsteps or any kind of noise to know if her parents were home, but we didn’t hear anything. Arlena slowly opened the door, walking into the dark hallway with me right behind her. I quietly close the bathroom door and we make our way, passing Arlena’s parent’s bedroom, and to her bedroom. She quietly opens her door, and we go inside her moonlit bedroom. She closes her curtains while I silently close her door, and she turns on her lamp without it making a clicking noise; Arlena then looks around her room.

“Nice to know they didn’t come in here and ransack anything. Everything looks in its place.” She comments quietly.

I see Arlena has two suitcases that are open on her hardwood floor, and she starts putting more items in both of them from her dresser drawer; clothes, necessities, paperwork, anything she’s able to carry.

“Um, Talia?” she calls me, getting my attention. “I saw your house got burned down. I’m sorry that happened.”

“Yeah…” I quietly respond. “Ramondo and those seven set it on fire, and now I don’t have anything; not even a clean set of clothes.”

Arlena then takes out a small duffle bag, puts some clothes and other items inside it, and she gives it to me.

“You can have these things and the bag. They’re too small for me, so I can’t wear them anymore.”

A smile forms on my face and I look at what she gave me. She gave me a cream-white sundress that caught my eye, a few shirts and blouses, a skirt, and a couple of blue-jean pants.

“Try on the dress and see if it fits.” She tells me.

I take off my dress and stockings and I put on the sundress; Arlena sees how the dress looked on me and smiles.

“You fit it well.” She compliments.

I smile at her comment. Other than that, I’m grateful that she gave me the clothes; no one has ever done that for me. “Thank you, Arlena, and thank you for the clothes. I mean it.”

“You’re welcome.”

I take off the dress and put my dress and stockings back on. I put it back in the duffle bag; Arlena speaks:

“So… I’m curious…”

I look at her wondering what she’s going to say.

“Besides Seth’s purpose here, who is he to you really, Talia?”

Her question made me blush, I truly did not know how to answer.

“Did you and him… fool around?”

I stammer, trying to find the words to explain and I thought I would be called a whore again like before.

“Calm down, Talia.” She quietly assures me. “You’re not the only one that’s done it.”

…What? This is surprising to hear. She’s done it too? Without her parents knowing?

“That’s right.” She responds. “My parents told me not to have relations before marriage, but how am I supposed to know what to do when the time comes? I even had books I read about it, but Mom found my books and took them away.”

“Oh… With whom?”

“Randall. We talked about it at first and we were curious. So, we did it when I turned 18. So, there’s no need to feel embarrassed.”

I didn’t know what to say, I’m just surprised.

“Look, Talia. I know your first time wasn’t… how it was supposed to be, and I’m sorry that happened to you. But it’s good to know that Solomon got what he deserved, and I hope Seth showed you how it’s supposed to be.”

“I can say he did.” I reply as I nod.

“Good. In sync, in reason, and with heart and soul. Love.”

Arlena’s right and that’s how it was when I was with Seth; I’m glad I was able to find that kind of connection, and it’s with him. I see she finished packing and quietly zips up her suitcases, gives me one of as I carry the duffle bag over my shoulder, and with the other suitcase in hand, Arlena proceeds to turn off her lamp and goes to her door to open it. Before she could, we heard slow creaking and footsteps coming from the other side, making us stop in our tracks.

“My parents are awake…” Arlena whispers.

We heard those footsteps come close to the door which made me and Arlena silently back away from the door. We see the doorknob slowly turn which is making me panic. Now I’m thinking, what can we do if we get caught? Should Seth come down and help us? There are many thoughts going through my head.

…

…

…That sound. It’s the sound of the church bells, and whoever is at the door, just let go of the doorknob. We hear two slow sets of footsteps walking away from the door, walking down what sounds like the stairs, then we probably hear the front door opening and then closing. Arlena walks to her window, so do I to see what’s going on. We see her parents and most of the townspeople walking to the church as if they were in a trance; even the looks on their faces show that. If there is a time for us to leave, it is now. With luggage in our hands, Arlena opens her door, we run downstairs to the kitchen, and leave out the back door into the woods heading north. Within minutes of us walking, I hear chanting in the distance; how audible it was from this far doesn’t make sense… Then I hear screaming coming from the church, it sounds like the children of the town which makes me turn back in the direction of the town… what are they doing to them?! Why am I compelled to go back?

“Don’t even think about it, Talia.” Arlena tells me. “There’s nothing we can do for them! We have to leave this to Seth.”

The betrayal, panic, and pain. That’s why I’m compelled to turn back. I don’t want them to experience what I’ve felt, but she’s right. I can’t do anything about it now and it will be in Seth’s hands soon. Suddenly, the screams stopped. I look to the night sky to see it turn red with a giant cloud slowly swirling around where the church is… Is this Seth’s doing?

“My brothers and sisters.”

The voice sounded like booming thunder, like the clouds made the noise and it wasn’t Seth’s voice. That voice is Levi Denby’s. How is this happening? Is because of what’s going on in the church?

“We have several stragglers that are trying to escape! If they do, it will be the end of our way of living, the end of our lives! They must be corralled! Hurry and find them! Bring them back!”

I’m convinced that everything that’s going on is Denby’s doing; from what Seth said to us, the sky and clouds turning into how they look. Moments later, Arlena and I hear yelling coming from the town, it’s the townspeople; they’re coming for us! Arlena and I start to run as fast we can before they catch up. Luckily, we caught up with the rest of the group within a few minutes. As we did, Arlena and I start catching our breath; Randall catches Arlena while Ms. Mandy catches me.

“Are you both alright?” Randall asks.

“Yeah…” Arlena replies breathlessly. “We’ve got to go. They’re coming for us!”

The shouting from afar sounds more intense and it’s coming closer.

“Whoever has their guns, take them out!” Tori suggests.

Gino, Alger, Sammy, Aseno, Robert, Ronald, Edward, and Jerry take out their firearms. The moment Arlena and I caught our breaths, we started running with the rest of the group, belongings in hand. I hear not just the rustling of the grass beneath our feet, but I hear objects, like rocks, being thrown in our direction. I also heard gunfire with the bullets nearly hitting us, which made me scared to look behind me. One bullet flies behind and passing the right side of my face, hitting Morris, who’s in front of me, in his shoulder. In pain, he falls to the ground, stopping me, Ms. Mandy, Randall, and Arlena. Alger and Aseno run back to Morris to help him up with Gino aiming his handgun where the bullet’s direction came from. Another bullet is fired in our direction, Gino shoots his gun in the same direction as the bullet passes bushes, then we hear a scream of pain. The scream of a woman. Aseno and Alger finally get Morris up, and we continue to run. More gunfire keeps firing behind us, but I see Ronald, Jerry, Robert, Edward, and Sammy returning fire to give us time to catch up with the rest.

“The traitors are protecting the unholy witch!” I hear Denby’s voice. “She is the one who brought darkness into our beloved town and has made the traitors among us! Capture the harlot!”

I won’t let them take me, because if they do, they don’t want to know what I have in store for them; Seth will not allow that either. Me, Ms. Mandy, Randall, Arlena, Gino, Morris, Alger, and Aseno finally catch up to the rest of the group. Moments later, we see the bridge made of sturdy wood in the distance.

“We’re almost there, everyone! Don’t stop now!” Tori calls out joyously.

We all are now in the final stretch. The bridge is only a few yards away and even though I could hear more screams behind me, the gunfire was no longer scaring me anymore. We’re close to freedom, I’m close to freedom. But… I feel this is too good to be true. As the bullets flew, one of them struck my left leg. The strength of it caved, causing me to fall onto the dirt… the bags dropping… the pain… is so excruciating. I slowly look up to see Arlena and Randall coming to help me. I can’t believe it… the bridge is only several feet away; the others are making it across the bridge, and I’m stuck in the dirt, I can’t move my leg, and it hurts so badly.

“Come on, Talia! Get up!” Arlena cries. “We can’t leave here without you! Please! You have to get up! Seth would want you to…”

“Arlena…” I respond with pain. “I can’t move my leg… it hurts so bad…”

“Look, I know it hurts, Talia…” Randall answers. “But you’ve got to try. We’re not leaving you behind!”

“No!” I tell them both. “I don’t want them to get you two… just go on without me…”

I hear our group telling us to hurry, I know it’s too late for me, but not for them. I hear the shouting behind me closing in. Arlena and Randall have to go now!

“Take the bags and go…” I tell Arlena.

“But Talia—”

“Just do it! I’m not by myself… remember?”

Arlena didn’t protest any further. She nods, grabs the bags from me, and runs to the bridge with Randall not far behind… oh no. I’m fading in and out… I’m losing blood… I lay my head in the dirt losing focus… hearing muffled… I see a boot in front of my face… shit…