With piqued curiosity, Abigail turned back and watched quietly as Mama Sarah ambled to the door and opened it wide to reveal a handsome, clean-shaven man. He wore dark brown pants with a tan button-down shirt tucked neatly inside. His short, trimmed hair was mostly covered by the brimmed hat that matched the rest of his outfit perfectly. The hard set of his eyes gave her the impression he was someone you wouldn't want to test. That and the gun holstered boldly in the belt on his hip.
“Mornin’ ma’am,” he’d said in a deep voice. “I’ve got a registered letter here for a Mr. Nehemiah Pence.” He motioned to the yellow envelope tucked under his arm.
There was a patch of some sort on his left sleeve, but Abigail couldn’t see it very well. She drew closer and squinted.
“He is not here. He is in the barn.” Mama Sarah had answered with a bit of a tremble in her voice. “Out back.”
The man turned before Abigail could get a better look at the yellow star. That was all she could see before Mama Sarah sent the stranger away.
He tipped his hat politely and headed off in the direction of the barn. Abigail slipped out the back door and followed quietly, being sure to not be seen. As he entered the barn, she rushed along the side and found a hollowed-out knot in the side of the old barn. She peeked through and could see the back of her father as the man approached.
“Nehemiah Pence?” the man asked as he came closer to her father.
Her father stood and stared at the stranger for a moment before he nodded.
“Sign here,” the man had said holding out a board with a paper clipped to it.
“What is this about?” her father asked.
“Certified letter, sir,” the man said as his hand moved down to his gun. “Please sign here.”
Abigail watched her father take the offered pen and scribble something on the clipboard the man held out. Then the man handed him something and left. She waited and watched to see what her father would do. For a moment, he just stared down at the yellow envelope. But then he opened it. He pulled out a handful of papers and looked them over. For a moment, he fell silent. He blinked, and a tear rolled down his face. In all her life, Abigail had never seen her father cry.
Swiping a hand over his face, he sat down on a hay bale. He shuffled through the papers once more and then spoke two words just loud enough for Abigail to hear. “She’s alive.”
The look of relief on her father’s face was enough to give Abigail hope. She’d never seen the envelope or the contents again, and she’d not heard another word about the strange man who came to visit, but in her heart, she knew what her father had been saying. Rachel was alive. But she couldn’t tell anyone what she’d seen, not even Tabitha
Abigail had a sinking feeling, she was already going to be in big trouble, so, despite the fear of provoking her father’s wrath even more, she spoke. “Father?” She rushed to walk beside him, but his stride was much too long for her to keep pace.
He looked back at her but did not speak.
“Father. I have to know.”
“Abigail.” Her father stopped. Worry and fear penetrated his deep dark eyes. She hadn’t been the first to break his heart.
“Is she alive, Father? Please say she is. It is the only hope I have.” Somehow, he understood her plight. If they were going to flesh her out, she needed to have hope she might survive.
He nodded. “She is alive.”
“Father, I am so sorry.”
Her father stared into her eyes for an instant before he spoke the three words she never in her life had heard him say. “You must lie.”
“Father?”
“Abigail, I cannot lose another daughter. Guilt weighs heavily on my heart already. God forgive me for saying this, but I do not want to lose you, too.”
How her father knew she was involved she did not know nor did she question. The mere fact that he had expressed his pain for Rachel proved his love for her. And now he was asking Abigail to lie. Not just any lie, but one to keep her from being fleshed-out like her sister. One to keep her safe.
Abigail nodded. She was not good at deception, but she would do her best if it meant staying alive. She did not ask any more about her sister. Knowing she was alive was enough for her.
“If you are found out, there will be nothing I can do for you,” her father said, and without another word, he turned and continued to walk toward the house.
Elder Aaron stood on the porch, peering down at them as they approached. Her father showed no emotion as he walked onto the porch and gave the elder a curt nod.
Abigail.” Elder Aaron's lips turned down and creases set between his narrowed eyes.
Abigail nodded with a swallow. “Elder Aaron.”
“Let us go inside where it is a bit cooler.”
Abigail swallowed, glanced at her father, and followed the elder into the house. Briefly, her father placed a hand on her shoulder just long enough to comfort her.
“Elder Aaron, what brings you here?” Mama Dorothy asked as they entered the house. Several of the younglings sat at the big table, eating an evening snack.
“We will need some alone time,” her father said. “Take the younglings out back for a bit.”
Mama Dorothy looked from Abigail to Elder Aaron and then back to her husband. “Yes, husband,” she said as she gathered up the kids.
Mama Sarah entered the room, but as soon as she saw them, she backed out quietly. Abigail had been the only one to see her but pretended she didn’t. She couldn’t bear to face her biological mother. They had always had an unbreakable bond. A bond that was about to shatter into a thousand pieces.
“So, Abigail. How have you fared since the loss of your sister?” Elder Aaron asked as he sat on the chair and nodded for her to take a seat on the couch.
“I am well, Elder.” She sat but dared not look up at him for fear he would see the truth in her sad eyes.
“The two of you were like twins,” he said. “What, three days apart?”
“Yes, Elder. I, the eldest.”
“It must have been hard for you to lose her.”
Abigail had no idea where the conversation was going, but she played along anyway. “Yes, it has been hard on all of us. Losing a sister is no easy thing, no?”
“And you would do just about anything to get her back, would you not?”
For the first time, Abigail looked up. What kind of snare was he trying to set out for her? She looked at her father. His eyes repeated the three words he’d said before. You must lie.
“Elder?” she spoke steadily. “I do not understand your words. My sister has passed. There is no coming back from that no matter how much I may wish it to be so.”
He nodded. “Yes, you are correct. Your sister is indeed dead. But as you are also aware, questions have arisen as to your whereabouts on the day of the Smithfield barn fire.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I am aware, Elder Aaron.”
“After months of investigating.” Elder Aaron spoke with a calmness that unnerved her. “And questioning every member of the congregation, young and old, we have uncovered some disconcerting information about the event.” He folded his hands in his lap.
Abigail looked past Elder Aaron just in time to see her mother wipe a tear from her eye. When their eyes met, Abigail’s heart shattered.
Elder Aaron and her father both turned to see what she was looking at, but her mother had moved away without detection. Elder Aaron turned back to her. He was a fierce and unkind man. She looked down to his arm, which still held the scars from where her sister had dug deep gashes into his skin. His gaze dropped to the wounds and then back up to her, eyes as cold as ice.
They stared at each other for a while before he finally spoke. “A witness has come forward.”
A boulder settled in the pit of her stomach. Who? Who had come forward?
“The person gave a complete account of you running from the Smithfield barn only minutes after the alarm was sounded.”
Abigail
looked from Elder Aaron to her father. She was not good at lying. Still, if she wanted to live, she had no choice. Her father had attested to that, but how could she lie with him right there in the room?
“Me, Elder Aaron?” She glanced again at her father. “Running from the barn?”
“Elder Aaron.” Her father stood, sensing her distress with him in the room. “I beg your pardon, but I must tend to something outside. Please continue your line of questioning.”
Elder Aaron nodded and continued as her father left the room. All her life, her father had taught her that lying was a sin. Not just in word but also in deed. He’d been the perfect role model, a man that other men in the community looked up to and respected. And now, he was telling her to sin. She would do it, but she was glad he would not have to witness it.
Elder Aaron cleared his throat, bringing her attention back to him.
“Yes, Abigail. The witness saw you running away from the fire. And you were not wearing your covering.” Elder Aaron stared at her intently.
That day rushed through her head as if it had happened only yesterday. As soon as she had been sure the flames would not burn out, she’d run. But somehow, she’d lost her cover. She wasn’t sure if it had fallen off at the barn and burned in the fire or was lost somewhere along the way to her home. Had someone found it?
Each female was assigned a covering for their head. Their initials stitched into the lining so they could be told apart on laundry day. Several of the girls had more than one, but no more than two. Abigail only had one, but when she’d gotten back home, it was there hanging on her hook.
“They must have been mistaken, Elder Aaron. It was not me.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, Elder.”
“Remove your cover for me, please.”
Abigail stared at him for a moment. It was unheard of for a female to bare her head to any man other than her husband. Not even her own father. “Elder?”
He nodded, holding out a hand. “The covering, Abigail.”
In shame, Abigail untied her covering and pulled it from her head. The moment it left her head, she felt violated, naked.
Her hand shook as she held it out to Elder Aaron. She placed her hand over her head to hide her shameful state. She took in a deep breath to sway the tears that bit at the edges of her eyelids. How could he do this to her?
He turned the cover inside-out, checked the stitching, and handed it back to her. She immediately placed it back on her head and tied it under her chin.
“Where were you when the fire started?” He watched her closely. “The entire community was there to put out the fire, but I did not see you.”
Oh, but I saw you. You were chasing after them. If it weren’t for you, maybe they would have not been so reckless.
But she could not say the words she longed to say. It would not do to test him at this moment. It would be much better to appease him than oppose him. Besides, the community was comprised of over a thousand people, and that day had been chaos. There was no way he’d have known if she was there or not even if he had been there.
“I was there, Elder Aaron. I helped fill the many buckets at the well.” She had.
Just as soon as she’d run back home, she’d gone straight back out to help combat the fire.
She still wasn’t sure why she had run away from the fire when everyone else was running to it. She hadn’t really thought it through. Her only thought was that she did not want to look suspect. And now, she looked that way anyway.
“Tabitha can confirm it. We stood side by side as we filled buckets for the men to carry to the barn.”
“And you were wearing your covering?”
“Always. Is it not forbidden for a girl to be without?” she asked appalled he would ask such a question.
“It is. And Tabitha will confirm you were there?”
“Yes,”
“You are not to have any communication with her until the two of us have spoken. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Elder Aaron.”
Elder Aaron stood and left the house. Abigail sat nervously and contemplated her situation. What would Tabitha say? She hadn’t lied. She and Tabitha had filled buckets together. But Abigail had come onto the scene a bit late. Would Tabitha tell them that? Who had seen her without her covering?
“Abigail?” Her father interrupted her thoughts.
Startled, she turned to him. “Yes, Father?” She looked up into his sad eyes.
“I am sorry. May God forgive us both for our transgressions.” His eyes glistened. “We must pray.”
“Yes, Father.”
As her father prayed for forgiveness for the deception they had spun, shame drenched Abigail’s heart as if she’d been plunged into a vat of poison. She was now and would be forever tainted. She sat quietly with her head bowed as her father prayed silently for them both.
When she looked up, her father was staring at her, his eyes glossy. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly.
“I do not wish to lose another child.”
“I am so sorry, Father.”
“WHAT HAS HAPPENED?” Tabitha asked Abigail during the Sunday Sacrament noon break.
“I am not allowed to speak to you.” Abigail turned to leave.
“Elder Aaron has questioned me. He said you are free to speak now.”
Abigail turned back around. “What did you say?”
“I told him the truth. You were there with me the entire time.”
“But—”
“That is how I remember it.” Tabitha cut her off. “Is that not how it happened?”
“It is,” Abigail said, grateful to Tabitha for covering for her.
“Now,” Tabitha said, pulling Abigail aside. “I have something to tell you. You can keep my secret, no?”
“Yes, of course.”
Tabitha locked her arm inside of Abigail’s and pulled her to the side.
“Two nights ago, I came downstairs to use the outhouse, and Father was speaking to someone. I stopped and listened. I should not have, but . . . well, I heard him say . . .”
Tabitha stopped. She glanced around the area and then back to Abigail.
“What did he say?”
“He said he would find Luna and bring her back. He even used her real name. Father has never called her by that name.”
“He what?” Abigail stared in unbelief. “But I thought – Is she alive?”
“Elder Aaron said she had disgraced the community and brought about an uprising among the young folks. He said—”
Abigail could not believe her ears. And the fear on Tabitha’s face was intense. “What—” she couldn’t finish.
“He said she would need to be punished in accordance with the Old Testament.”
Abigail stared at Tabitha. It could not be so.
“Deuteronomy?” she asked.
Tabitha nodded. “I am afraid for her. And father has been gone so much lately. I am sure he is searching for her.”
No one had ever been stoned to death in their community, but it had been preached as a warning on several occasions. It was the ultimate punishment that far surpassed any other. The offender would be tied to a post in the center of the community, and the people would throw rocks at the person until they were dead. The Stoning Court had stood unused in the center of the community for as long as Abigail could remember. It was merely a circular cement slab with a post in the middle of it, but it was a fearful sight to the community. All around it were boulder-sized rocks. Not just small stones. They were stacked several feet off the ground and encased the slab. It was a warning. They were forbidden to go into the area, and no one wanted to anyway.
“We must go,” Tabitha said. “The service is about to start again.”
Abigail broke from her trance and looked around. People were throwing away their trash in the bins and heading back into the service. Abigail and Tabitha hadn’t gotten the chance to eat. It didn’t matter, her appetite was gone.
Reb
ecca is alive. She’d already known the elders had lied about Rachel. Did that mean Jonathan and Jacob had made it out as well? Why were the elders lying to them?
Chapter 7 ― Luna
It was good to be back home. Luna had enjoyed her time with her father and her younger siblings, but she was glad to be back with Jonathan and her mother. No offense to her little brother and sisters, but she wasn’t used to all the noise and chaos.
Jonathan had finally gotten the job at the moving company and was excited to get started.
“Hey, guys.” Linda came strolling into the kitchen with several bags draped over her arms.
“Here let me help you with that.” Jonathan rose to grab some of the bags from her mother's hands.
“Oh, thank you, Jonathan. You’re always so helpful.”
Luna rolled her eyes and mimicked her mother soundlessly, making Jonathan chuckle.
“I heard that,” Linda said, swiping at Luna.
“I didn’t say a word.” Luna ducked to avoid her mother’s playful swat.
Luna enjoyed that her mother and Jonathan got along even if Jonathan made her look bad by always helping around the house and doing her mother’s bidding. Something she should have done more of all along.
“Sit down.” Linda placed the rest of the bags onto the counter. “I have something I want to talk to you two about.”
Luna knew her mother too well. Whenever she said those words – I have something I want to talk to you about, - it was a precursor for something bad. Often, it was something Luna had done that had finally caught up with her. Trouble in school, truancy, you name it, Luna had done it. But in the last half a year, Luna had grown up considerably. She no longer took her life for granted or advantage of her mother. She’d learned quickly that life was too precious to treat your loved ones the way she had. She’d learned a hard lesson during the four months living with The Chosen.
“Yeah, Mom?” Luna took a seat at the table.
Jonathan sat next to Luna, and her mother sat on the other side. “I have good news and bad news. Well, I mean, it’s not really bad news. At least not ―”
“What is it, Mom?” Luna asked. “What’s going on?”
The Forsaken (The Chosen Series Book 2) Page 4