Living The Way (The Way Trilogy Book 1)

by Ellie Aiden

  Just to be clear, they do think about it, and they don’t like it. Couple things; one, girls and boys should not, under any circumstances, sleep in the same bed with a member of the same sex, unless they are related. Two, individuals are not to ever sleep outside their familial living accommodations, for safety reasons, you understand. Luckily for us, this is one of the few rules my parents have been letting us break, pretty much since day one.

  My mother said, “It’s completely healthy for two girls to want to have a sleepover. It’s good for the soul. What the Elders don’t know, won’t hurt them.”

  I do love my mother.

  After stopping off at Ash’s room to grab a change of clothes, and let Cody, her brother, know what’s going on, we make it back to my room. I don’t bother disturbing my parents to fill them in. They won’t care, so there’s no point, and its already pretty late. Night service in the middle of the week usually gets out by nine, but this one went a little late. Vater Henry was really feeling himself tonight.

  Both of us plop down on my full size bed, and considering we both have lessons in the morning I dive right in.

  “Ash and Chase, sittin in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g.” Yes, I know I’m a child.

  A pillow slams into my cheek, as we both collapse into a fit of giggles. It ends up being one of those five minute bouts of laughing, where you can’t breathe, and every time you think it’s over, one of you starts again, and then it starts all over again.

  When it’s finally over, we both let out a cleansing sigh, “I needed that Ash. Honestly, I don’t remember the last time I really laughed.”

  “Samesies.”

  We fall back in the bed, pulling the covers up over our heads like we use to when we were five. Anytime one of us had a big secret to tell, this is how we did it.

  “I need to tell you something but, I just…I’m just not sure if I should. Like, if you’ll want to know, and it’s not just one secret. I found out about a bunch of crazy stuff going on, and I don’t really want to drag you into it, but I think it’s too late for that.”

  Her eyes are wide and she looks terrified, although I’m not sure about which part.

  “Anna, you’re rarely serious about anything, so you are kind of freaking me out right now.”

  “Ugh, I know. I’m sorry. Okay, I’m just gonna spill.”

  On my back, under my emerald green comforter, I tell Ash everything. It’s dark under here, meaning I couldn’t see her face anyway, so instead I just stare straight ahead. When I’m finished, I wait. Kind of not sure if she is gonna cry, hit me, or run away. All equally as likely at this point.

  It seems like forever before she speaks. “Chase is gonna be my husband.” It’s not a question, more of an understanding.

  I nod, even though I doubt she can see me, and wait for her to continue.

  “Or not,” she mutters.

  Wait, what? “What do you mean, or not?”

  “Well, I just mean, the way I see it there are three possible futures for us, two of which align with my, or not statement, and when I say us, I mean me and you. One, you and I are about to be sold to… well, to someone. Sex slaves maybe? And when we’re sold, Chase will most definitely not be with us. Option two, we uncover all the horrible behind the scenes shit the Elders are into, and have to flee with for lives. Again, Chase won’t be with us. I don’t think it’s in his character to leave the Church. No matter what’s going on.”

  “I don’t know about that Ash. I think he’s in love with you.”

  The covers are thrown back, and in two seconds flat my best friend is straddling me, holding down both my arms; leaning down, no more than an inch from my face.

  “What makes you say that? He doesn’t even know me.”

  I half shrug, because there’s an entire person on me, and think about how I know. I don’t know, I just do, but that won’t appease my bestie.

  “Love at first sight? Just trust me. I know.”

  Her eyes seem to glaze over, and she gets this dumbstruck look on her face, or is it more of a lovesick look, either way she’s gone. Lost in another world.

  “I’m starting to lose feeling in my legs Ash.”

  Snapping out of it she rolls over to her side of the bed, leaving me to work the blood back to the lower half of my body. I hear her mumbling something about not even knowing each other, but before long she has drifted off to sleep. No doubt she will be having some epic dreams tonight.

  CHAPTER 8 — SPYING IS LIFE

  The weather is gorgeous today, it’s probably seventy-five degrees, with a slight breeze that keeps it from being too warm. My hair hangs down my back in waves, and I’m wearing my favorite emerald green dress, the one with the heart shaped buttons down the front my mother made me. The meadow I’m cloud watching in, is filled with lush green grass and dancing wild flowers in dozens of colors. It must have rained shortly before I arrived, because I can smell it, and there’s a beautiful rainbow on the horizon.

  A billowy white cloud, shaped like a bunny floats by above me, and the scent of cinnamon and bonfires fills my nostrils. Luke.

  “Hey Little Minx. May I have this dance?” He extends his hand to help me up, and once we’re connected he begins a slow sway.

  We never break eye contact as we twirl around the meadow. I’m mesmerized by his crystal blue eyes, how they’re filled with such warmth, and promises of safety and love. He spins me in a circle, before pulling me back close, chest to chest. He takes my hand and places it on his chest for safe keeping, and then begins tracing his finger around my lips, down my jaw, across my collar bone.

  A shiver racks my body at his touch. I never knew a collar bone was such an erogenous zone, but here we are.

  “Luke.” His name is just a whisper from my lips.

  “Anna”

  “Yes?”

  “Anna”

  “Kiss me.”

  “No gross. Wake your ass up.”

  Son of a bitch, what is happening? Opening my eyes, I see the morning light shining in through my bedroom window and to my left, Ash, with a suspicious grin plastered on her face.

  “Had any good dreams lately, hmmmm?”

  “You’re a real bitch you know that Ash?” I throw the covers back, leaving behind the warmth of my bed, and search for something to throw at her that’s harder than a pillow. She is currently bouncing up and down, clapping her hands, and laughing.

  “Whatcha dreamin’ about, huh huh huh?” She squeals and ducks, as I throw my one black flat at her head.

  “You know damn good and well what was I was dreaming about. Now get dressed, we’ve got a lot to do today.”

  ***

  Why can I not stop thinking about this boy? And now I’m dreaming about him too? What’s wrong with me? I met him one time for maybe two hours. But he called you Little Minx and said you were the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Ugh, I doubt he has even thought about me once since that day. I need to move on from this. I’ve got a lot to deal with, and I don’t need to be stressed about a boy. Especially one I’m never going to see again.

  Let’s summarize. We know the Church has a practice of arranged marriages. We know Elder Thompson lied about what happened in Bonham, and probably planned for us to somehow get kidnapped or…or... I don’t know, still processing that. We know that there is significant evidence that at least some of the Elders are selling girls and, we know that Ash is set to marry Chase, and I’m going to be alone for the rest of my life, because the boy I want, I can’t have. Yup, that about sums it up.

  I’m jerked from my thoughts by a round face too close to mine.

  “Child! Get out of my kitchen this instant, before you burn the whole compound down.” Spit flies from her mouth as she yells the order.

  I hear giggles from the other girls behind me, as I look around for this supposed fire. Oh yup, my pan has most definitely been on fire recently. Looks like the hag put it out before I came to. She shoves her finger in the direction of the exit, and I don’t arg
ue. Who needs cooking lessons anyway?

  I make my way toward the main hall where I have the best chance of running into an Elder. Getting kicked out of lessons this morning could not have worked out any better. This gives me a great opportunity to spy. Spying is what I do. Spying is life.

  The first door I come to is Vater Henry’s office. I try the handle, locked. Shit. Okay, next. Three other Elders have offices on this hall. I make my way to each of them, finding them all to be locked as well. Well this isn’t going well. Slow start, now what?

  Chase said he saw Michelle Hoya in her office with Elder McGee and Elder Thompson. That means she has to be in on whatever they have going on. I’ll try her office next, and worst case if I’m caught, I’ll just say I was looking for my Father.

  Heading down another hall I pass several people, but none of them seem to pay me any mind. This isn’t a common hallway for just anyone to be in. So I’m definitely gonna stick out. Hopefully, I don’t run into anyone important.

  Michelle Hoya’s office is right outside the entrance to the main lab. I don’t know her personally, so it’s possible she could walk right past me and I wouldn’t even know. I wish I was allowed to talk to Chase in public, I could really use his help right now.

  Rounding the last corner the lab doors come into view, and the office door to the left is cracked open. Yes! Finally, something goes right. I sneak as close as I can without being visible through the crack and listen. Crickets. Great.

  She’s probably working Anna, that’s what people do.

  I take a chance and slip a little closer. Through the crack, I can see one wall in her office and it happens to be the one her desk is parallel to, and its empty. I don’t know how big her office is, or what all she has going on in there. Could she be somewhere in there that I just can’t see? I kick the door. Oops. It was an accident. It wasn’t an accident.

  The door swings ajar, as I see the room is empty. Two points for Anna.

  Am I seriously going to break into the head of the lab’s office? Yes. Yes I am.

  Two feet in and no alarms sound, so as long as she doesn’t come back in the next five minutes, because that’s how long I’m giving myself, I should be good.

  Her desk is near the wall to my right, the top looks like something akin to organized chaos, having no less than six stacks of files and documents at least a foot tall each. Making my way over, and picking up the top file from the stack on the front corner, I decide to start there. Open the file is filled with at least eight to ten pages, each one filled with medical jargon I don’t understand. I notice the name on the tab, Mary Lou Routon. Doesn’t ring any bells, but that doesn’t really mean anything. Like me, Mary Lou is seventeen and due for her Placement in October of this year. On the last page in her file, is a page that looks different than the rest, filled with a list of names. Two I recognize, the others are unfamiliar to me, but I assume these are all boys who are compatible with Mary Lou. One name, Thomas Eden, is circled in red. Guess that’s your future husband Mary.

  Putting the file down and moving around to the other side of the desk, I try the drawers. These files might be useful if I had hours, but I don’t. I need a fast find, so I can get the hell out of here.

  The first two drawers are locked, but the single file drawer on the ride side isn’t. Pulling it open, I see its full of more files. I don’t have time for this, but as I go to shut the drawer, I notice a file that’s not only out of place, but it’s different than the others. All the files I have seen so far are normal manila folders, this one, this one is red. Looks like a literal red flag if I’ve ever seen one.

  Before I have a chance to open it voices sound outside the door. At least two as far as I can tell. Shit. Now what? Frantically I look around for somewhere to hide, coming up empty. This isn’t good at all. Hiding under the desk does me no good if that’s Michelle Hoya. Rushing to the other side of the office, and bringing the red file with me, I duck down between a fake potted plant, and a tall wooden bookcase, painted red. Holding my breath, I do my best not to make a sound. If anyone comes in, there is no way they won’t see me.

  The door to Michelle’s office opens, but then whoever is on the other side stops. I can hear them talking, but not well, and I’m debating moving closer. I’m screwed anyway as soon as they walk in, so what does it matter.

  As I make way closer to the barely open door, it begins to open more, and I’m pretty sure I just had a stroke.

  “I made contact, and made the necessary arrangements, setting it up for the original date, Thompson. What more do you want from me?” A woman’s voice, and if I were to guess, that’s Michelle Hoya.

  “I want to know how the last sale was botched so horribly.” Thompson; It’s gotta be.

  “Well for one, Jayson didn’t do his job. He let some random man take her, with rape as the intention no doubt, totally irresponsible. You know Roger likes them pure.” There’s a pause, and I’m certain their done talking, but then Thompson speaks.

  “Never the less, it would have still gone through had it not been for that boy. Because of him, we lost ten pallets of supplies. I want him gone.”

  “Honestly Thompson, this is not the end of the world. You should be thanking that boy. He saved your ass and you know it. If not for him, you would have only one girl of interest this month. And honestly, Ash Booker isn’t due for her Placement for another three months. Doing it now, it’s risky.”

  My leg is falling asleep, and my blood pressure is through the roof. It’s all I can do not to rush out this door screaming bloody murder. Clearly they are selling girls for supplies, but why? And, who’s in on it? None of this makes any sense.

  I’m pretty sure they’re done talking, and I’m two seconds away from being caught, when Michelle speaks again.

  “Bonham was a risk. The system we have in place has been working for years. Making the trade with Roger the night of Placement works. It’s a whole lot easier to explain away a disappearance, when you can simply say they were judged by God, failed, and now they must be cast out until they repent. You deviated from the plan with Anna Cress.” Michelle lets out a sigh, and her next works send a chill down my spine. “I’ll get rid of the boy, if that’s what you want, but this is the last time. I am not a murderer Thompson.”

  “Every day she and that friend of hers are here, we risk her exposing everything. Anna Cress has never, and will never conform to The Way. She isn’t like the other girls. If given time, she will destroy everything we’ve worked for here. She knows too much, or at least thinks she does. She needed to go, it couldn’t wait until Placement, and now, she is even more suspicious. You just better pray we can keep her quiet between now and the ceremony. And do get rid of the boy. He pissed me off if nothing else.”

  Hearing his footsteps retreat, I fall back to sit, leaning against a chair pushed against the wall. There are a lot of blank spots now, but that brief conversation cleared a lot of it up. Elder Thompson, Michelle Hoya, and no telling who else in the Church, are selling girls, virgin girls, in exchange for the supplies. Over the years, all the girls who walked into their Placement Ceremony who didn’t walk back out, God I can’t even deal with this. It wasn’t that God judged them and they chose, or were forced to leave the Compound to find God, no, the Elders judged them and then sold them.

  Nothing matters now. Ash and I, we will both be sold in less than three weeks. It doesn’t even matter if I’m caught right now, in Michelle Hoya’s office. So what, they throw me out a few weeks early? They kill me? I’m dead anyway, as soon as I leave this Compound.

  Standing from my place on the floor, I step out to the center of the office making myself easily visible as soon as she walks in. I can hear her breathing out there. Why isn’t she coming in? Maybe I’ll just open the door for her and expose myself?

  Before I can, Michelle’s hand slips through the small crack in the doorway, flips off the light switch, and closes the door. What the hell?

  ***

  Later that ev
ening, I fill Ash in on everything I learned in Michelle Hoya’s office. She voiced a lot of the same questions I had running through my mind. Why are the Elders doing this? We grow our own food, raise our own livestock, so if we needed that to be enough for us, couldn’t it? Sure, it’s nice to have various fabric brought in for clothes, to have shoes on our feet, a new toothbrush each year, toiletries, and food items we can’t grow here, like coffee.

  Oh, coffee. Focus Anna.

  We don’t have to have those things; we could make it without any of that. But instead they’re selling girls, and to some Roger guy who likes them pure? What the hell!?!

  So my Church, my home, the men and woman who were supposed to protect us, they’re involved in child sex trafficking? It’s possible you could argue they’re just being sold for labor, if I hadn’t heard Michelle Hoya say, you know Roger likes them pure, with my own ears.

  Ash and I spent two hours tonight trying desperately to figure out what we should do with this information. It would be really helpful if we knew who exactly was involved. Ash is convinced that while Vater Henry obviously has to know about girls being cast out, he doesn’t know they are actually being sold. I’m kind of inclined to agree with her. He doesn’t really strike me as the type, but then again, a few days ago I was referring to Elder Thompson as kind. Hell, I felt sorry for the man for having to kiss Dragon Breath. I hope he chokes on her spit.

  All that aside, I can’t stop thinking about the worst part. Elder Thompson directed Michelle Hoya to kill Luke, and there is absolutely no way for me to warn him.

  CHAPTER 9 — TRUTH BOMB

  The next few days are fairly uneventful. Ash and I both agreed we needed to fill Chase in on everything we know. While I don’t think he is the type to partake in an uprising, he’s one of the only allies we have in here, an extra set of eyes and ears. To be honest, we need all the help we can get. We are in way over our heads.

  Weeks ago, when I really started to realize something more than just weird Church practices was going on, this is not what I imagined. God would not be okay with this. Right? Right, I know he wouldn’t. Everything about this is wrong.