In the Image of Grace

by Charlotte Ann Schlobohm

  Mr. Santiago rubbed his face with both his palms. He looked over at the two that Mr. Erickson grabbed as added witnesses. “Do you two agree with her?” They both nodded. “You two can go back to class. He then looked at Ron, “You can go too.” He then looked at me. “You can go to class Charlotte.”

  But instead of going to class I went to find the school nurse’s office, so I could check on Jeremy. He was just leaving when I got there.

  “How are you doing?” I asked taking his hand as we stood in the empty hallway. Everybody else in school was in class and had been for a while.

  “I’ll survive,” he answered smiling meekly at me. “How are you?”

  “I’m not the one who was in a fight.”

  “Hey, you did hit that guy Mike with a book, right, pretty brave on your part.”

  “You know them.”

  “Barely, they’re always looking for a reason to get in a fight,” Jeremy said shrugging his shoulders.

  “Thanks, by the way.”

  “My pleasure,” he whispered kissing me on the forehead.

  “I was kind of surprised what it all surmounted too.”

  “You mean me actually getting in a fight?”

  “Yeah.”

  Jeremy suddenly looked sad at the memory of it. “He had no right saying what he did.”

  “Me being an alien?” I asked trying to keep the conversation light.

  “No, the other thing,” Jeremy murmured seeming unable to repeat what was said to me.

  “What if he was right?”

  “Don’t ever say that,” he snapped.

  “A lot of people do seem to be angered about my existence.”

  Jeremy engulfed me in a bear hug and stuck his face in my hair. “They’re just angry at your father. Nobody has any right to be angry at you.” Jeremy took me by the shoulders and looked into my eyes. “Understand?”

  I shook my head yes, even thought I wasn’t sure if he was right or not. I wrapped my arms around him and snuggled my face into his shirt.

  “I have to go down to the principal’s office,” Jeremy said.

  “I’ll walk with you.”

  “Shouldn’t you be in class?”

  I smiled at him. He was so cute. “Funny, how we were just talking about fighting the other day. You took what you said to heart, huh.”

  Jeremy put his arm around me as we walked. “I hold true to my word.”

  …………………………………………………

  I waited in the hall for Jeremy as he got reprimanded for his actions by the principal. A security guard walked by and a teacher or two, but nobody bothered me as I stood there waiting. I seemed to be getting some extra leniency and I was okay with it. Perhaps something I would have to exploit. After a bit Jeremy popped into the hall. I looked at him to see what his punishment was.

  “In school suspension for three days, but I’m being sent home for the rest of today. I think Mr. Santiago was kinda on my side even though I threw the first punch.”

  “They did also gang up on you,” I pointed out.

  “Yeah,” Jeremy sighed as the bell rang. “In school is not so bad. I just sit in a classroom all day and do my homework.”

  “Doesn’t sound like much of a punishment,” I speculated as we walked down the hall.

  “Yeah, it’s kinda pointless, but I’m not gonna complain too much.”

  Jeremy walked me down to my locker. I didn’t have to open it because it was still open from earlier. I grabbed my bag and shoved a couple books in. While I was getting my stuff Jeremy pulled his glasses out of his pocket.

  “My mom is gonna be pissed. They’re broken,” he groaned inspecting them. “I think I’m the one who actually stepped on them.”

  “That stinks.”

  “What stinks even more is Brett is on his way to pick me up. My mom couldn’t get off of work to come and get me, so she called Brett.”

  “You can’t take the bus home?” I asked as the bell rang.

  “No, I guess the school wants to make sure you’re actually going home, so an adult has to come and get you.”

  “Well, you better go then, so he doesn’t get angry if you’re not there.”

  “Yeah.”

  I put my finger on his face right next to his injured lip. “I’ll call you later if I can, okay.”

  “Good,” he said smiling at me.

  We exchanged a hug and light kiss. I went into division. Rain was in there already, so I went and sat next to her. Her hair was pulled back with two little light blue barrettes shaped like ice cream cones.

  “I saw part of what happened,” she chimed with an impish smile.

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, I saw you hit that guy with your book. That was pretty awesome.”

  “No, not really, I was lucky he didn’t punch me.”

  “Yeah, but I heard Jeremy did throw the first punch,” Rain remarked with a smirk.

  “Boy, word gets around quick.”

  A few people I honestly didn’t know, or take the time to get to know really, sat on the top of the desks around me. I wasn’t happy that Jeremy got into a fight and I didn’t like him in pain, but a twisted side of me was a little relieved that for a short time everybody’s attention was focused elsewhere.

  One of the people sitting around me was a girl with a frizzy mass of hair about her head. “I heard your boyfriend took down Austin Garvey, that’s pretty impressive.”

  “Is it?” I asked.

  “Yeah, you saw the guy, right,” the girl jested.

  “I got to see the whole thing,” some guy with a dark shaved head said. “It’s a shame they broke it up,” he snickered laughing to himself. “You coming out of nowhere with the book and then that little guy jumping on the other one’s back…..” he trailed off seeing my expression fall.

  “Uh, that was my boyfriend they were beating upon. I would have preferred for none of it to have happened,” I retorted as this kid thought it was all amusing.

  “Look, I’m sorry. I was rooting for your boyfriend. Those guys were being assholes.”

  “Thanks,” I said giving him a little smile.

  The others standing around nodded in agreement, it made me feel a little better knowing not everybody was offended by my existence. Mr. Alvarez came in and told everybody to have a seat. He then called me up and handed me a note. It said, “After school wait in the main office for your ride. In all capital letters it said: DO NOT LEAVE!” I was sure the note was from Reginald because he was the one who doubted our ability to obey.

  Chapter Eighteen

  After school Isabelle, Clarissa and I thought about trying to bolt for it, but figured we wouldn’t get far. There were too many obstacles outside that would slow us down and once somebody said they were looking for us we would have been very easily found. It seemed like everybody knew who we were.

  We waited impatiently in the main office. We all had our minds elsewhere when we heard, “C’mon girls.” It was Mr. Carl. He had on very crisp khakis’ and a gray trench coat. At first we didn’t move. The three of us just looked at each other. We didn’t want to go with him.

  “Girls,” he warned reading our faces. “If you don’t come with me, your father will come and get you.”

  “Don’t call him that,” I snapped. “He’s not our father.”

  “Just because you’re not biologically related does not mean he’s not your father.”

  “He never was our father. We are just science experiments to him and you know that,” I related seething.

  Mr. Carl pinched the bridge of his nose. “Girls,” was all he said.

  I looked at him with animosity in my eyes. “Don’t we have somewhere to go?”

  Mr. Carl turned and walked out of the office. We followed. We went out the back of the school where the parking lot was. A black sedan with tinted windows waited. The car looked like it should have driving a politician around, not us. Mr. Carl opened the car door and the three of us filed in. Mr. Carl
went and sat up front leaving us with absolutely no clue to what was going on.

  “Where is he taking us?” Clarissa asked with her mouth drawn in a frown.

  “Maybe it’s finally the press conference they were talking about,” Isabelle surmised chewing on the tip to her pointer finger.

  “Didn’t they do that already? Isn’t that how everybody knows?” Clarissa asked running her hand over the smooth, black leather seats.

  “I think that was just a press release, where they tell the media, but not in person,” Isabelle explained switching finger tips to chew on, now focusing on her middle finger.

  “Is that where we’re going then, to a press conference,” Clarissa inquired. “If I’ve known I would have fixed my hair nicer or something.”

  Isabelle shook her head. “We don’t know where we are going, okay,” Isabelle affirmed irritated with our sister.

  Clarissa looked at Isabelle and me. “You two should fix your hair also. At least brush it.”

  I reached up and ran my hand over my hair. She was right. I probably did look like a wreck.

  “Yeah, you,” Clarissa quipped to me reaching into her school bag pulling out a purple hair brush. I took it from her and ran it through my hair.

  “This is no time to be thinking about how we look,” Isabelle snapped. “We’re going to be exploited. Does that matter to either of you?”

  “Excuse me,” I snapped back at Isabelle. “I was told I shouldn’t be alive today and Jeremy got in a fight and was sent home and I hit some guy in the head with a book, I think I’m entitled to brush my hair!”

  Isabelle held up her hands. “Geesh, sorry, didn’t know. Jeremy got in a fight.”

  “Yes,” I murmured looking out the window for any clue to where we might be going. We were heading for the expressway, so we were probably going across town. I had a feeling to the south side.

  “Is he okay?” Isabelle asked.

  “Yeah, he’ll live. It was two on one, wasn’t really fair. I’m just worried about how much trouble he’ll get into. His stepdad seems like a real jerk.” I looked out the tinted window and watched the city go by.

  “Somebody said you shouldn’t be alive, why?” Clarissa asked.

  “Have you paid attention to the news or newspapers at all Clarissa?” Isabelle asked.

  Clarissa shrugged in response.

  “People are saying we’re against God’s way, we’re not natural. We shouldn’t have been made in the first place. Our mere existence really upsets a lot of people.” Isabelle looked at her fingers.

  “Oh,” Clarissa responded.

  The rest of the car ride we were all caught up in our own thoughts again. I kept thinking about how Isabelle seemed rather on edge and more assertive than usual, but who was to blame her. I seemed to have forgotten that I wasn’t the only one impacted by the whole situation. I also had two sisters to worry about.

  I was right. We were headed to the south side, the warehouse where I first found out the truth. Isabelle was also right. We were being taken to be exploited. We did a slow drive by in front of the building. Floods of people waited out front. There was a stand that some were crowded around where tee-shirts were being sold. Others held signs like the ones I saw outside our house and school. The signs were all positive ones, so it must have just been members of The Children of Grace out there. I noticed a couple of the people wearing the tee-shirts they had bought. On the top they said, “The New children,” and below the words were mine, Isabelle’s and Clarissa’s heads. It looked like they were cut out of some other picture because we had no necks or bodies just our heads floating there and the picture it was taken from must have been a recent one because Clarissa had her hair in her high ponytail. It all seemed very creepy to me. I couldn’t believe that our father, Mr. Carl and that Pastor Dave had all those people convinced that we really were made in the image of extra-terrestrials. They had no idea that it was all a scam.

  As our car pulled up people rushed into the street, the car was engulfed by the flood. Curious bodies clung to the side and pressed their faces up against the windows. They were screaming things like; “We believe in you” and “You girls are our future” and some were screaming, “We love you.” The car slowly inched forward through the madness. We reached a small alley. The car turned down it and pulled up in front of a small metal back door. The car stopped, but before we got out a path was created to the door for us by a bunch of large bald men all dressed in black. They stood on either side acting as a damn against the flood that was rushing towards them.

  The car door opened. The three of us sat there looking at each other. A habit we seemed to of started. We looked at each other for reassurance it seemed before we embarked on something new or unsure. I sure didn’t want to go out in that madness. Within seconds Mr. Carl’s head appeared in the open door. “Get out girls,” he said in a fake sweet voice. “It’s okay.”

  I went out first. My sisters followed. People were screaming like we were celebrities. Mr. Carl ushered us through the door. We entered into a long cream colored hallway made of cinderblocks.

  “This way,” Mr. Carl said waving over his shoulder.

  We cautiously followed him down the hall. About halfway down Mr. Carl opened a wooden door and waved us in with his hand.

  “Just have a seat and wait here,” he said once we were all in the room.

  The room was small with a few plastic chairs and a square folding table.

  “Can you at least tell us what this is about?” I asked as he was about to leave and close the door on us.

  Mr. Carl pinched the bridge of his nose and looked at us.

  “I won’t move until you tell us,” I said sitting down onto one of the plastic chairs, folding my arms over my chest.

  Mr. Carl let out a deep breath. “You’re being introduced to the members of The Children of Grace.”

  “Do we have a choice in the matter?” I asked already knowing that we didn’t.

  “No,” he responded. “I’ll be back when they’re ready for you.”

  After Mr. Carl left we sat there for quite a while. I went and shook the door handle, but it was locked and there was no other way out.

  “It’s not like we’d get far if we tried to escape,” Isabelle huffed with her eyebrows drawn down with her mouth in a scowl.

  “True,” I agreed sitting back down. I looked over at Clarissa who sat across from me. She was fussing around with her hair.

  “You look perfectly fine,” I assured her.

  “I just don’t know what to do,” she whined wrapping her rubber band around her ponytail.

  “Remember, we are the image of perfection,” Isabelle jeered sarcastically. “All those people aren’t going to care what your hair looks like. To them you’re already perfect.”

  “I’m going to call Jeremy,” I mumbled pulling out my phone. “See how he’s doing.” I dialed his number and listened to his phone ring, after a few times he picked it up.

  “Hey,” he chirped with happiness in his voice.

  “Hello. Did you get in trouble?”

  “Like I said Brett was madder over having to pick me up then he was me getting into a fight. My mom’s not home yet, so we’ll see what she has to say when she gets home. How you doin?”

  “We are sitting in a warehouse waiting so all the cult children can get a look at us.”

  “Serious?”

  “Yeah and it’s real creepy. There were people waiting outside wearing tee-shirts with our faces on them.”

  “Wow.”

  I looked up and Isabelle was standing near the door. She glanced over at me. “I think someone is coming.”

  “I’ll call you back later Jeremy. I have to go.”

  “Okay.”

  As soon as I hung up my phone and slipped it back into my pocket the door opened and Mr. Carl reappeared. “Follow me girls,” he asserted.

  The three of us followed him down the hall to where there was an opening. I could hear that everybody in th
ere was singing the Song of Grace. When they finished there was cheering and then I heard Reginald’s voice. He started talking about his visit from the Xtials and how Grace was back on the home planet and that the new children of Grace were the future of the world. Clarissa nervously bounced on her heels. Isabelle chewed on her finger and I darted my eyes all around still secretly hoping somehow we could make a run for it, but the only two ways out were down the hall to outside where I’m sure there were still pools of people waiting or through the opening that led into the main part of the warehouse, where everybody waited to see us for themselves.

  “They are the image of perfection,” I heard Reginald say. “They are a scientific breakthrough and will save the human race. These children will make the world a better place. They are the new children of Grace.”

  We could hear the crowd going wild.

  Mr. Carl looked at us. “That’s our cue.”

  We followed him through the open doorway that led into the warehouse. All I could really see was straight ahead because some curtains hanging from the side of the stage obstructed the view, but what I could see made my stomach a little queasy. There was people smashed together vying for space just so they could see mine and my sister’s face, the face of our mother, the face of Grace. I could see the strip of people against the wall. They were cheering and holding their hands up in the air. I think some of them were even crying.

  Did those people honestly believe all of the crap that was being fed to them? It saddened me that Reginald’s, or The Giver of Grace as they knew him, words and fake promises was what those people had to cling to.

  Mr. Carl led us around the curtain and up a couple steps onto the wood stage where we stood off to the side to begin. With our positioning on stage I was able to see the enormity of it all. First off, the stage was a little fancier than it was the last time I saw it. Before it looked like plywood just nailed together, but when I saw it then it looked like it was done in the newest of hardwoods and there was permanent lighting installed at the foot of the stage and as I mentioned before there were curtains, but they looked like they were made of some sort of luxurious silky velvety type of fabrics and were a rich plum color.