“I’m sorry,” Samantha said.
“It’s fine. We’re almost there.” After a fork in the road, the trees thinned to reveal a wide, swift stream. Samantha took a step back at the sight of the water.
“Is it safe?” she asked.
“We all bathe in here.” Prudence set Samantha’s new clothes—a gray dress and white apron like Prudence’s—on a rock. “Do you want any help?”
“No, I can handle it,” Samantha said, although she couldn’t remember ever taking a bath before. She took a bar of soap from Prudence, her nose wrinkling at the strong lye odor. At the edge of the water, she stuck a toe in. A second later she jumped back. “It’s cold!”
“If you’re quick it won’t be so bad.”
Samantha reached for the hem of her nightgown. “You aren’t going to peek, are you?”
“No, I’ll wait for you over there.” Prudence pointed to a cluster of boulders near the trees.
Samantha removed her nightgown and soiled underwear, leaving them in a heap at the water’s edge. She took a deep breath and then dashed into the water. The frigid water stung her like a million wasps; she put a hand to her mouth to keep from crying out.
Then something cold and scaly touched her leg. She jumped back as a school of silver fish swam past. Her feet dug into the sandy bottom, but couldn’t find purchase. With a cry, she tumbled into the water. The swift current took hold, carrying her downstream. She tried to swim towards the shore, but her frenzied paddling did nothing but tire her muscles out. She managed to keep her head above water long enough to scream.
Darkness presses all around her. A stench like that of a rotting corpse fills her nostrils, cutting off air to her lungs. She gags on the foul air as she tries to take in enough oxygen to scream for help. A sour taste muffles the sound that comes from her throat. No one can hear her. No one can help her.
A hand took hold of Samantha’s hair, yanking her back to the surface in a blaze of pain. Prudence grabbed Samantha around the neck and then dragged her towards the shore. Samantha squirmed against Prudence’s chokehold, but couldn’t break free. She finally stopped trying, letting Prudence haul her onto the beach. While Prudence dried her with a towel, Samantha looked down at the ground at her gigantic feet. No matter how hard she bit down on her lip, she couldn’t keep from crying. “Are you hurt?” Prudence asked.
Samantha shook her head violently. “It’s not that. I’m ugly, I can’t remember anything, and everyone hates me.”
“Everyone doesn’t hate you.”
“What makes you so sure about that?”
“I don’t hate you. I don’t think you’re ugly either.”
“You’re just saying that.”
“Well, look at me. I’m fat.” She patted the stomach bulging against her apron for emphasis.
“You’re not that fat.”
“I’m the fattest person in Eternity.”
“Haven’t you tried to lose weight?”
“I do.” Prudence stopped drying Samantha. “I skipped meals for a week and didn’t lose an ounce. I’d give anything to be skinny like you. Then no one would call me names anymore.” Prudence blushed and then cleared her throat. “We better get you dressed.” Prudence handed the pile of clothes to Samantha.
“Why does everyone wear the same thing?”
“Everyone is treated equally in Eternity.”
“Why aren’t there more adults?”
“There used to be, but they disappeared. No one knows where they went, so the reverend takes care of us.”
“Everyone’s parents disappeared?”
“I can’t remember mine. They left when I was a baby.”
“How old are you?”
“Nine, I think.”
“How do you know that?”
“I don’t know. I just do.”
Samantha put on the clothes Prudence had brought and frowned. The dress was too loose and too short and the shoes pinched her feet so she couldn’t take a step without wincing. She started to take off the stockings, but Prudence grabbed her arm.
“You can’t do that!”
“Why not?”
“It’s forbidden by The Way.”
“What’s ‘The Way?’”
“It’s a set of rules the reverend composed to make sure we all get into Heaven. You’ll hear more about it during morning services. Until then, no bare legs. No unbound hair either.”
“Are you going to cut my hair off?”
“No, but we have to pull it back. Here, sit down.” Samantha sat on a rock and Prudence took a wire brush from her apron. At the first swipe of the brush, Samantha yelped with pain; it felt worse than Prudence yanking her to the water’s surface by the hair. “Sorry. It’s really tangled.”
“Can’t we leave it? My hair won’t do anything bad.”
“I told you, it’s forbidden. Try to sit still.” Samantha bit down on her lip until it bled while Prudence continued to tear the brush through the wet tangles of Samantha’s black hair. I won’t cry, Samantha told herself. I’ve cried enough already.
At last Prudence finished tormenting her. From the apron, she took out a pair of white ribbons and hastily tied a pigtail on either side of Samantha’s head. “I wish Miss Brigham were here. She knows how to do braids,” Prudence said.
“It’s fine,” Samantha said, although she resolved to yank out the stupid ribbons the first chance she got. At the sound of a bell, Prudence’s body went rigid. “What is it?”
“It’s the bell for morning services. We’re going to be late!” Prudence took Samantha’s hand, dragging her back onto the path towards town. A pain worse than that of Prudence’s brushing stabbed Samantha’s feet with every step. She wanted to stop and rest, but the way Prudence’s fingernails dug into her skin told her there was no time to rest. Samantha sucked in a breath and ran faster.
Chapter 3: The Way
By the time they reached the front doors of the church, everyone else had already gone inside. The girls sat on wooden benches to the right and the boys to the left. Every boy wore the same gray trousers and vests with white shirts. The mischievous gleam in their eyes as they sized up Samantha like a cat about to pounce on a mouse made her want to bolt for the exit. The girls whispered as she passed, some stifling a laugh by putting a hand to their mouths.
With nowhere else to sit, Prudence led Samantha to the front pew, occupied only by Miss Brigham. “Oh, you look lovely,” Miss Brigham whispered.
“Thanks,” Samantha said. With her feet still throbbing, she felt anything but lovely.
All whispering and giggling stopped the moment a side door opened. From what Prudence and Miss Brigham had said about the reverend, she expected a stern old man. Instead, Reverend Francis Crane’s face had smooth, tanned skin and a thick head of sandy hair. Beneath his black suit she could tell he had a lean, firm body. She blushed at those thoughts and looked away as Reverend Crane ascended the steps to the podium.
“Blessed be thee, my children,” the reverend began. “The Lord has brought us another beautiful morning to praise His name. We begin today by reciting the Lord’s Prayer.”
Samantha did her best to follow along, trying to mimic Prudence as she recited the prayer. The other kids spoke the words in a rote deadpan, as if they’d been saying them their whole lives. From what Prudence had said earlier, Samantha figured they must have been saying them their whole lives.
When the prayer finished, the reverend began his sermon. He leaned forward on the podium as he spoke, his eyes burning with passion. Prudence kept her eyes on the floor while Samantha met the reverend’s gaze and thought she saw a hint of a smile pull at one corner of his mouth.
“My children, there are many temptations in this world. Many of them are not obvious to us. Satan couches his evil words in the sweet and loving voice of an angel to make sins seem harmless. He starts us down the dark path by suggesting we are only telling one small lie. When we give in to this temptation, he sends us farther down his dark road unt
il at last we become lost from God’s way.”
“This is why we must at all times adhere to The Way for it alone will lead us to salvation.” The reverend continued speaking about the importance of The Way, but Samantha could not pay attention. In the pew behind her, she heard a rustling and sensed trouble a moment before something dry and rough touched her neck.
She turned around to see a black snake looking back at her. She screamed and jumped off the bench, stumbling backwards to trip over a step and crash next to the reverend’s podium. The entire church erupted into laughter, except for Reverend Crane, who glared down at her. “What is the meaning of this?” he said.
“I saw a snake,” Samantha said. “A black one. It touched me on the neck.”
“A serpent? How could a serpent get into God’s house?”
“I don’t know. Someone must have brought it in.”
“Indeed.” The reverend looked over the other children as Samantha staggered back to her bench. Prudence continued looking down at the floor as she had for the entire service, but her leg tapped against Samantha’s as a sign of support. “One of you children has sinned in the Lord’s house. Out with it now. Which one of you has transported the demonic beast into God’s sanctuary?” When no one answered, he turned to Miss Brigham. “I want everyone to empty his or her pockets. We will find the culprit and dole out appropriate punishment.”
“Yes, Reverend Crane,” Miss Brigham said. She commanded the boys to line up against one wall and the girls against another. One at a time she searched each child’s pockets, looking for the snake. Samantha studied the faces around her, seeing a satisfied grin on Helena’s face. Among the boys, a dark-haired boy received congratulatory punches from some of his friends. They must be working together, Samantha thought.
The search of the dark-haired boy turned up nothing, nor was the snake in Helena’s pockets. Miss Brigham completed the search and then shrugged at the reverend in bewilderment. The reverend called Samantha to stand in front of his podium as though she were receiving a judge’s sentence. “What is your name, child?”
“Samantha Young.”
“Samantha, you have disrupted this congregation and have falsely accused your fellows. How do you answer for this?”
“I didn’t mean to disrupt anything and I didn’t lie. I saw the snake.”
Miss Brigham rushed to her side and put a hand to her forehead. “She was suffering from a terrible fever. Perhaps she’s still a little under the weather,” Miss Brigham said.
“Be that as it may, I cannot let this sinful behavior pass without due punishment. Since you have befouled the Lord’s house with your lies, you will clean it after our service is completed. For now, remain standing as you are and contemplate the wrongness of your actions. The rest of you come forward to receive communion.”
“But, this isn’t fair! I didn’t—”
“Be still, young lady. You’re in enough trouble without raising your voice to the reverend,” Miss Brigham said.
The children filed past Samantha one at a time to stand before the reverend. He gave them a crust of bread, calling it the body of Christ and a drink from a silver cup, calling it the blood of Christ. Then the children went to the back of the church, the boys and girls assembling in separate groups. Prudence went last, followed by Miss Brigham. She opened the church doors and led the children out, leaving Samantha alone with Reverend Crane.
“Come forward, my child,” he said. She shuffled forward in her painful shoes and knelt down as the others had. He gave her the crust of bread and she stuck it in her mouth, nearly choking on the stale, tasteless crust. Then he held the silver cup out to her. It contained not blood or wine, but water. She took a sip as the others had and marveled at how sweet it tasted. She tried to stand, but the reverend told her to remain kneeling.
He left out the side door for a few minutes. When he returned, he carried a bucket of water and a scrub brush. “Now, my child, time to serve your punishment. Though you are new to our congregation, you must learn we do not tolerate those who stray from The Way.”
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Words are meaningless, easily twisted by Satan. You must atone with your actions.” Samantha took the brush from him and set to work scrubbing the floors. Reverend Crane watched her for a little while before going out the side door again. Samantha used the opportunity to drop the brush and search the area where she’d sat.
At first glance she saw nothing out of order. Then she looked more closely at a floorboard and found she could lift it up with no effort at all. Beneath the floor, she found the black snake the other children had used against her. She reached out gingerly towards it, but it never moved. She picked up the snake’s form.
She considered finding the reverend to show him the evidence, but shook her head. He wouldn’t believe her; he’d probably think she’d planted the snake herself. Samantha dropped the snake back into its hiding place and sat on the altar steps, wondering how this day could get any worse.
Chapter 4: The Good Book
Reverend Crane never reappeared to inspect Samantha’s work, so after a while she left the bucket and brush sitting by his podium. Outside, she found Prudence waiting for her with a pair of shoes. “I think these will fit better,” she said. “I got them from Miss Brigham.”
Samantha blushed as she slipped into one adult-sized shoe, dreading the teasing she would endure if the shoe didn’t fit. She sighed with relief when it did. “These are much better. Thank you.”
“You missed breakfast,” Prudence said. From her apron, Prudence took out an apple and gave it to Samantha. She took a bite and nearly spit it out. The apple tasted tart and bitter, but since she couldn’t remember the last time she ate, she devoured the apple anyway.
Once Samantha finished breakfast, Prudence took her hand and led her down the road into the forest. At the fork in the road, they headed away from the stream. “Where are we going?”
“It’s time for studies. We don’t want to be tardy. Come on, I know a shortcut.” Prudence steered Samantha onto a narrow trail overgrown with trees and brush. Thorns and branches tore at Samantha’s new clothes, but Prudence passed through without anything touching her.
“You have school out in the woods?”
“Miss Brigham holds class in the meadow when it’s warm. For cold or rainy days we stay in the dining room.”
Samantha continued fighting the underbrush up a steep hill, at the top of which she found a lush green meadow dotted with yellow, white, and purple wildflowers. Beyond this, she saw green fields stretching to the horizon. “Those are the fields,” Prudence said. “The boys work there in the afternoon. Except for harvest time. Then everyone goes out to help.”
“It’s beautiful,” Samantha said. She and Prudence sat down in the grass to watch as a flock of geese flew overhead in a V-formation. “Do you ever wish you could fly away from here?”
“Of course not. Eternity is my home.”
“I wish I knew where my home was.”
“I’m sorry about what happened at church.”
“You saw? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I didn’t see them, but I know them. They pick on me too.” Prudence looked down at the ground with shame. “I should have said something. It’s sinful what they did.”
“You really believe in this Way stuff, don’t you?”
“I don’t want to go to Hell. It’s a terrible place with fire and demons poking you with swords.”
“That’s just a story.”
“No, look.” From a pocket, Prudence took out a black book with gold-trimmed pages. She turned to the back and showed Samantha a picture of a screaming demon with the body of a goat and the wings of a bat surrounded by flames.
“‘And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.’”
“You can read it?” Prudence asked.
; “Of course. Can’t you?”
“Only the reverend and Miss Brigham are allowed to read.”
“Why’s that?”
“It’s forbidden until you’ve studied The Way long enough to resist Satan’s influence.”
“That’s crazy! Books aren’t evil.”
Prudence searched the meadow for anyone spying on them and then whispered, “Would you read some more?”
“Sure.” Samantha flipped to another page and read, “‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believed in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’” Samantha became so engrossed with her reading she didn’t see Prudence shrink away or hear Miss Brigham lead the other children up the hill.
“Samantha Young, what are you doing?”
“I was reading—”
“That is forbidden.” Miss Brigham snatched the Bible from Samantha’s hands. “Children aren’t allowed to read. Not until you’ve had the proper training. Otherwise, who knows what kind of smut and filth you’ll uncover?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would hurt anyone.”
“Do try to be more careful in the future.” Miss Brigham then turned to glare at Prudence. “And Prudence, shame on you for encouraging her. You were supposed to keep her out of trouble. Perhaps you aren’t as dependable as I thought.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Brigham.”
“She didn’t do anything wrong. She tried to stop me.”
“Is that true, Prudence?” Prudence met Miss Brigham’s gaze for a second before looking down at the ground and shaking her head. “That’s what I thought. Samantha, your concern for your friend is admirable, but you must understand lying under any circumstances is wrong. If you had been paying attention to the reverend’s sermon this morning instead of causing mischief, you would know tiny lies start us down the wicked path.”
Children of Eternity Omnibus Page 2