Bright lights made the city glow like a lightning bug, and the darkening starless sky signaled the arrival of many unsavory characters on the streets. This place, I decided, was most certainly not for me.
I preferred the quiet county lane of the compound. I preferred the moonlit sky of the compound, where the stars were visible everywhere in the sky, unaffected by the artificial lights this metropolis boasted. I preferred solace to bustle, green to concrete, and quiet to noise.
Sighing in stress, we pulled to a stop at a red light, meaning that the vehicle must halt, when suddenly a large white building came into view. One look and it took my breath away.
It was a structure of pristine white stone, a towering building that dominated the high stairways on which it sat, showcasing its beauty to the city’s residents. Arched colored windows beamed in the dark, casting a rainbow on their white stone surroundings. Lights on the high, tiled roof, illuminated every perfectly sculpted masterpiece. A set of wide wooden doors featured front and center. But most beautiful of all, a white marble statue of Jesus Christ stood out front, the Crucifix, an image serenely poetic in its art.
“Please, can you stop the vehicle,” I requested, my palms flat against the window glass.
“What?” Ky looked surprised as I turned to see him frowning.
“Please!” I urged. “Pull over for a moment.”
Doing as I asked, Ky stopped at the side of the road. Then all I could do was stare.
“What is that place?” I asked in awe.
Ky leaned forward, his arm brushing against mine, and replied, “A church.”
“A church?”
“Yeah, you know, where folk like you go to pray and sing and all that fuckin’ dull stuff.”
Shock ran through me like a current. “People of God?” I asked, watching as a woman carrying a baby entered through the wooden doors.
“Yeah, Jesus worshippers, Bible freaks, folks like you,” he answered, clearly becoming frustrated.
Gazing at Ky’s handsome face, I said, “I do not understand. This is a church for Christ? People come here to worship?”Ky nodded slowly, like I was ill of mind. “Yeah, what ain’t you getting, sweet cheeks? Church. God. No fuckin’ fun.”
“It is not that I do not understand the worship element, Ky. It is the fact this church exists outside of the great fence… outside of The Order. Is that what you are telling me?”
“Well, now it’s me that don’t understand,” he said, looking from me to the church and back again.
Fighting back panic, I said, “Prophet David told us we were the last people on Earth who were faithful to God, that all on the outside were evil sinners that rejected the Lord and his message. This was the reason we were segregated from the outside, to protect our beliefs from those who live to destroy us.”
Ky’s face contorted into anger. “Lilah, there’s a million fuckin’ churches across this country. Religious folk are everywhere, of all kinds of faiths. Prophet David was lying outta his wrinkled loose ass.”
“But how… I…” I trailed off, unknowing how to defend my late prophet’s scripture when I was seeing the evidence of his untruth with my own eyes.
Ky’s hand brushed back a loose strand of hair that had come free from my headdress, and he tucked it back behind my ear. I turned my face into his hand, not realizing tears were gliding down my cheeks. His kind gesture and touch surprised me.
Ky’s thumb wiped my tears away and he said, “Lilah, I know you ain’t wanting to believe it, but not much of what that shitbag said is true.”
“No…” I tried to argue, but Ky’s sympathetic eyes made me stop. I suddenly felt hot and pains stabbed at my chest. My hand lifted to rub at the sternum, but I found no relief.
“Lilah?” Ky asked, worried, and I shuffled uncomfortably on my seat, anxiety taking its hold.
“I cannot breathe,” I said shrilly. “I feel that I cannot breathe!”
“Fuck,” Ky hissed and pressed a button on the side of his door. The window beside me abruptly began to descend and a wave of cool evening air immediately calmed me down.
My head sank to the doorframe and I closed my eyes… and that is when I heard it, the blissful sounds of the Lord’s music drifting from the church. With a complete switch of emotions, I went from feeling despair to cherishing the melodic hymns.
“Beautiful,” I hushed out.
“Gospel,” Ky said in response. “Gospel music, choirs. It’s pretty damn popular ‘round these parts.”