Anointed

by Charity B.

  She places a hand on my arm, and I fight the natural urge to flinch at her touch. “If you see her before I do, tell her I love her.”

  As we near the compound, blackbirds fly across a lightning streaked sky. A moment later, thunder cracks around us, and Zeke snaps the horse’s reins to move us faster.

  “Are we going to talk about the Philistine claiming to be our brother?”

  I scoff, “Do you really doubt it now?”

  He wipes his hand over his mouth. “I don’t know what to doubt or believe at this point.” He jerks his head behind him. “We’re getting close. You might want to get in the back.” I climb over the seat, and just as I lie down, he asks, “I hope you’re sure about this.”

  “I am too.” I add, “When we get there, pull back behind the tabernacle. I want to check on Laurel Ann.”

  He nods. “Heyah!”

  The buggy goes faster as raindrops pelt against the roof. I lie down in the back, and within a few moments, Zeke is let into the gates. When we stop moving, he looks over the seat.

  “We’re here. The rain has most everyone inside, so we shouldn’t be seen.”

  I climb out, instantly running alongside the tabernacle with Zeke on my heels. The wind picks up, blowing my jacket when I climb the steps. We go inside and walk through the foyer. I sigh in relief at the empty meeting hall. Lighting flashes across the windows when I hurry to the stage. Zeke is right behind me as I sprint down the hall, and head for the first holding room. He swiftly removes a key from his pocket, unlocking the door. The BOOM of the thunder sounds the moment I burst inside.

  Laurel Ann jumps up from the bed, and her eyes widen at the sight of us. “Prophet…”

  She doesn’t appear to be in too much pain, just unsure of my purpose. I rush to the side of the bed to wrap my arms around her.

  “Are you all right?”

  She nods, and her hands cup my face. “What’s happening? What will they do to you?”

  I know she’s referring to the followers; I just don’t have time to clarify. “I don’t know. I can’t explain everything right now, but if I am not able to speak to you again, Kaila will elucidate.”

  Her head shakes in confusion. “Kaila? You’ve spoken to her?”

  I smile, kissing her before I back up toward the door. “She says she loves you.” Laurel Ann leans up on her knees as if contemplating following me. “Stay in this room.” I wave at Zeke to come with me. “I love you, Laur. Stay safe.”

  Her eyes fill with tears as I close the door.

  “What now?” Zeke asks with crossed arms.

  “Tie up any loose ends you may have. I don’t know enough about Philistine laws to know what they’ll do to us, so prepare for the worst. I need to speak with Mia and Marybeth.”

  He drapes his arm across my shoulder. “May the hol—” he stops himself to shake his head. “Be careful, brother.”

  I hurry through the tabernacle, rushing outside, and I’m drenched by the time I jump back in the buggy. I flick the reins to speed up the horses when I see the ranch I grew up in. The home I inherited when I killed my father. I might never see it again. I may never see this compound again. Even knowing this place was built on a lie, there’s a part of me that is woeful by it coming to an end.

  I stop the buggy in front of my home, running through the rain while more lightning brightens the sky. I hurry inside to be greeted by the angry eyes of my wives. I wonder if anything I say will help. It won’t change the fact that I betrayed them.

  Mia stands up in front of Marybeth like she’s shielding her. Thunder explodes around us.

  “What are you doing here, Zebadiah?”

  Mia’s voice is laced with venom as she stares at me with an anger I’ve never seen present in her before.

  “I don’t have an excuse for what I did other than I love her. I’ve always loved her. She didn’t seduce me or trick me. She’s simply Laurel Ann. I couldn’t give you my heart because it hasn’t been mine for a long time. Please know that any man would be lucky to have either of you as wives, and you both deserve someone who can return your love. I’m sorry that it can’t be me. I’m sorry I hurt the both of you.”

  Mia storms over to me, shoving me. She screams, “You humiliated us! You humiliated Laurel Ann! You humiliated me!” Her hands press against my chest to push me again. “You’re our husband! We trusted you! And more than that, you are our Prophet.”

  She puts her hands on me again, and I grab her wrists. “I’m not your Prophet. I’m nothing more than a man.” I release her and look between them. “I hope someday you’ll forgive me.”

  Mia’s anger morphs into misunderstanding. “What do you mean you’re not our Prophet?”

  “I can’t explain. Just promise me that when this is all over, you’ll find Laurel Ann or Zeke if you can, and protect yourselves.”

  Mia steps toward me, grasping onto my arms as I back toward the door. “You’re scaring me, Zeb. When what is all over?”

  I lean forward to kiss her forehead. “Goodbye, Mia.”

  Pulling my arm from her, I walk out the door. I leave down the pathway, hearing them call my name until the wind drowns them out.

  The buggy does little to stop the rain from pelting me on my ride to Benji and Laurel Ann’s home. The horses are barely stopped before I run up the porch steps to bang on the door. A moment later the hinges creak, and Benji gasps through the screen door.

  “Oh shit, get in here,” he says breathlessly. I enter the house, and he hurries to close us inside as I remove my hat. “What happened? They won’t let me see Laurel Ann. They’re saying she’s still possessed? That she tricked you into sleeping with her?” He crosses his arms. “At least you waited until after our binding night to fuck my wife.”

  Swallowing the urge to tell him that I actually didn’t, I pull out a chair next to the table and fall into it. “Explaining everything would take a lot of time and we don’t have it, so don’t ask questions. Just sit there and listen.”

  With raised eyebrows, he lowers into the seat beside to me. “All right, sure, I’m all ears.”

  “I found proof that everything we’ve ever been told was a lie. All of it. Zaaron, the Paradise Star, the cleansings…it’s all horse shit. What we’ve believed to be righteous is wrong. We aren’t ‘Anointed’, we’re just conditioned. I made the decision to put an end to this compound. People are coming, and I’m sure we’ll be made to answer for the crimes we’ve committed. You do not have any wives below the age of consent, and you’ve done nothing that you should be penalized for. I need you to promise me that you’ll make sure Laurel Ann and my wives are safe. Can you do that?”

  His expression is frozen, and I’m about to snap my fingers in front of his face when he says, “I don’t believe this. Are you sure?”

  Standing to leave, I tell him, “I don’t need you to believe it. I need you to promise me, and I need to know they will be watched after.”

  “Yes, yes, of course.”

  As I put my hat back on, I walk toward the door. “I must go. Thank you for your friendship through the years, Benji. I didn’t always deserve it.”

  I push open the screen when he asks, “Are you going to be okay?”

  “I’ll get what I’ve earned.”

  Running into the rain, I climb in the buggy to drive back to the common ground. My insides turn at seeing the followers going about their duties. They have no idea what I’m about to do to them. Doubting my choice is pointless. What’s done is done.

  I leave the buggy in front of the tabernacle to run inside and retrieve the binding, birth, and death logs. Stuffing the books under my arm, I go back to the entryway and look at the holding room, resisting the urge to go to Laurel Ann.

  I love you so much. I hope you understand.

  As I run through the meeting hall, shouting and an intrusive alarm sound fills my ears. Shoving open the door, I step outside to find the common ground in chaos. Men with guns and black clothes that say ‘POLICE’ cover the area
in front of me. Women are screaming and their children cry. I squint through the rain, and as the lightning strikes above us, I see many of the Brothers are already on their knees.

  The thunder makes my heart thump harder when I hear a click. “Down on the ground, now! Hands behind your head.”

  I turn to see a man in black aiming a gun at my face. I drop the logs and fall to my knees, cupping the back of my head. He rips my arms behind my back, fastening them together in a binding.

  Raindrops roll down my face, and I watch them tear apart what has always been my home. I thought I was sure of this, but as I witness the fear and pain I’ve brought upon the people who trusted me…

  I weep.

  MOVING TOO MUCH IS PAINFUL. Sitting too long is painful. And now, my bladder is full. I’ve been putting off using the washroom because I’m scared to go. At this point, it’s going to come out either way, so I carefully sit down on the toilet. I grit my teeth through the burn, though I feel much better having emptied myself. As I pull the chain to flush, I hear an odd sound.

  I walk back out to the room, listening closely. Without windows it’s difficult to make anything out, but I think there are sirens. When something that resembles screaming hits my ears, my heart triples in speed, and I fall to the floor. I carefully lie flat on my stomach and scoot under the bed, trying to listen for what could be happening outside.

  Whether this has anything to do with the Philistine that came to the gates, I don’t know, but they went to see Kaila. I’ll admit having jealousy at that. They both wore corresponding expressions of woe and anxiety, and the news they brought was no more assuring. My skin is clammy beneath my dress, and I can hear the rapid thump, thump, thump of my heart in my ears.

  Every scream, yell, and intrusive sound I hear brings me closer to hyperventilating. There are moments when I think whatever chaos is going on outside has dispersed, then I’ll hear something again. The minutes have frozen, making time go on forever.

  Click.

  The noise has me holding my breath, terrified to look toward the door. Footsteps sound in the room, and I brave a glance, peering beneath the bed skirt. Dirt covered boots and trousers are all I can see.

  “Laurel Ann?” Jacob’s voice calls for me as he walks into the washroom. For some reason, even knowing who it is, I can’t move myself from this spot. “Where are you? Zebadiah sent me for you.”

  My heart leaps at hearing he is safe and well. I pull myself out from under the bed. “He’s okay? What’s going on? I heard noises.” I stand up and turn to see him shutting and locking the door. My guts roll around inside of me when my eyes land on the rope in his hand. He glares down at me with a venomous hatred. “I thought we were going to see the Prophet?”

  His jaw ticks, and he stalks toward me, forcing me to step back as if I have somewhere to go. “This is all happening because of you. You have poisoned this land and torn it from beneath our feet.”

  I shake my head because I’m confused. “I don’t know what you mean!”

  “I don’t need your confession. Lie to me if you wish, you evil whore.”

  Before I realize he’s lunging for me, he shoves my face against the bed and digs his knee into my back. I cry at the sudden pain while he jerks my arms behind my back.

  “Counselor, why are you doing this?!”

  He hits my head with what I think is his elbow. “Shut your demonic mouth! All that falls from your tongue is deception.”

  I gag when he shoves a cloth between my lips, nearly choking me. The swoosh of a belt being ripped from its loops has me screaming around the fabric as I fight to get free from beneath him. He wraps the strap of the belt around my head to secure the cloth in my mouth, fastening it so tight, it digs into my cheeks.

  I don’t understand what he’s doing or why. Where the heck are Zeb and Zeke? This can’t be sanctioned. He lifts me by my shoulders to pick me up and spins me around to face him.

  “I’m going to enjoy watching your eyes burn in pain just as your soul will burn in the pit.”

  He throws me on my back moments before crushing me with his weight. He’s heavy and impossible to shove off. Grabbing my wrists, he wraps them in the rope and secures them to the headboard. Tears fall from frustration and fear at losing the use of my arms. My ability to protect myself has been significantly reduced, allowing me the power to do nothing more than kick and writhe beneath him.

  He simply chuckles, “Fight all you want. I enjoy the struggle.”

  The belt itches my cheeks with the wet skin trapped beneath it. When he pushes up my dress and his fingers rip at my bloomers, panic overtakes all else. I shake my head, pleading with my eyes for him to not do this.

  “This seems to be the Fitch family pussy. I’m dying to fuck the cunt that fucked us all.”

  Though he’s never been kind to me, this is something else entirely. I know what he’s planning to do, but it’s as if it’s behind a wall and my mind refuses to access or believe it. Every time I’ve been with a man it’s either been my calling or my desire…but this… I squeeze my eyes shut, praying that Zaaron will save me.

  My wrists scream in their bindings while I flail my body like a woman possessed. I just need to deter him long enough for someone to come help me. I can’t scream, I can barely breathe, my arms burn, and my chest aches from the rapid pounding of my heart.

  More tears fall once he succeeds in removing my bloomers. His hands clutch at my thighs and forces them open, shooting a hot pain through the middle of my body. My wails are caught behind the cloth as I watch him unfasten his trousers.

  I know how this will go. Nobody will believe that the Counselor is doing this. They will say I seduced him. I look at the door, praying, hoping, wishing, pleading, that Zeb will walk through it.

  An agony so hot, my vision turns white consumes every part of my mind, body, and soul. My focus clears, and my eyes fall to the source of my pain. His erect cock pounds against the string while he attempts to push inside me. With every thrust, the torture multiplies tenfold as he rips, tears, and shreds the thread from my flesh. My mind graces me with seconds of reprieve and blocks of time get taken away. I shouldn’t watch, yet my eyes still travel to the intrusion. Blood is smeared on his abdomen and trousers as well as across my thighs. Tremors overtake my body when the thread gives way, and he forces himself all the way inside me.

  He laughs. “There it is.” His body pumps in and out hard, but all I feel is anguish. “What’s wrong? I thought you liked fucking us Fitch men?” His fists wrap around my throat, and he forces my body down to meet his violent thrust. “Look how wet you are…” He grins, and my stomach rolls, threatening to be sick. “Well, I suppose that could be the blood.”

  Again, I fade, hearing nothing other than his grunts and obscenities. My screams sound only in my own head, making me dizzy.

  He’s going to kill me.

  Black.

  I can’t breathe.

  Black.

  I’m going to die.

  Black.

  He releases his grasp around me to remove his body from mine. The mix of relief and excruciating pain momentarily stops my heart.

  “You aren’t worth my righteous come.” Warm liquid spurts across my mutilated body, mixing with the blood and burning where my skin has ripped. He groans, releasing the last of his semen and climbing off the bed to pull up his trousers. I can barely keep my eyes open as he leans down by my ear. “Burn in the abyss, Philistine bitch.”

  He keeps my arms bound and leaves the room, locking the door with a click. With the sudden stillness and silence in the room, the pain burns so bright that the blackness is finally victorious in taking me away.

  BANG

  “Back away from the door!”

  BANG

  CRASH

  I need to get up. I know these are dangerous sounds, yet I still can’t lift my eyelids.

  “Oh, fucking Jesus Christ! We need a medic!” A man yells, pounding in my head.

  “Gomez!” A woman’s
voice, much softer whispers, “A little respect and decorum won’t kill you.” The heavy weight of my dress is moved down my body to below my knees. Soft fingers caress my wrists as they are freed from the confines of the rope. Gently lowering my arms to my sides, the owner of the kind voice says, “We’re going to take care of you, sweetheart. You’re safe now.”

  With immense effort I open my eyes to see a woman in a black helmet, and look down to see that she’s a police officer. I remember the noises from earlier. The only reason they would be here is to raid the compound. My thoughts won’t stay organized, and the only thing I can think of is knowing Zebadiah is safe. The rawness in my throat makes the words painful so I say the most important one:

  “Zebadiah.”

  “We’ll get him, I promise. He won’t ever hurt you again.”

  Before I can tell her that she misunderstands, my mind slips away.

  Kaila’s crossed arms and tapping foot aren’t going to change my mind. I’ve told them it wasn’t Zeb, and that’s all I’m saying on the matter.

  “Not pressing charges leaves whoever this was, free to do it again,” the police officer says.

  I know he thinks he’s helping, but by forcing me to think about something that I’ve been trying to forget, he’s doing the opposite.

  I can’t look anyone in the eye when I speak of this, and it mortifies me that anyone knows it happened.

  “This was not an act of random violence. It was revenge…it was personal.”

  He huffs as he puts away his notepad. “And the next time it gets ‘personal’?”

  I don’t know how many times I have to repeat myself. My entire world has erupted, and they are keeping the wound fresh.

  “I’m not naming him! Now, unless you have something else to speak to me about, I would really like to rest.”

  The officer takes in a deep breath and backs toward the door of my hospital room. “If you can think of anything else you’d like to share, you know how to get ahold of us.”

  I nod as Kaila thanks him, closing the door.