by H. D. Gordon
To add a cherry atop this pie, she was seriously missing her big brother. This was the first time ever she’d been separated from Kyle, and she wanted nothing more right now than for him to hug her and tell her everything would be all right. Kyle would tell her she was smart enough to pass these courses, that she would make friends and figure it out soon enough. He would ease her fears. Talking on the phone just wasn’t the same. She was homesick and yearning for something comforting and familiar.
But this was part of growing up, of being an adult. She thought she finally understood why her mother used to tell her not to be in a hurry to get older. Basically, getting older sucked.
She was thinking all of these things, squinting in the warm sun that was finally producing heat after a long winter, eyes cast down to the gray sidewalk, when a kind voice called out, drawing her attention.
“Excuse me? If you have a moment, I’d love to talk to you about our organization.”
Kayla looked up, surprised to see a pretty girl with shiny brown hair smiling at her. She was holding a stack of yellow flyers in her hand and had a pink backpack slung over her shoulder. She looked just old enough to be a freshman. “What organization?” Kayla asked.
The girl’s pretty smile grew and she held out her hand, which Kayla shook after a small hesitation. “I’m Fae Harper,” the girl said. “And we’re just a group of people who love helping other people, those less fortunate than us. Are you a freshman here?”
Kayla kept from grimacing. Was it that obvious? “I’m Kayla, and yeah, this is my first semester,” she said.
Fae put the hand that wasn’t holding the yellow flyers on Kayla’s shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. “This is my second year, but I remember how tough last year was, being alone in this new place.” She met Kayla’s eyes and gave a sympathetic smile. “How are you liking it so far?”
Kayla was taken aback by the genuine look in the girl’s dark brown eyes. She found herself answering honestly, though she was usually not so open with people she didn’t even know. Fae Harper just had a decidedly disarming way about her.
“Honestly,” Kayla said. “College isn’t really what I thought it would be.”
Fae nodded. “I know, right? That’s exactly how I felt…until I started giving back.” She handed Kayla one of the yellow flyers she was holding. “You should come to the meeting tonight with our group. We’re more like a family, really.” She giggled a little, as if just thinking of the group made her heart happy. “Just yesterday we finished building a home for battered women over in Osceola. It was hard work, but finishing it felt great. We spent all fall working on it.”
Kayla looked down at the flyer. It read: The People’s People, Meeting Tonight, 7:00 pm, Heaven’s Temple, 135 Leads Road.
“It’s a church group?” Kayla asked, a little red flag popping up in her head. Her mother had done her best to make her a godly person, and she had her beliefs, but she didn’t really want to get involved in that sort of thing right now. Especially not when she had so much on her plate.
Fae Harper must have sensed her thoughts. “Not really a ‘church group’,” Fae said. “The reverend just lets us use his space for our meetings, since our goals are to better the community. It’s also how those of us in school keep on track with our schoolwork. We study together all the time.”
They had reached the front of the campus center. Fae put her hand on Kayla’s forearm and gave another gentle squeeze and another understanding smile. “You should really come. You could ride with me if you want.”
Kayla hesitated. She didn’t know what to say. Again, Fae seemed to pick up what was so subtly—and not really intentionally—being put down. “There’s no pressure,” the pretty, brown-eyed girl said. “No obligation to do anything.” She lifted her delicate shoulders in a shrug. “If nothing else, you’ll make a few friends. If you’re interested, just meet me here at the campus center at six-thirty and we can ride together. If not,” she shrugged again. “No big. Okay?”
Kayla nodded. “Okay…thank you.”
Fae Harper smiled big. “No prob.” She gave Kayla’s arm another squeeze. “Hopefully I’ll see you later.”
And she did see her later, at six-thirty at the campus center. In a nutshell, that was how Kayla Carter got “involved”. She would swear later that it could have happened to anyone, and no one would believe her, because most people liked to think they were too smart for that.
Most people liked to think they were too smart to join a cult. The thing was, nobody joins a cult. They just find themselves in the beast’s belly one day, without ever realizing or understanding how they’d been swallowed.
And thus, without any way to climb back out and escape.
Chapter 9
Fae
For the pretty young girl named Fae Harper, escape had never really been an option. She was what Father called one of his Original Children. She had been brought into the steel circle that was Heaven’s Temple at the age of seven by her druggie mother, back before the Temple grew into what it was currently. Though it was ten years passed now, she could still remember that first day in perfect clarity, and if asked, she would say, quite emphatically, that it was the best day of her life.
It was the day she had met Father. The day Father had saved her mother from the demons that were drugs, and consequently saved little Fae in the process.
It had been summer vacation after first grade year, through which Fae had struggled to get passing grades. She was not a stupid girl by anyone’s standards, but even the smartest of children would have a hard time passing if their father had left when they were a baby and their mother was always selling the food stamps for the stuff she would shoot into her arms throughout the day and night. When Fae Harper first came to the reverend, she was malnourished and frightened, a small soul whose hope had been crushed too early.
She remembered what her mother had said to her that day, right before they walked into Father’s house, scratching at the bruised crooks of her arms in the way Fae knew meant she was needing another hit. Mama Harper had said, “Things is gonna be different now. You watch. This man we’re about to meet can work miracles. He done it before for Tito and Carrie Anne. Both of them was as bad off as me, and now they been clean for over four months.” Her mother had smiled down at Fae through drug-rotted teeth, a once pretty woman who had shriveled and decayed into little more than a shell of her former self because of the poison she put into her body. “He’s the last hope I got,” she mumbled, before pulling open the door to the small white house that served as Father’s base at the time.
Fae remembered being filled with a hope so intense she could have cried right then. When she entered the warm living room, and saw Father for the first time, some fifty people of all shapes, sizes and colors, packed into the space, sitting around listening to his words, she did cry. Even at seven years old she knew that if anyone could help her mama, it was this man. Father commanded attention in a way Fae had never experienced before.
If she lived to be a hundred she would never forget the words Father said to her after his service, as he pulled her onto his lap and stroked her brown hair lovingly. “It’s alright now, little bird,” Father had said, whispering the soothing words into her little ear. “Your mama is going to get better, and I’m going to take care of you like you was my own. You’ll have everything you ever need with me, little bird. I’ll never let anyone hurt you again.”
And sure enough, just like Father said, Mama Harper did get better. Father welcomed them into his small, but growing family of followers and gave her mother purpose and schedule. The other women, many of them former addicts themselves, made sure they kept the drugs away and the support system she needed to recover in place. These other members—brothers and sisters, as they called each other—also helped to raise Fae under Father’s guiding hand. They saw to it that she never had to walk home from school alone again, that she always had lunch money and dinner on the table when she returned home. They made sure
she got regular doctor checkups, paying for the expenses of raising a child as though it was their duty. They helped her with her homework, and taught her how to play cards and dominos, how to love, and be loved in return. They showed her how to be part of a real family.
They gave her back her mother. Father gave her back her mother. No matter what Fae did, she could never repay him for that, but she would spend her life trying.
Now, at the ripe age of seventeen, she was one of Father’s top tier soldiers, as loyal as they could come. She had started working at the age of fourteen, and all of her earnings went to the Family. Her mother’s earnings also went to the Family, one of the pillars in the now much larger structure that was Heaven’s Temple. Fae’s tasks other than earning money were as varied as recruiting new members to keeping the books so that the bastards that ran the government wouldn’t steal the Family’s hard-earned money, to caring for Father when he fell sick. Which, he seemed to be doing a lot as of late. She was genuinely starting to worry about him.
Lately, he seemed…different.
He suffered so much, so willingly, so that the rest of the Family didn’t have to. He didn’t deserve what the government was trying to do to him (though Fae hadn’t seen any evidence of an FBI investigation, Father insisted that they were being investigated, and that was evidence enough). How was it they couldn’t see that he was only trying to make life better for people who had gotten a raw shake? It was those fucking capitalists who had been born with silver spoons in their mouths. They just couldn’t stand that the common people who made up her Family weren’t suffering, were instead thriving because of Father. They wanted to take it away from them the same way they took and took and took every goddamn thing else.
Well, they could just try. Over her dead body, they could just try.
Fae Harper knocked on the door to Father’s office, checking her watch again to make sure she wasn’t late or early. Father hated it when people arrived off the scheduled time, and Fae was always careful not to disturb him while he worked so hard in his office all alone.
Her timing was perfect, as usual. Father heard her knock, and called for her to enter. She stepped into his office and shut the door behind her. A look of worry came over her face as she took in his state. His pallor was a little off, his lips a touch too dry, his nose flushed red, and sweat had worked its way across his handsome brow.
He swiveled in his chair behind his large desk, and she came to his side at once, kneeling before him and kissing his hand. He rubbed the other one through her hair. “Father,” she said. “You’re not looking so good. Please, tell me what I can do for you.”
“Oh, little bird,” he purred, his familiar hand still working through her hair. “You do so much for me. It’s time for me to do something for you.”
Her brow furrowed slightly as he took both her hands and pulled her into his lap. Fae noticed the smell of alcohol on his breath, but knew this was absurd, because Father strictly prohibited the use of drugs or alcohol, so there was no other explanation than she must be mistaken.
His sour breath flashed across her neck as he continued stroking her hair. “Yes,” he said, his voice low, gravelly, causing worry to spiral in her chest. She’d never heard Father’s voice sound this way. He must be getting really sick.
When his sweaty hand began unbuttoning her shirt, she still could not recognize what was going on. Father had never behaved in such a way before. When he lifted her up and laid her down on her back atop his large wooden desk, slowly sliding the hem of her long skirt up her legs, she finally caught on, and only because alarm bells were sounding in her head as loud as a tornado siren. For the first time ever, she realized she was afraid. No, not afraid. Terrified. What was wrong with Father? What was he doing?
He pushed himself between her legs, staring down at her with his gentle, fatherly smile, calming her nerves a touch. “Don’t be scared, little bird,” he said, his tone the same now as it had been when she’d been but a child, afraid to sleep in the dark at night, and he would come to soothe her. “You’re nearly a woman now, and to become one fully, you need something. I’m going to give it to you, my beautiful, little bird, the way I’ve always given you the things you need.”
He started unbuckling his belt, but his dark eyes continued to stare down at her, waiting for the answer he knew she would give. Fae held his gaze, her hands trembling slightly. She wasn’t sure she wanted this, but she knew that Father wouldn’t be doing it unless it was necessary. She nodded, her dark hair sliding over the wooden desk. “Yes,” she said. “Thank you, Father.”
When it was done, Fae was surprised to find that she did not feel more like a woman. In fact, if she felt anything at all, it was the need to take a shower. A really long, scalding shower. She didn’t tell this to Father. She couldn’t insult him in such a way. After all, he had done it for her, had whispered those exact words into her ear the whole time he’d been panting and thrusting on top of her.
I’m doing this for you, little bird. All for you.
Before she left—sometime after midnight, it must have been, because the event had lasted an eternity in Fae’s mind—when the rest of the Family had long gone to sleep, he asked her if everything was ready for the service that was to take place that night.
“Yes, Father,” she said, opening the door to his office and pausing when he called out to her. For some reason unknown to her, she found herself wanting to get out there as soon as possible. But Father was waiting for her to say something.
She offered him a smile she hoped reached her eyes. “Thank you, Father,” she said, and shut the door behind her.
She passed Sharon Reynolds in the hallway and found she could not have met the older woman’s eyes right then to save her life.
Chapter 10
Sharon
As far as raw shakes went, Sharon Reynolds was no exception. Of the whole Family, Sharon was one of the few who saw through the charade much earlier on than most of the rest, which made things worse for her in the same way that severing a limb without anesthesia would be worse than if one had it. She had the privilege of watching the whole thing unravel. No blinders, so to speak.
She’d been there since the beginning. If Fae Harper was one of the Original Children, Sharon Reynolds was the Original Mother. She’d married Father before he’d become “Father”. She had only been nineteen at the time, and he had been a dashing young man of twenty-five. Even back then her husband had charisma and charm for days, something he radiated that made people want to sit up and listen when he spoke. Sharon had been entranced with the older man with big dreams and promises of an ideal life. She had fallen instant prey to his good-looks, the epitome of tall, dark and handsome.
Fallen prey is exactly right, Sharon thought as she spotted Fae Harper at the end of the hall. Fae was exiting his office, smoothing her unwrinkled fingers through her shiny brown hair. “Thank you, Father,” Fae said, shutting the door behind her.
Sharon watched on. When Fae looked up and saw her, her already flushed cheeks grew a deeper red. Fae looked away quickly, tucking her head down and hurrying past Sharon as if the two had not known each other for over a decade.
Under normal circumstances, Sharon would have been as upset and angry as any woman over what was obviously going on between her husband and the other women in the so-called Family. But nothing about the circumstances was normal, and if Sharon was being completely honest, she felt bad for the girl. He had probably been her first. He was fond of virgins. Sharon had been a virgin herself when she’d met him. Only now the bastard was pushing fifty-three years old. That made him not only a cheater, but a fucking pervert too, if you asked her. But Lord knew no one around this madhouse would dare ask anything. No one would dare question Father.
With what seemed to be growing effort, Sharon wiped the disgust off her lips and pasted on her most demure smile before knocking on the door to his office. He called out for her to enter, the smooth voice he used on everyone else an apparent waste on
her. He knew she was the one knocking, and he knew she wasn’t going anywhere. The mask he almost always wore was not necessary around her. Not anymore.
She entered the small room, clenching her teeth behind her upturned lips when the salty smell of recent sex filled her nose. Before she could stop them, her eyes flicked down to the shiny mahogany surface of his desk, and the smear of scarlet that was there. You sick fucking bastard, she thought. Sick fucking bastard.
“How you feeling, daddy?” was what she said.
His eyes had followed hers down to the blood on his desk and narrowed a touch. His large palm came up and covered the gore, like a child hiding his drawing on the wall. “You’re early,” he grunted, running his free hand through his thick, dark hair.
No, Sharon thought, you were late. Took too long getting that little girl out of here.
“I’m sorry, daddy,” she said. “It won’t happen again.” She forced her smile to grow wider. “I’m just excited because the service is tomorrow, and there are going to be a lot of new potential Family members there, so I just thought you’d want me to check in, like always, and confirm that everything is in place.”
