The Betrayed, His Worshippers, and Other Logical Contradictions: Chapter 2 – Evil’s Hour

Chapter 2 – Evil’s Hour

Today is just another day in the busy life of Camille, a wealthy business owner. Times are tough as the world gets more faithless and expensive to live in. Her business that makes and sells clothes of all kinds, watches, and other accessories is still one of the richest in the region, however, her profits still take a noticeable hit since people can’t afford to buy as much. Because of this, Camille calls a meeting to make some major changes. She includes people from management and those who work in retail so she has an idea of what’s going on in all areas of her company from the top to the bottom.

The meeting begins and ends faster than everyone in the room expects primarily because most people agree with Camille’s course of action. Employees will be the same as always so prices will go down. This decision is made in the hopes that customers will buy more and when they do, this money will cover their employees’ raises. Money is also being given to churches, charities, allied organizations, and marketing so that their public image is one of a strong company that continues to put its customers and supporters first. A month passes and the company manages to survive, but their competition is still a problem. Rival businesses countersignal Camille’s company by giving money to secular organizations and conservative allies that push against the traditionalists by wanting to keep the current trajectory of society and the way it is.

“I’d rather not live in a world where business, profit, and pleasure are all I live for while my sense of right and wrong is secondary and bendable to my needs,” Camille argues to herself as if talking to her opposition.

In her mind, Camille would do anything to keep the world and her family and friends safe from the impending changes of the future. There is no price high enough nor is there such a thing as spending too much energy trying to do what is right.

“Why, God, do You let this evil continue to spread and take root in the minds of so many?” Camille prays. “It reaches every corner of society. Even the children aren’t safe from it.”

While watching and managing her business in the store, a thief tries stealing some clothes and jewelry. Her store’s guards go after the thief who has backup waiting for them outside. Despite having backup, Camille’s guards are able to beat up the thieves and take the merchandise back to the store, however, the cops catch what is happening and convict both the guards and the thieves. It’s decided in court that the guards used excessive force on thieves since the thieves were nearly beaten to death. As a result, the guards have to serve time in jail and Camille’s company has to pay the medical bills of the thieves plus an additional expensive fine. The news portrays this situation as Camille’s company beating up desperate individuals and the court’s decision as the right one. Unfortunately, there is nothing Camille can do to get out of this, and has to grit her teeth and deal with it.

“Was I set up? Could this be part of someone’s schemes to bring my company down?” Camille thinks to herself. “God, why do You give such important positions of power to the worst of us? Why do You let them write the law and convict and let go as they please?”

Retribution seemingly comes one day when a nearby small business allied with Camille’s competition is stolen from. The owner chases the thief down the street and as the thief passes Camille, the owner begs Camille for help.

“I’m sorry. The help I would provide is too extreme according to the law. Catch him yourself or call the cops,” Camille says.

The thief runs faster than the owner and greatly increases the distance between them.

“Please, the cops won’t make it here in time and that thief stole so much that I’ll be ruined if I don’t get it back,” the owner pleads.

“That’s your problem, not mine,” Camille says before walking back inside her store.

Afterward, the news reports the closing of the small business. Camille is slandered slightly by them for not helping the owner, but she shrugs it off and is glad that she has one less business to worry about. In her mind, justice was finally served after such a long time. Speaking of justice, Camillie wishes it would happen within her own church. Priests and bishops preach the unity of religions as if they all worship the same God in different and legitimate ways. This is done to get more people to come to church and avoid being discriminated against, however, fewer people come to church and care about the faith now that the clergy is making it seem like the differences in religion don’t matter and that faith as a whole doesn’t matter in turn.

Unlike the other matters, Camille doesn’t have any influence in the church she can use to get these clergy members out of their office. Even if she could, she knows that she’ll be slandered even more by the media and called a hypocrite of her own faith. She already is facing this criticism, but avoiding adding more to it is better than actively accruing more. All she can do now is make her thoughts known to her local priests, bishop, and fellow believers and pray and hope that the situation will change.

“Please rescue people from their willful ignorance, wants to be popular, and cowardice of oppression. If not, then bring Your judgment upon them so that others know the rewards of lies, falsehood, and evil. They hardly deserve the slightest shred of mercy anyways. They’re the reason why good and evil mean nothing and why fewer people act in any kind of moral or virtuous way in these current times,” Camille prays.

Stressed out by constantly thinking about everything and what to do causes Camille to go to bed early tonight. While trying to sleep, she feels a calming darkness overcome her. When she opens her eyes, she sees this darkness begin to cover everything around her. She tries to run away, but she can’t so she backs herself up against a wall and grabs a lamp to defend herself with.

Feeling a presence in front of her, she swings the lamp where she thinks this being is while saying, “Begone, devil! You face a God-fearing woman!”

“I am the God you’ve been praying to. I am here to answer your prayer of punishing the wicked,” the voice in the dark says.

“Are you now? Why did You come to me like this?”

“Because you told Me to punish the wicked and I am here to punish you.”

“Me? What have I done?”

“Let me show you.”

A mirror appears in front of Camille that first shows her mirror image and then shifts to show festering diseases in her mouth, hands, chest, and head. A brown and dark green liquid comes out of her diseased parts as it seems that the disease in her is spreading and festers as if it has a mind of its own. Seeing this is enough to make her recoil in disgust and scratch at herself as if trying to remove the disease.

“Why do I look like that?”

“Your hatred of your enemies and actions have done this to you. You do not act out of love, but out of self-interest just like those you hate.”

“How is that? Show me what I’m doing wrong.”

The darkness shifts and reveals that Camille is in a small house. She sees the owner of the small business she saw that was stolen from. This house is a rundown wreck and the family in it is a dirty and miserable one. Despite feeling like she is in the building and smelling everything in it, no one notices Camille. In fact, they can walk through her as if she’s a spirit.

“Can you stop moping around and get a job or do you enjoy seeing your family starve to death?” the owner’s wife asks.

“Who will hire me? The people who gave me my business think I’m incompetent and untrustworthy for running my business so poorly and being stolen from and their enemies hate me even more,” the owner says.

“I don’t know just find something and stop being so useless or I’m taking the kids and we’ll find someone else who isn’t a sad waste of a man.”

“…okay.”

Now the owner seems even more broken and walks into a room and closes the door. Seconds later a loud noise is heard from the room.

“What are you doing now?!” the wife yells before going into the room and discovering that her husband has hung himself.

Camille is slightly bothered by this sight while the wife is in a panic and tells her kids to not see what is happening. Darkness covers the scene as the muffled screams and crying of the children are heard.

“If you had helped him that day he was stolen from, this wouldn’t have happened. He would have begun to see you not as an enemy, but as a friend and would have come to the faith as a result,” the voice in the dark says.

“I…I’m sorry, but it’s not my fault he killed himself. That was his decision!”

“Since you are in the business of hating those who oppose you, then maybe you’ll hate these unrepentant sinners as well.”

Again, the darkness transports Camille to a room. This time it’s one belonging to Camille’s friends who are her business partners. The room is finely decorated with religious paintings and statues and has the best furniture money can buy. Everyone in the room enjoys the feast made for them by their servants and is drunk on wine to the point where they start getting up and dancing around the room, eventually knocking down one of the statues of the Blessed Mother.

“Look what you did. You’re going straight to Hell,” one of them jokes.

“Pfft. If I am, then so are you. I’ll just confess it and donate some money as my penance,” another says.

“If you can do that, then so can I,” a drunk says before breaking more statues, “I’ve been meaning to get rid of these ugly things after Camille and those priests came by.”

“What if they come around again?”

“Then I’ll buy more. Buying these hardly takes a lot out of my profits. Besides, even if they do ask about them, then I’ll put on a sad face about being drunk, breaking them, and ask them for forgiveness and they’ll shrug it off.”

“What a bunch of idiots! Why do we even bother working with them?”

“Because without them, we wouldn’t have all these nice things so that’s at least one thing I can genuinely thank God for!”

The drunks continue to laugh and break things as the darkness surrounds Camille again.

“I…didn’t know they were really like this,” Camille admits.

“Did you? A sinner shows their true nature in ways that are out of their control such as when you were uncharitable to the poor man who hung himself,” the voice in the dark says.

“Then if I am such a horrible person, end me here and now and give me my just reward!”

“Not yet.”

“Why not?”

Yet again, the darkness fades away and transports Camille to a location. This time she is in front of a house in a poor and dirty district of the city. She looks around and after reading the street names and address number, she recognizes that she’s at the home of a loyal and faithful worker.

“Not you too!” Camille says before walking through the door as if it weren’t there.

Inside, Camille finds a well put together, but small house. One boy is praying, another is studying, and a third is making dinner.

“Oh, thank God!” Camille says.

The boy that is praying coughs before continuing to pray.

“Robin, can you stop praying and get some rest? You’ll pray better if you do so,” his brother asks.

“Let me finish my daily prayers first I’m almost done and I’m sure dad needs them,” Robin says.

“You need them more than dad. Have you even been praying your sickness away?” the other brother who is studying asks.

“I have, but if God wishes me to continue being sick, then I’ll gladly accept it and offer it up for my sins and the sins of others.”

“You better not offer it for that tyrant of a boss that dad has. Camille is why we can’t afford repairs to our house and enough to feed us. It feels like I have to fast every other day.”

“She’s also the reason why dad has a job and is able to give us things, so I thank God for her,” Robin says before their dad, Oliver, walks in somewhat bloodied.

The boys are shocked to see their dad in this condition, but he handwaves it away, and then says, “It’s fine. You should see the other guy.”

“What happened?”

“Just some desperate guy wanting more than the change I can offer him.”

“You shouldn’t give them anything. You can’t afford it.”

“What did I teach you? You have to give even when it hurts to.”

“You also taught us to stand up for ourselves. Why didn’t you do that when Camille left your raise up to chance?”

“Because I trust her and it’d be better to work at a place that isn’t going out of business.”

“It’s too rich and popular to do that. I think-”

“I think we should continue praying and being thankful for what we have,” Robin interjects.

“Thank you, Robin.”

“You’re both as useful as carpets. Mom would be ashamed of you if she were still here. Robin isn’t too far behind following in her footsteps if you don’t do anything soon,” the studying brother says before going into his room.

As soon as Robin starts coughing again, he comes out of his room, gives him his medicine, walks back in, and doesn’t come back out until dinner is ready, a meager feast of a small chicken and some fruit. Darkness covers the scene as Robin starts violently coughing and his family tries to help him.

“That child’s sacrifice holds back My great justice that thirsts for vengeance against the wicked such as yourself. He will soon pass if not helped and nothing will save you or your business. You deny your workers their due wages because you are afraid of losing business,” the voice in the dark says.

“It’s like how Oliver says. I’d go out of business and he’d be out of a job if it didn’t keep their wages the same.”

“I would’ve kept your business afloat for his sake and the sake of the others who are faithful to Me, but seeing as how you are still not moved to fully repent, I’ll have to help them find a better employer.”

The darkness around Camille quickly disappears as she sees her store burning in front of her.

“I understand now,” Camille says on her knees, “Not only because of my store burning but because of what You’ve shown me. I accept my punishment. Take whatever You want. Just spare those who deserve better, especially Robin, Oliver, and his family.”

Camille’s store continues to burn for a few more seconds until they are put out by a sudden gust of wind and a harsh rainstorm.

“I accept your confession as you have made it from the heart with all honesty. Go and sin no more.”

Camille blinks and finds herself in her room. She gets on her knees again to thank God before getting dressed and going out to assess the damage done to her store and make some changes. Using her own money, she pays for people to repair her store. Additionally, she makes cuts to her management to fire those she knows are dishonest and cuts her own and the salary of management to give the lower-positioned workers better pay. After which, she sends letters out to her competition as olive branches to apologize for any slander she’s said against them and asks if they would like to collaborate for future projects. She receives letters a few letters back from these people accepting her apology and expresses their interest in working together much to her surprise.

To help the family of the owner who killed himself, Camille pays for his house to be cleaned, gives them money and food, and offers the wife a job, which she accepts. Once a week of changes are made, she makes time to go out to Oliver’s and surprises him with gifts and enough food to last them a month. While there, she sees Robin and goes up to him. She kneels and holds his hands in hers.

“Thank you so much for your prayers, Robin,” Camille says.

“Thank you so much for everything you’ve done for my family, Ms. Camille,” the now-healthy Robin says. “If I may ask, can you hear my dad out? He’s been meaning to ask you something important.”

“What would that be?” Camille says while turning to Oliver.

“Hey, I said that was between us. I’m not ready to ask her about that,” Oliver says.

“Just spit it out. You know I’ll listen to you no matter what you say.”

“Okay…would you like to go out to dinner sometime?”

“He wants you to marry him.”

“Robin!”

Oliver is now blushing as Robin is laughing.

Stunned by this and elated at the same time, Camille says, “Yes, I’d like to go out to dinner with you. You can marry me afterward.”

“I uh…I’m honored. Thank you! I’ll be sure to take you somewhere nice.”

“Make her pay for the dinner! She has enough money,” one of Robin’s brothers says.

Camille and Oliver’s family laughs together before they pray and eat dinner as one happy family. Even though her company won’t do as well as it used to and the fear of going under will keep bothering Camille, she decides to put her full faith in God for once and never make excuses for actions again.

The Betrayed, His Worshippers, and Other Logical Contradictions: Chapter 1 – Foolish Wisdom

Chapter 1 – Foolish Wisdom

Micah is one of the few God-fearing men in his village and everyone knows him. He wears a cross necklace and works at the village church as a groundskeeper. Sometimes, he’ll stop what he’s doing to say a prayer to ask God for help even if he’s outside where everyone can see him. People think he is foolish for clinging to a faith that doesn’t enrich him nor is the popular belief. Even so, he does have admirers that leave him alone and think that he is a good honest man who just wants to live a simple life with simple beliefs.

“Please let them see that all my hard work is worth it,” Micah prays.

Some people overhear his prayer and are curious to see if it is answered. During the next day, a heavy rainstorm comes and completely wrecks the garden that circles the church and damages the building. The storm doesn’t stop until the middle of the afternoon allowing everyone to come outside and see what happened.

“He prayed and this is how he was answered. Years of hard work are gone in an instant and months of hard work are given instead,” one person who sees the mess says.

“What did you expect? Micah threw trash against the church years ago and made a similar mess back then. He’s gotten what he deserves,” another responds.

Despite the mess, Micah swallows his anger and gets to work cleaning it up and doesn’t get done until twelve at night. His critics that live nearby stay up to see if Micah will curse God or finally quit his job.

Again, he prays in public, “You treat your servants well and everything you give and do to them is a gift. I see now that you have done this to me so that my penance for my past is done and I appreciate it more than anything.”

Amazed at what they heard, Micah’s critics wonder if he is stubbornly foolish or actually thankful and improved somehow by what happened. Over the next couple of days, Micah’s strength begins to fail him as his work and the weather gets to him and makes him sick.

“This church that is a house of praise for You is damaged and in need of serious repair. Please, give me the strength to finish the work you have given me so that Your will may be done on earth as it is in Heaven,” Micah prays.

The next three days pass and Micah’s condition worsens to the point where he must stay home to rest. During his rest, few of the parishioners try to pick up where he left off, however, they aren’t able to do too good of a job since they can’t dedicate as much time to the care of the church as Micah can and the destruction of the church seems to be an inevitability, especially since the weather is getting worse again.

“Lord, do not let your church fall. I offer up my suffering in reparations for my sins, the sins of everyone in town, and for whatever other purposes you can use it,” Micah prays before coughing. “If it is my time to retire, then let it be and have someone take my place. If you want me to rise from my bed and work on your church till I die from exhaustion, then let it be. I give my life willingly.”

Those who hear Micah’s prayers were going to mock him, but after hearing these prayers they decide to wait and see what happens. A minute hardly passes until the church collapses and they laugh harder than they ever have before.

“What a joke! This guy’s prayers seem to do more harm than good,” one person says as they talk among themselves.

“As if prayer ever did those religious folk any good anyway.”

“Well, I say good riddance for our sake and theirs.”

Micah’s condition worsens the next day. The few parishioners at the church move away from the village or lose their faith while the only priest retires and dies the same day. Meanwhile, no one close to Micah can help him, and those who want to are sick like he is. He lays down on his bed half starved to death and thirsting not only for drink but answers.

With a dried voice, he prays, “Are you there? Have you heard any of my prayers? Were you there at all? I prayed once for my family’s conversion, but they cursed Your name till their deaths, so they probably weren’t saved. Even my faithful religious friends turned on You after tragedy struck and left them to a slow and painful end. Now more of Your faithful are leaving. Was this part of Your plan? Was this part of some sick joke to give us hope and to show us that there is none? Are we all forsaken? Answer me this once, if I may deserve at least one answer.”

A calming cold darkness overcomes Micah. In this darkness, he feels what feels like death overcoming him, however, this feeling then becomes closer to the feeling he had when he first embraced the faith.

“Micah,” a familiar yet strange voice says.

“Is that you, Lord?”

“Hold onto your faith, your connection to Me for just a little longer for your just reward.”

“And what reward would that be? Death? I have done so many things in Your name, tried to do Your will perfectly, praised You to no end, and done penance for myself and others. Why have you continuously let me fall and fail?”

“My will can still be done even in your failure and sometimes requires it to humble you or for something greater to happen as you are about to see.”

The morning sun rises and fills the room with light. There’s a knock at Micah’s door before a group of three people enter it. They care for his wounds and explain themselves.

“We saw how your faith changed you and how you never gave up no matter what happened to you, so we thought that your faith must be true,” one of them explains. “The church may be in ruin, but we can build it back up again and make it better than it was before. Let us know what we have to do.”

These strangers that Micah becomes fast friends with build up the wreckage of a church and take care of him while he is sick. He soon returns to full health and high spirits and helps these strangers build the church better than it was before. Seeing the faith and determination of these people cause everyone in the village to consider going to church and learning their beliefs. The church becomes so popular and talked about that the diocese sends a new priest to hold masses and is personally visited by the bishop who blesses it. Renewed by current events, Micah thanks God for his trials and sufferings that helped create this awakening of faith and prays that God picks up everyone who constantly falls and has suffered like him and to be patient in waiting for the hidden reward and wisdom found in it.

Download for free on Smashwords - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1404741

A life of riches, drinking, and pleasures grows dull for the head of a famous marketing company who is a young man named Alabaster. He longs to do something meaningful in his life and after receiving an answer, he goes to expose his family's hidden crimes that will result in further conflict as America tears itself apart as a result of its corruption.

Monotony and Mondays: Chapter 4 – Made New

Chapter 4 – Made New

Getting up early in the morning, the mantises, my uncle, and I head to church for Sunday mass. During the mass, the priest preaches about the current situation in the country. He talks about how we should stand up to corruption while also making sure to do so peacefully, however, in the event, violence is used against us, we should use our discretion in fighting back and making sure that we only kill in the event of self-defense where the other person is committed to killing us. Because of his preaching, a lot of people talk to him about the specifics of how they should fight back and if they should fight back against the police. One person brings up an example of how the police were trying to arrest him in his own home because he influenced others to protest and stand up for their God.

“These people are really serious about doing everything that God wants them to do down to the last letter,” I say to Calabretta.

“I am too. Don’t you ever think about everything you do, say, and think to make sure you’re doing the right thing all the time?” she says.

“I think I’d go crazy if I did.”

“It becomes second nature after a while. I mean you got here because you were concerned that you wanted to do something right with your life or did you forget that?”

“Honestly, I did for a second there. Thanks for reminding me.”

While going back to the hideout, I think about what we should do today that wouldn’t count as unnecessary work. Most of the mantises are home with their families while the few who have to hide because they are wanted stay with Calabretta, my uncle, and me at the abandoned warehouse. It’s going to be hard to convince them to do anything, especially since the priest talked about the right time for everything and today being a time for rest. He mentioned that there will come a time when the country will change for the better and even if we don’t live to see it, the next generation might or the next one after that. I could swear that these people all seem to think will the same mind as if what they’re saying about them all being united by their God in one Church is true.

By now, it shouldn’t surprise me given all the recent events and how I got here. Nothing says divine intervention more than having your life radically changed to the point where I’m surrounded by the religious that try to solidify my conversion and having to go to church every Sunday. While back at the hideout, one of the communications guys tells us that there’s big news, which is a sudden and welcome change of pace. It’s a message from Silas that is coming across all encrypted radio channels.

“Tomorrow, we are marching on DC and cutting off the heads of the hydra. The president and all the members of Congress who have led this country to ruin will face justice. Join us to create a better tomorrow for our friends, family, and country,” Silas says.

The source of the signal dies off.

Excited about this news, I immediately say, “We should join them! DC isn’t too far from here and I’m sure they’re going to need all the help they can get.”

“I’m not sure if we should risk it. DC is full of soldiers and if they hear about what’s happening, it’s going to be even more packed,” one person points out.

“Yeah? It’s why they need help. Are you saying you’re afraid of the risk? You should’ve thought about that before joining this group.”

“Alabaster,” Calabretta says.

“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m going. Don’t you all know about that story where God told the rich man to give up everything and follow Him? Well, I did that and have been following you all and I know for a fact that we should follow Silas to DC to finally change this country for the better.”

Calabretta sighs and then says, “Okay. I’ll go too.”

“And I’ll go as well just to keep you from running head first into the fire,” my uncle says.

Most of the mantises agree to fight with me at DC while the others choose to stay here. Cowards. Anyways, everyone who is brave enough to risk their lives drives with me to DC tomorrow early in the morning when we’re told that most people will be there, however, when we get there, we see that the party has started early. Four lines of defenses that the army has built up have been destroyed and are littered with hundreds of bodies. Seeing this is enough to make me rush in to make sure that I can protect as many people as possible and if there are going to be more bodies, then it’ll be the bodies of those that serve the corrupted leaders of this country. By the time we join the crowds, they’re on the lawn of the White House trying to break through the final bulletproof barriers set up by the army.

The scene is a chaotic one with civilians using makeshift cover and firing at the army with both firearms and explosives while throwing molotovs and handmade bombs. Among the civilians, I see soldiers and police officers, which explains how they were able to get so far. On the other side, the army’s numbers are dwindling with some running away as soon as they run out of ammo or turn on their own, probably to save their own lives. Despite our winning, progress is slow because of the many barriers, walls, and soldiers that are defending them. We help out where we can here until I overhear plans to break in from the other side.

Before we can head over there, we hear the sound of explosions and see smoke coming from one of the sides. Heading over there, we help out as best we can and keep pushing the soldiers back. People flood into rooms to clear it out as efficiently as possible. I look around me to see Calabretta, my uncle, and the other mantises around me and realize this is the first time during this battle I actually cared to see if they were still alive. The high of being here was greater than any party or drink that I’ve ever had to the point where I forgot about them. After silently cursing myself, I continue forward to the oval office and into a saferoom where the president should be.

We find that the metal doors to the saferoom have already been blasted open with the bodies of politicians around us some of which I’ve done business with. Inside, we find many members of Congress and the president shot dead. Above them stands Silas and his allies. He takes out and unwraps a lollipop before putting it in his mouth.

Silas turns around, looks at me, and says, “Aren’t you Alabaster Weaver?”

“I am,” I say amazed to see a living legend in front of me.

He’s decked out in his signature cowboy-like outfit, hat, and revolver with hardly a scratch on him.

“Thanks for what you did. It couldn’t have been easy and it really helped us,” Silas says as he puts his hand on my shoulder and walks out the door.

There was a real emptiness that I can’t explain in Silas’ words. What could be bothering him? I keep thinking about it even as we join the others outside who are celebrating our victory. Everyone is singing ‘God Bless America’. This is the most patriotic I’ve ever seen a group of people even as the dead, injured, and captive are carried off to be cared for. My memory is hazy from the party. All I remember is that I drink a lot like I usually do, try to kiss Calabretta while touching her butt, get slapped, and I wake up back at our hideout as if it were all a dream, but thankfully it wasn’t when I looked up today’s events. Today was a historic day, however, Silas’ tone of voice makes me feel like it wasn’t all that big.

The next day comes around and one of our people says that they found one of the government’s allies that’s been exposing the hideouts and plans of groups like ours after listening to the government’s secret communications stations all day yesterday.

“What’s the point of going after them?” I ask.

“What do you mean what’s the point?” one of the mantises asks.

“It’s over. The White House is overthrown, the president dead, and all the members of Congress have a bullet in their skulls. What else is there to do except for waiting for the country to heal?”

“Alabaster, there’s more to changing the country than bringing justice to the country’s leaders. You should know more than anyone that those who are still in power in corporations and the government will hold onto their power and try to keep the country the way it is until their dying breath, especially since they still have so many supporters. This is far from over,” my uncle explains.

“I guess that’s why Silas sounded so strange yesterday.” I sigh heavily and then ask, “Okay, so where are these people located?”

“…where your parents are living,” one of the mantises says.

“What?”

“What did I tell you, Alabaster?” my uncle says.

“Okay, okay. Maybe whoever is coming after us is just using my parent’s retirement house as a secret base of operations?”

“Are you serious?”

“It’s possible. They wouldn’t be able to say no to them nor does it seem like a place where secret operations would be held.” My uncle shakes his head while rubbing his temples. “Well, are we going now?”

“You want to go now?” Calabretta asks.

“Yes, now. If this is far from over, then who knows what those in power will do after the heads of the government are cut off. They may come after more people so we might as well strike first. Well, what are you waiting for? My parents’ lives are at risk here.”

Everyone looks at each other and then most reluctantly agrees while the rest stay behind to look after the hideout. Honestly, the only thing I care about is affirming my belief that my parents are innocent. There’s nothing in for them by going after us. There’s even less now that the president and members of Congress are dead. I hope they surrender peacefully if they do have some part to play. Thoughts of what would happen keep racing through my mind until we get to my parent’s house. It’s a black mansion surrounded by gold-colored walls that have cameras that cover every inch of it. Around its perimeter is a small group of armed guards dressed in suits and body armor.

Without waiting, I step out in view of all the guards and say, “Give up, and don’t lay a hand on my mom and dad! No one’s going to save you if you chose to fight.”

Of course, the guards start firing on me. I take cover, take out my pistol, and start shooting back each shot taking out a guard and leaving a hole in the wall behind them if it doesn’t hit another guard. Advancing forward without caring for backup, I cut open the gates with my sword that slices through them like butter. More guards come out of the house and take positions near the windows. Calabretta, my uncle, and the other mantises cover me as I advance forward and the number of guards steadily decreases until all is quiet twenty seconds later. Going into the house, I find it empty save for my parents who are sitting at a dinner table with pistols in their hands. They put their guns down as soon as they see me with a look of relief on their face.

“Oh, it’s you, Alabaster. What are you doing here?” my dad asks.

“My friends found out that there were people in this place that were going after groups like mine,” I say.

“That’s right and you just took care of them. Sorry, we couldn’t do anything about them. They had us and our inheritance at gunpoint after all. You understand, right?”

I smile at them despite not understanding. My uncle shoots their guns away from behind me.

“What are you doing?!” I ask him.

“Can you stop lying for once in your life, brother?” my uncle asks my dad.

“What lie-” my dad says before his cybernetic arm is shot.

“Uncle!”

“He’s fine. I didn’t even make a dent in his arm. The truth. Spill it. Do you enjoy lying to your own family?”

“Okay, fine. The truth is that we were helping the government track your actions, at least when they could decrypt your phones to find you. We did it not because we were forced to or because they asked, but because of what you were doing to our legacy, Alabaster.”

The truth coming out of my dad is enough to take my breath away for a second.

“What? What do you mean? Our family’s legacy was already tarnished by our crimes. I only exposed it.”

“And that’s what tarnished it further. Now no one will trust our family or company unless they’re allied with you.”

“I will restore our family’s legacy to what it was before and make it greater.”

“To what it was before? Our family’s legacy was never great. Another truth I’ll tell you is that our family history is a fabrication for the most part. Our origins as a royal family from the UK? A tenuous claim at best. What we know for sure is that our family came into true power in the early twentieth century possibly under a different last name and that time period is the same time that we made that sword you have plus our other so-called relics to bolster the lie of our family’s storied history.”

“So…that’s the truth,” I say while pacing around the room not sure what to do at first before pointing my pistol at my parents.

“What are you going to do now? Kill us?” my mom says. “It would be one the best decisions you’ve made in a while.”

After thinking it over and saying a silent prayer, I lower my pistol and then say, “No, I won’t.”

“You won’t? Why?”

“I’ve been learning a lot about truth, mercy, justice, and doing the right thing from these crazy religious people I’m with, and the prayer I just said in my head has inspired me to spare your lives. Don’t spoil this opportunity by returning to what you were doing or we will come back here and I will deliver you the justice you deserve.”

My parents are speechless as they look at each other and then back at me.

“Please, make the right decision. I love you, mom and dad.”

The other mantises and I leave my parent’s mansion and go back to our cars and then leave the area.

“That must’ve taken a lot out of you,” Calabretta says.

“I’m proud that you did that, nephew. You’re growing into a good man of faith,” my uncle adds.

“Thank you. Both of you and everyone else here. I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me. I don’t know where I would be without you,” I say.

“Well, I think what you just did deserves a reward,” Calabretta says before kissing me on the cheek. “Don’t ask for more.”

“Such a tease,” I say while rubbing my face.

I honestly expected myself to pull the trigger back there, but I guess prayers are sometimes answered in an instant. I’m hoping and praying that my parents do change and by the looks on their faces, something must’ve sparked in their minds. With that done, the mantises, Calabretta, my uncle, and I still have much work to do to help fix America so that its people and the country as a whole become better than it was before, which, of course, will start by doing the right thing.

The End

Monotony and Mondays: Chapter 3 – The Daily Climb

Chapter 3 – The Daily Climb

The next following days pass without much good happening. What the mantises and I do is a variety of community work and protecting civilians from the national guard during protests and assassination attempts. We both gain and lose members while trying to keep our group as secret as possible and working with other revolutionary groups. Speaking of those groups, there are revolutionary groups that are for traditional values and ones for values from just a few years ago. We get along with the more traditionalist movements while agreeing to disagree with others and not really bothering them.

In other news, we’ve made a symbol for our group during a Sunday. It’s a praying mantis in the center of a gold and green cross. No one will really see it besides us since we’re supposed to be a secret group, but still, it makes our group feel more official. I joked that all we need is uniforms and a motto for our group, but everyone didn’t think it would be a worthwhile idea to invest in. My training in marketing makes me want to do more to make our appearance stand out despite not actively recruiting outside of accepting the help of random people who approach us to join.

Meanwhile, in other places of the country, riots and protests are breaking out. The famous Silas and his supporters are going after important figureheads in the corporate, political, and criminal world while being slowed down by the army, national guard, and local police force, so they’re not making that much progress in changing the country either other than constantly gaining support and punishing the criminals who thought they were untouchable. Because of this lack of progress, the feeling of doing the right thing loses a lot of its luster and I begin to want the old days of pleasure and relaxation. We hardly drink since we’re supposed to be working most days and when we do drink to celebrate a week of good work done, we don’t drink enough to get drunk. In addition, I also begin to miss the personal touch of a woman and my eyes and mind are always on Calabretta who I wish was near me more.

During one charity event we helped out in the city, we were cleaning up at the church and talking with one another about whatever. I honestly don’t remember because I was looking for an opportunity to kiss her. Once I see it, I take it and kiss her on the lips and then she pushes me away. Her face is a little red so at least she wasn't disgusted by my kiss.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“I feel closer to you than anyone I’ve ever met. I love you, Calabretta, and I want us to be together,” I say.

She blushes and is speechless until she says, “I…now’s not the time for that. Give me more time before I can make a decision.”

Calabretta then walks away from me with the men of our group coming up to me. They say that no one has been able to kiss her without being slapped and that she doesn’t act the same way with anyone else in the same way that she acts with me, so I shouldn’t give up.

Since Calabretta is still not too far from me, I say, “Calabretta! I will have the honor of being your husband one day.”

Now her face is even redder and my friends in the group support me more. Even the girls want Calabretta and me to be together after I confess love. That was probably the best thing that happened in a while. One of the less exciting things is that my uncle caught me talking to my parents on one of my daily calls to them coincidentally when my dad was asking if he knew I was talking to them.

“He knows now,” I say.

“Put us on speaker phone. I want to talk to him,” my dad says.

“Okay…”

“Arthur! Brother! It’s been so long since I’ve last talked to or seen you. How’s it going?” my dad says to my uncle who looks warily at my phone and at me.

“Fine, how are you doing? Still enjoying the lazy, good life?” my uncle says.

“I’m enjoying it to the fullest. You should’ve followed dad’s advice because you would’ve been like me if you did, but to each his own as he said. Try not to get Alabaster, yourself, and your friends in too much trouble, okay brother?”

“Sure…”

“Well, I guess I shouldn’t keep you two hanging for too long. Talk to you guys later!”

“Love you, mom and dad!”

My uncle thinks in silence until saying, “How much have you been telling them, or rather what have you been telling them?”

“Nothing more than what they’ve been hearing on the news and stuff like me confessing my love to Calabretta.”

“Okay, just make sure it stays that way.”

“What? Do you think they’re trying to get information out of me so they could get rid of us?”

“It’s a suspicion of mine.”

“Why would you think they’d do that?”

“Because my brother, your father, is a trained liar and has been lying for his entire life to the point where no one can tell if he’s ever telling the truth or not. I’m pretty sure he even manages to trick himself. Like I said, just make sure you don’t say too much to be safe.”

“Understood, uncle.”

I honestly doubt my parents are using me. They were always uncaring if they were never directly affected. Still, my uncle is right in that my dad was raised to be a liar. My dad also raised me in the same way grandpa raised him, but I won’t be like him. I’ll show him that what I’m doing is right and should be supported or at least proud of. This thought helps me keep working with the mantises through the many repetitive coming days of community work.

There aren’t many fights breaking out between the country and its citizens with the following days just having protests and people from each side debating with one another, however, fights do happen between civilian groups that are a result of arguments over politics, religion, and whether or not America should be completely overhauled and people live out in the uncivilized parts of the country and create their own America. During one of these days this week, I suggest exposing another company like mine for its corruption since it brought so many together and was a major wake-up call.

“What would be the point? People know how corrupt America’s leaders are and we’ve exposed other companies by exposing yours so doing so again will be like saying water is wet to the public,” Calabretta explains.

She’s right and has made me realize something at the same time. Nothing has changed in America even after the start of the pseudo-civil war. Politicians and corporate businessmen are corrupt, don’t have the country’s best interests in mind, and want to only make themselves comfortable? That’s old news. The police and army being sent to arrest and kill civilians who are fighting for their rights? Next, you’re going to tell me we need air to breathe. This also goes for people selling out, figureheads larping as allies, and what seem to be historical events having little to no impact at all. America is still the same as it’s always been. Even so, there seem to be glimpses of real change on the horizon when I look back on all we have done so far which gives me hope.

That hope is all but shattered when our base of operations is attacked by the national guard the day after my uncle finds out that I’ve been talking to my parents. We already have a plan for this since many other groups have been attacked out of the blue and enacted it well for the most part and lose few people, but still, we’ve lost people and now we’re in a backup spot further outside the city at an abandoned warehouse that’s not as comfortable, useful, or convenient as the previous one. After helping everyone settle down with what few resources we have left, I go sit outside to think.

“Mind if I sit with you?” Calabretta says before sitting down next to me.

“You can,” I say.

A few moments of silence pass before she speaks again. “I’m just as upset as you are about our situation, but we’ll get passed it.”

“And then what? Why even continue when we hardly make any progress?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It means…to serve God in everything you do, say, and think.”

“I’ve heard that before and I still don’t really get what it means.”

“Maybe you should pay attention more when we go to church rather than looking at me every other second.”

“I’ll try, but why should we bother going to church when we have so much to do? We were lacking in resources and manpower before and now it’s even worse.”

“I have an obligation to fulfill and it’s the right thing that I should fulfill it. You can come if you want to like always unless you have a foolproof plan to take back what was taken from us.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“Thank you.” Calabretta gets up and then hugs me from behind. “Things will get better. Trust me.”

She then walks back into the building. How will things get better by taking a day off? Most of the mantises work so they can financially keep us going and if they could go to work tomorrow, we could get a little bit more to slowly restore our resources, but since they’re religious like Calabretta, they’re taking off without considering if they should work a bit more to help build up the group. Is this what it means to be devoted to something higher than yourself? Is their God so important to them that they don’t try to work around the rules and break them if necessary? I guess that’s just my parents’ side of my thinking and I should ignore it. Now I really miss having a drink, a woman to keep me company, and my consequence free life.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have the idea of crawling back to my company expecting them to give me back my life even if I sell out the mantises. Maybe I should do what they’ve been telling me and start praying for help more. So…uh? God? Mind doing me a favor for me? Help me so I can help others and do whatever it is You want me to do? The door opens behind me and my uncle comes out.

“What’s going on?” I ask expecting that he’s going to say something that will answer my prayer in some way.

“I think it’s best if you don’t talk to your parents today at least until we get our communications encryption setup again,” my uncle says.

“Do you think they had something to do with what happened?”

“It’s a suspicion again. Please, just do it.”

“Okay, fine.”

“Thank you,” my uncle says before hugging me. “We’ll get through this.”

“Yeah, yeah. You and everyone else say it a million times, I get it.”

“Alright.”

My uncle goes back in. I keep waiting for something to happen until I’m told that dinner is ready. Guess that means I’ll have to wait for my prayers to be answered. They told me that most prayers aren’t always answered when we want them to be. Here’s hoping that things will get better and my prayers are answered like they said or…I’m not sure what I’ll do then. What a tiring month and a half it's been...