Chapter Text
(Time Period:1988)
The birds chirp outside of a window on a top floor of a white house, the trees surrounding said house are green with hints of fading colors. The sun shines as bright as it can despite summer being over, or well the spirit of summer was over for a certain kid in this house.
BEEP BEEP BEEP—
With one swoop, the alarm clock’s plug is ripped out by the socket by an invisible force. A boy with straight jet black hair and fair terra-cotta skin holds his hand up, but he soon curls it up and pulls his hand into his bed of blankets, soon trying to find his way back to dream world. Only for a series of footsteps to disturb him again. It must’ve been his sisters…or well sister, if Mimmie didn’t stay up past her bedtime to play with her gameboy for one last level of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Minnie was always the girl who’d get the job done early in the morning to start her day, she’s explained to her older brother multiple times that it was a good way to start the morning. He had wished he had her spunk like back in the day when he’d just be okay with waking up at early hours her age.
But life had other plans, such as leading a group of friends to delay an alien invasion.
Knock knock!
“KENDRICK! Wake up! You’re not gonna be almost late for school again!” Speaking of the little devil, Minnie was knocking on his door to wake him up as per usual. She did this for the rest of the family when she could, which was just him and her sister Mimmie. He knew he had to wake up either way, otherwise the she-demon known to him as his loving and caring mother would come up here panicking angrily like the world was coming to an end. Not like Ninten chooses to struggle waking up early, at some points he does, but he just stays silent for a few minutes, trying to collect his thoughts. With a few disgruntled groans, he had dismounted off his bed, stretching his arms over his head and his shoulders. Once leaving his room he was approaching the bathroom door across the hallway, just before opening the bathroom door.
He brushed his teeth and flat ironed his hair straight, occasionally burning his fingertips, and finished up his bathroom routine in under 5 minutes. His hand met the door handle but apparently Carol had opened it the same time he had, “Oh! Sorry Ninten, I didn’t think you were going to come out now.”
Ninten raised a brow, his tone softened, “Yeah? Did you need something?”
Carol sighed, her eyes filled with worry, “You don’t have to get dressed Ninten, I’d rather you not going to school today than risk having an asthma attack the minute you start outside.”
“Mhm, alright—wait what?!” Ninten whipped his head to face his mother, confusion struck his facial expression.
Carol gave a sorry look to her son, “Yes, Ninten, you don’t have to go to school today. A fire happened downtown and it almost burned down a couple businesses!”
“Oh jeez—is everyone alright?” Once Ninten had heard of the word fire his mind went towards the victims. He found himself following his mother downstairs into the kitchen as the twins were at the table finishing up their breakfasts, “What happened?”
“Hush! The news!” Mimmie scoffed, as she and the rest of the family focused on the TV across in the living room.
“Tragedy strikes the town of Podunk as its small community church near Holly street has been destroyed by a raging fire. Reverend James and his wife Polly were found dead at the scene, as they had tragically lost their life in the fire. Authorities believe it had been faulty wiring, investigations are ongoing at the moment…” As the reporter woman stated the situation, the family’s heart ached slightly.
“Oh god….” He leaned his elbows on the kitchen counter as he listened in.
When it switches to the two other newsmen, one was given a paper as he spoke up quickly, “Related to that news, Mayor Goodman is currently having his speech at the town hall right now, to explain that a new church will be built thanks to an anonymous donor who had paid for the new church’s construction greatly!” As the news played downstairs, the family just watched in slight dismay or contempt.
Carol scoffed, her hand on her cheek as she grabbed the remote, turning off the news, “Scumbag.”
“Pastor James and his wife didn’t make it and they’re just gonna…skim over it?” Minnie’s eyes slowly moved down to her skirt over her thighs, they watered slightly, “That’s just awful.” She mouthed in sadness.
Mimmie raised her head at Minnie from the sink as she placed the finished captain crunch cereal bowl into the sink, “I mean, I agree with sis, but at least they’re building a new church. So we don’t have to hear the old people rant about demons and stuff.”
“Even then…” Ninten began, stretching his arms once more as his eyebrows narrowed, “Just avoiding the subject that our town pastor is dead won’t fix things. If anything, we should at least hold a memorial for them.”
“We didn’t even know them like that!” Mimmie raised a brow, but the rest of the family narrowed her eyes at her. She just raised her eyebrow, placing her spoon back into the sink with the bowl, “Well then, what do you think the town should do?”
“We could leave flowers and candles in front of the store nearby where the church was!” Minnie suggested.
Carol shook her head, “They’ll be building over where the fire happened, sweet pea, so I don’t think the community will try to do that.”
Carol then picked up her purse and car keys, “Besides, the school year just began and I don’t want any of you to get into trouble…” She ushered the twins to grab their backpacks as they passed by Ninten, Carol’s glare falling onto him, “That includes you, Ninten. I’ll be back from work at around 5 pm like usual, do NOT go outside.” She pointed her finger at the teenager like he was a child that had done wrong.
Ninten had just blown a raspberry at his mother like a child and said, “Oh I’ll be fine mom, I won’t go out. That’ll be like walking into a cloud of smoke for me.” Ninten crossed his arms over his bare chest, his mother rolled her eyes before calling out the twins and opening the door. Minnie and Mimmie followed their mother to the car just as Ninten had sat by near the window that showed the porch, both girls entered the Vauxhall Cavalier his mother had owned but not before saying their goodbyes.
“See ya later, Kendick!” Minnie waved to her brother before entering the car.
Mimmie followed as soon as she just stuck her tongue out, “Later dweeb!”
Ninten just waved back to his younger sisters as the last one entered the car and their mother backed up from the driveway. As the car drove away from the house farther and farther, Ninten’s smile slowly dripped down and he moved away from the window sill, “Home alone with a smokey church in this small ass town?...” He muttered, just as he reached the kitchen, his feet sliding against the floor titles thanks to his socks as he raced for the house phone attached to the wall, “Lloyd’s gotta know!”
Once he punched in the numbers on the phone, the teenager waited while leaning against the fridge. He heard the dialup ring from the receiver, “C’mon pick up…”
It rang once, then twice.
“It doesn’t take that long to pick up a DAMN PHONE.” Ninten thought, tapping his finger against the receiver.
It rang another time, then it stopped as audio of someone moving in the background was heard, followed by a nasally but slightly lowered and tired voice, “Hello?—“
“LLOYD!” Ninten snapped a little too loudly at the phone as the sound of a shrill shriek was heard from the receiver, after some more noises Lloyd seemed to have fallen from the slight jumpscare of a greeting.
“Jesus Ninten—I swear, you sound banshee over the phone these days!” Snapped the nerdy friend from over the receiver.
Ninten rolled his eyes at his friend’s jab, “Lloyd. Listen up, I’ve got some deets.”
“Uh huh—lemme grab my glasses first before you freak out.” Lloyd rummaged through his nightstand drawer, soon pulling the chunky black glasses from underneath the many bottles of prescription medicine. Once properly placed between the bridge of his nose, he picked the phone back up and spoke, “Alright then, talk to me.”
“So uh—shit, how do I explain this…” Ninten muttered, but he quickly found a better way to put it, “Someone’s town church burnt down.” Ninten could hear the sudden coughing from Lloyd on the speaker as Lloyd regained his voice.
“Who the fuck starts a conversation like that—I just woke up?!” Lloyd’s flabbergasted tone could be heard from the phone.
Ninten laughed awkwardly, “Yeah maybe that wasn’t the best way to put it…”
The nerd had to roll his eyes as he rubbed his forehead, “You think? Anyways, what are you talking about?”
Ninten leaned against the wall, “My town church burnt down yesterday night out of nowhere.”
“Did the news say anything about it?” Lloyd asked, his eyebrows raising as he took a lock of his brown curls and pulled on it slightly out of boredom.
Ninten replied shortly after, “Yeah, they did. Said it was something about faulty wiring or some candle so they won’t do any foul play or anything. But…the pastor and his wife didn’t survive.”
“Oh damn, that’s awful…” Lloyd leaned back on his bed, “They must’ve found the bodies then.”
“Yeah, but apparently the mayor wants to skip over them and replace the church.” Ninten scoffed, mentioning the wackjob of a mayor Podunk had, “Some big shot just donated a large sum of money for the production of the new church.”
“And they didn’t reveal the person’s identity? How peculiar.” Lloyd murmured, “I could try to look into it if you’d like?”
“Nah, don’t bother. Besides, it’s probably some big shot company owner who wants to do some charitable work to make themselves look better.” Ninten jested, however, he seemed to be more interested in shifting through his fridge.
“I mean, it is out of place, I could come visit you.” Lloyd began, rummaging through his notebooks underneath his bed as he pulls one out, and pulled the pen from the rings of said notebook, “We could go investigate this Saturday before I go back to school, maybe see if there’s any mooks or starmen behind it trying to plot revenge against you. Maybe Ana might’ve had a dream about it, should we—“
“No.” Lloyd’s pen stopped scribbling notes upon the white lined paper as he realized his mistake thanks to Ninten’s rather harsh tone when he answered Lloyd.
“N-No. Just…no.” Ninten’s voice seemed more quiet and uncertain, but still held the stern edge in his words, “I rather not. Not right now, besides, she may be busy with her little mentor bullshit.”
“Uhh—yeah. Right. Sorry about that.” Lloyd spoke, his voice heavy with regret.
“No no, it’s alright Lloyd. You didn’t mean to.” Ninten pulls out a bottle of milk from the fridge, placing it on the table counter, “Sorry for…reacting like that.”
“It’s alright. I get it, you’re still…recovering from that.” Lloys could feel the tension crawling on his skin, his hand began to move the pen across the paper again, this time more slowly than before. Of course Lloyd had forgotten about the situation, but it was still very recent.
At least 3 years ago, around the time Lloyd was shortly turning 13, Ninten and Ana had broken up. It still baffles Lloyd that out of nowhere Ninten and Ana had decided to go their separate ways, especially since they seemed perfectly fine the day before, back then Lloyd honestly thought it wouldn’t have mattered and it was just a small little argument that the two had. They’d get back together like those cheesy romance films his mom watched and everything would be okay by the time his 13th birthday party came along.
That day was when Lloyd had a huge whiplash as he had found out the hard truth; love wasn’t like how the movies portrayed it. Especially break up scenes. Everything was just awkward around the two; Ninten would always cast suspicious glares whenever Ana spoke, and Ana seemed rather shy and reserved. It wasn’t like her to be like that, especially since during their adventure she had. It wasn't until Ninten left that Ana filled him in on what happened.
“Hello? Earth to Lloyd?” Lloyd’s mind snapped back to Ninten’s voice, the pen shortly stopped writing and he placed it back on his bed, “Sorry…you were saying Ninten?”
“I was saying that it probably was faulty wiring, cause the pastor’s wife always liked lighting candles. She didn’t like using electricity, saying it’s bad for children or something.” Ninten said, his tone painted in skepticism. He poured some milk into his cereal he had made, could never go wrong with fruit loops! “Besides that, I’m pretty sure she was one of those…evangelicals or whatever you call them.”
Lloyd snorted, pushing the rim of his black square-formed glasses back upon the bridge of his nose, “You sure she just wasn’t a hipster?”
“Nonono—I swear she wasn’t!” Ninten jokes, but sooner or later his soft laughter was replaced by silence. Realizing about the pastor and his wife’s situation, Ninten whispered, “Even then, it’s a bummer about what happened to them…” Ninten opened the fridge again as he took out the contents of an orange juice bottle and returned the milk to its rightful place in the fridge, “Dying in a fire is awful, especially since I’ve already felt third degrees before.”
“With the giant robots…right? Was it red or blue?”
“Blue.” Ninten reminded his nerdy friend, his voice now quieter, “It was the blue one, jackass, that thing was built like a barrel of water. Still, we came out on top, we were fine. But the pastor and his wife…”
“They didn’t…” Lloyd finished as the air returned back to the tension atmosphere, this time more solemn than stiff. He looked back at his calendar, thoughts racing in silence.
It took a while for one of them to speak, as the gears in Lloyd’s head were searching for a way to continue the conversation. Suddenly, one idea popped into Lloyd’s head, “Hey? Uh, who do you think will be the new pastor?”
Now this had Ninten stumped, “Crap…I have no idea. Plus I don’t think Mayor Goodman will say anything about it, maybe city hall will just appoint a random pastor from out of town to come or whatever.” Ninten poured his orange juice as he seemed to be thinking, “Probably will be some fresh old decaying jerk again.”
“I fear you are right Ninten, no one’s ever heard of a young handsome pastor. Ana’s father is probably the closest thing to that.” Lloyd joked.
Ninten let out a series of gags on the phone while laughing as well, “Dude, grody! If I had to see Ana’s dad in a light like that I would rather bag his face!”
“Oh don’t have your boxers in a twist, Ninten.” Lloyd teased, before clearing his throat, “But if it is a new pastor, hopefully he’s not a furious one?”
“Oh like those movies where they’re all self righteous pricks? Get real Lloyd, there’s nothing to be afraid about those guys, they act more like super villains than actual threats. Bet they’ve never thrown a punch.” Ninten placed his orange juice on the table as he finally moved back to the house phone’s main call box, “Kay well, I gotta bounce. I need to eat and I’m sure you’ve got other things to deal with.”
“Oh really like what?” Lloyd enquired, only for Ninten to respond with something Lloyd had completely forgotten about.
“The fact that you’ve gotta go back to school shopping soon for the whole day with your dad! See ya sucka!”
“Wait. WHAT?! NINTEN YOU—“ Ninten cut off Lloyd by slamming the phone back onto the call box’s receiver, a proud smirk on his face as he walked away knowing he probably gave Lloyd an existential crisis about pencils, papers and the dread of having to go back to school shopping with his father once more.
The awkwardness would kill Lloyd for sure.
When he relished this feeling, it was short lived by his stomach starting to growl. Breakfast, he had nearly forgotten about it! “Ah damn, gotta keep this bod fed otherwise I’ll look like some chicken legged white boy sooner or later.” Ninten strided across the kitchen to reach the table where his cereal was, he placed his spoon right inside the bowl, but his thoughts went back to the topic about a new pastor. He remembered Mayor Goodman say something about rebuilding the church, but never when. Ninten’s glance turned towards the nearby window where the clouds moved slowly across the skies of Podunk.
“Maybe…maybe it won’t be too quick.” He thought as he let the multicolored cereal enter his mouth. “After all, it’s not like the workers would be paid double just to finish up a church THAT quickly.”
Another bite of the cereal would probably ease his mind.
Within three weeks the church was reconstructed.
Ninten didn’t expect the construction to work on the building THAT fast, in all honesty he would’ve wanted them to at least take time with the newer chapel. He surely didn’t want to be in any accidents in the near future.
“Yknow, the pastor has a daughter your age, Ninten.” His mother had disclosed this information one day when Ninten got home from school and she had dropped the news on the family about dropping a visit to the church to meet the new pastor. Funny enough, Ninten hasn’t seen the girl in school at all, was she homeschooled before this? Did she have some sort of problem fitting in? Then again, he had hoped that she wasn’t some weird religious nutcase like some people he’s met out of town.
He knew first impressions weren’t everything, of course. After all, god knows he wouldn’t have Lloyd and the others as friends.
Today was the day that the new pastor would begin his first sermon at the newly built church. Didn’t help that his mother had the bright idea to attend today’s sermon as a way to welcome said pastor. Said it would welcome him and his daughter to the community, obviously the entire family dreaded going to church, but for their own reasons.
“Mom! Why did you have to put so much mousse cream on my bun!?” Minnie whined out, her head moving away from the headrest as she cringed at the sweet, goopy scented residue that had come from her curly ponytail bun. “It’s gonna be stuck in my hair by the time this ends!”
“Well, Minerva, I didn’t think it would still be wet by the time we got out of the house!” Carol sassed back to her younger daughter, whilst driving the family wagon through the streets into the pathway of the church, “I knew we should’ve woken up at 6! But nooo, a couple of knuckleheads wanted to sleep in a few hours!”
Ninten rubbed his eyes a little, he hadn’t gotten a full night sleep for his own personal reasons, “Mom nobody wakes up at 6 am to get ready for church—“
“Lots of people do!” Carol shot back.
Just for Ninten to reply with, “Yeah, people who don’t have sleeping issues!”
Despite the current situation they were in, the family was dressed in their Sunday best. For Ninten, it was a simple white button-up shirt tucked into a pair of red converse. His sisters, Minnie and Mimmie, wore dainty coordinating dresses - Minnie was bedecked in a pretty pink frock with white lace trim, and Mimmie had a matching dress in powder lavender with yellow accents. With how much it was a struggle for Carol to complete, the three children looked like the picture-perfect siblings, their clothes spotless and their hair neatly combed for their church attendance.
“Mom, you don’t even like church, you say all those older grandma’s keep sassing at you.” Mimmie looked at their mother in the backseat, her voice mixing with concern and slight discomfort at the idea of their church all together, “So why are we going anyways?”
“I’ve told you children hundreds of times, we’re gonna attend the mass so we can introduce ourselves to the pastor!” Carol informed the kids once again with a much more sharper tone. Once the car stopped at a red light she pulled a pocket mirror from her red Liz Claiborne bag, a beloved and prized gift Ninten’s father had blessed her last Christmas when Ninten was around thirteen years old, to check on her eyeliner that was ever so slightly worn off. Carol was dressed in a striking crimson dress that emphasized her figure. It was a long, flowing gown with a low neckline, the fabric clinging to her bodice and falling gracefully to the floor in a pool of velvet. Her bright honey blonde hair was pinned down in a loose curled bun, and her lips were painted a matching shade of dark red. She wore high, strappy heels and had jewelry that glinted in the light whenever she moved.
Many men would wish to have a woman like her, but Ninten knew nobody could handle his mom, not like his dad anyway.
As Ninten watched the town plaza and shopping district disappear, he could hear his sister Minnie speak up to their mother, “What’s the new pastor like momma?”
Carol tried to think, her mind only had two things that popped up, “Well, remember the town pianist? Mrs. Gilory? She came into the salon on Thursday and told me that she’s met both the pastor and his daughter. Said he’s the calmest, sweetest guy she’s ever met, and his daughter is even more sweet. Like a lovely bluebell.”
Minnie’s eyes went wide, “Oh, so she must be super nice, like Ana?”
That dampened the mood for Carol and Ninten entirely as Ninten scoffed slightly at his sister’s words, his eyes narrowed to his lap, “Yeah, totally nice.”
Carol’s eyes narrowed at her son before she continued to focus on the road, “Of course Minnie, like Ana was.”
Finally after it seemed like watching trees and farms pass by for who knows how long, Ninten’s eyes were shown a different sighting, a fence on the side of the road and empty grasslands all around. He could feel the car slowly coming to a stop as his mom entered a large parking lot, the parking lot to say new church, “Wow…An actual good parking space? This is a step up already from the old church.” He snickered, until Carol had said;
“Mimmie, smack your brother upside the head for me.”
“With pleasure!” Mimmie inched closer to her brother’s seat behind him.
However, Ninten inched closer to the glove compartment, his tone snide “Touch me and I'll give you a noogie so bad your hair will fall off, you little runt!”
“Bite me!” Mimmie hissed back, she and Ninten both blew a raspberry at each other.
Minnie in the crossfire had whined out a loud, “MOOOMMMM! Ninten and Mimmie are fighting again!”
Carol tapped the steering wheel, biting back any words that she knew she’d regret later on, “Come on, Carol just 6 more years of this.” She promised to herself. As she finally parked the family car in a good spot at the near front of the church, she pulled out her pocket mirror and placed her keys inside her bag, “Alright, everyone get outta the car!”
The kids quickly got out, Ninten was in need of some fresh air the most. Being stuck in a car full of three ladies drenched in perfume was not something his lungs appreciated. Reaching for his asthma spray around his neck thanks to the necklace his sister Minnie always made, he took it upon his lips and hit a deep puff of it. Ninten was facing away from the chapel when Minnie approached her older brother and looked up behind him, “Woah…” She muttered. Ninten was curious at what she was staring at, when he turned he was in for a large surprise.
He let out a long whistle as he muttered, “Well goddamn…”
The newly built chapel in front of the family stood in stark contrast to the old one. Before the fire, the older church had weathered from time; its wooden walls stained with mystery stains in places from long years of exposure to father time. Ninten could remember a situation one day when his family attended the lord’s house around 8 years ago; a couple of choir members had fallen out of their bleachers when the decaying wood broke underneath their weight. All the children in the pews had burst out laughing at the situation, some adults had tried to keep their mouths from smiling, it was a fond memory but still a concerning hazard. Now the new chapel stands in place, and with all its glory, it could already pass off as a cathedral. It was a grand structure, built with sturdy white stones and tall, arched stained glass windows that let in bright shafts of light. The bell up top in the balcony was smaller and made up of three bells in the windows. The grass was artificial, replacing the old grass that had turned yellow and grayish after the fire and the double doors were grand with white paint and gold trims.
“A big house for the man above the clouds isn’t it?” Carol smiled, Mimmie accompanied her from behind, rather being huffy at the sight of it. The family began to walk across the parking lot meeting with double doors as Ninten opened it to be met with a rather chic lobby. The interior inside was also impressive, with many similar greek or christian modeled statues around the premises and the carpet being a soft sage green color. “Ooh! The carpet’s all fuzzy!” Minnie commented, her hands met the carpet as she rubbed it.
Only for her mother to pull her back up, “Minnie! Come on! We’re already late!”
Ninten watched his mom hassle them out of the lobby as he followed, “I bet the service already started.” He started to pull on his collar while his eyes rolled at the miniature statues.
Entering the hallways of the church, marble flooring was across the foyer that trails towards a mahogany door with silver trims. Even from behind the doors, Ninten’s ears were gifted with the heavenly sound of a muted piano and the pastor’s firm yet smooth muffled speech. Carol stopped all of a sudden once she was behind said doors, and turned sharply towards her kids, “Now, we’ve gone over this, THRICE, but I will say it again so it sticks in your brains this time. What are the rules?”
Ninten started off the rule listing swiftly, “No talking loudly or during when the pastor is speaking.”
Carol turned to Minnie, “And?” Minnie looked up at her mother in firm determination, “No taking candy from any stranger! Unless it’s from the pastor or any church workers!” She had a proud smile on her face.
Carol nodded as she moved on to Mimmie, “Mhm?” Mimmie crossed her arms looking away slightly, her mouth in a pout.
“Mimmie.” Her mother gave her a stern frown, crossing her arms as well to copy off her daughter.
Mimmie frowned some more, a soft embarrassed expression was flushed on her face as Carol was losing her patience, “Miriam!” She hissed out Mimmie’s real name, as Ninten and Minnie knew this was the real deal going on between these two.
It took Minnie elbowing her sister for Mimmie to finally scoff, “Fine, fine! No running off to go eat all communion crackers…again!”
Carol backed up from Mimmie as her expression turned more relaxed, “Good. And lastly?”
“Treat everyone with respect, even if they don’t give you respect back. Cause in the lord’s house there’s no time for fighting.” The three kids drone out.
Carol clapped her hands, “Goodie! Now c’mon! The service has already started and we don’t want to be any later than we already are.”
Minnie raised her hand, “Yes, Minnie?”
“What if we need to go to the bathroom? Can we ask you if the pastor is talking?” Minnie asked, as Ninten could’ve sworn he forced himself to not roll his eyes at his sister's obvious questions.
Carol raised a brow at Minnie’s issue, “Yes? Minnie, a bathroom break is fine, as long as you don’t take too long and come right back to where we sit.”
Minnie nodded, acknowledging the answer, but soon her sister raised her hand.
“Yes, Mimmie?” Carol asked, her eyes narrowed.
“Can I at least drink all the communion cups?—“
“ALRIGHT THEN! No other questions? Good.” Carol said abruptly as she opened the double doors quickly and quietly, soon their eyes developed in a warm scene. Just as he predicted, the sermon had already started. A dark tanned man, who they could only assume was the reverend, stood at the pulpit, flailing his arms wildly as he delivered an impassioned sermon that the family could make neither head nor tails of.
The kids did their best to make as little noise as possible as Carol searched for open seats, in a couple of minutes they’d found some seats around the middle seating area. Close to the aisle too, luckily.
The kids all sat down next to each other, their basic seating. Ninten sat down next to Minnie and Carol sat on the opposite end next to Mimmie. Youngests would be sandwiched between oldest family members, a way to keep an eye on them. The people beside them cast a glance over at the family, soon realizing it was the Grey family they quickly turned their heads back towards the pastor.
At the time Ninten was slowly settling down and letting his mind wander, the pastor had cleared his throat, “Now, I’d like to mention for any families here there is a Sunday school now a part of our church. If you’d like your child to be included into the service, please point them to my lovely daughter over here. They will return around the last hour of the mass.” Ninten’s eyes scanned the area where he was, he was curious to see the pastor’s daughter. The Judith that his mother and many others had been praising so much.
When his search came to nothing he turned to the exit area near the piano on the stage.
Then his eyes found the girl.
Judith’s elegance and radiance shined upon every glance. Her hair was a curly rich auburn, each curl bounced against her back in its long strides. Judith’s skin was a fair tawny orange brown, freckles adorned her arms and face. A light peach lip balm was applied on her before this, making her soft lips shine slightly within the chandelier’s lighting. Her eyes were an olive green, holding nothing but warm and loving energy behind them. She had on a dark silver gray cardigan, underneath was a long pale blue dress that reached down to her ankles, showing off her silver open toe heels that clacked against the fuzzy floor of the auditorium. Her gloves were pale white, around her ears were pearl earrings with a pearl necklace to match and top it all off, a pale yellow sun hat with a blue ribbon across its base was adorned on her head.
Parents had their children follow her, most of these kids being 5 to 8 year-olds. Eventually, 9 to 11 kids began to follow Judith, leading them to pass the grand double doors to the hallway. Ninten guessed she was taking the kids down the path to the children’s Sunday school room. She slowly started to close the large mahogany doors behind her, when her eyes met Ninten she gave him a slight nod before the door shut. The pastor returned a minute later, opening his bible as he reclaimed his spot at the pulpit.
“That is my daughter, Judith, she’ll be attending the school about—“
It sounded like he was introducing his daughter as small talk before he went into his lecture, but Ninten wasn't really paying attention. He hadn’t even realized he was still staring at the shut door until his sister jabbed her elbow into his side, Ninten bit back a cry as he turned to his sister.
“Hey, you’ve been staring at that door for a while now. She’s gone.” Minnie’s murmurs towards her brother’s ear.
He doubled over, holding his sides as he let out a hushed swear, “Shit.”
Minnie pulled on his dress shirt at the back slightly, “Don’t curse in the house of the lord Kendrick!” She whispered harshly, only for her mother to shush her afterwards. As Ninten rubbed his hip’s side, he looked at his watch on his wrist; 10:13 AM.
It was gonna be a loooong service.
━──────◅▻♢◅▻──────━
“Fuckin’ A.” Ninten hissed, stretching his back as he and his family left the auditorium like most people were. Church had officially let out, and people were swarming all over the lobby, gathering in small groups and filling the room with uproarious conversation. The service had ended at 2:10 PM, but around 12:00 PM was when Judith returned the kids to their parents after Sunday school. During that time, Judith’s eyes landed on Ninten’s and for the remainder of the service they stared down at each other. Occasionally Judith would communicate with her eyes, but Ninten never really understood it. Not like it matters as Ninten knew she’d be busy after the mass, probably helping the other church members clean up, so he won’t see her.
People continued filing out of the auditorium, his mother now rubbing her temples in exhaustion.
“So we're leaving now?” Minnie asked her mother, tapping her foot against the ground.
Carol just huffed, “No, we have to introduce ourselves to the pastor, I’ve said this about ten times—“
“There’s a line to meet him.” Mimmie pointed, her thumb pointing behind her. Carol looked past Mimmie, her expression turning from curiosity to dread as she drew a breath of air, suddenly stopping when she saw the scene behind her daughter. Where the pastor was standing, there was a long vast line of people, families and married couples alike, that were introducing themselves to the pastor. Carol’s eye twitched slightly, as Mimmie looked up at her mother with a smug expression spread on her face, “So, we're still up for introductions, mother?” She drawled out the words pridefully but soon one of her ears was pulled by her mother, “Ow!”
“Do NOT test me, little girl!” Carol scolded, tugging on Mimmie’s ear, she dragged her and Minnie towards the line, “I’m introducing us to that pastor if it's the last thing I do!”
“But what about NINTEN—“ Mimmie fussed as the twins were taken by their mother. Ninten was thankful that his mom didn’t focus on him, he’s got other things in mind to do.
Moving through the crowds of people chatting away, Ninten approached the left hall, where he had made it to one of the windows. He could see an overview of a grassy hillside. Its breathtaking view was like eye candy to Ninten; the clouds rolled by in shapes and forms, the sun shone down upon the grass, giving it a perfect shade of fern green. There were trees nearby, surrounded in a nice hazy circle, in which they provided the perfect amount of shade for anyone underneath. It was around the middle tree he noticed a form leaning against the tree’s stump, Judith. Ninten’s eyes widened as he saw the sight of her, he glanced at the back door next to him that was open ajar, in swift motion he was able to avoid being seen by anyone as he opened and closed the back door. The air was crisp and clear as he walked through the grassy plain and stride onto the small hill where Judith was at, but lo and behold, when he was about 5 feet away from her he smelt something familiar: the scent of a lit up cigarette.
It’s only been a couple of times when he smells this acrid scent of cigarettes. Usually with Teddy before he knew Ninten had asthma, or whenever an adult outside their front yard would light one up and he’d come by on the back home. He noticed her holding the cigarette, similar to how his grandmother used to do before she had died, clutched tightly in between the front and middle fingers of a balled up fist. His grandma always did say you could tell who people are by the way they hold a cigarette.
Ideas roamed through his head, what should he say? Should he even approach her while she’s smoking? It could act up his asthma, but she was rather new to town and his mother told him to leave a good impression on the pastor and his daughter.
So he made his move, “Uh, hey?”
Judith perked up, her curls bounced with her motion as she turned her head towards Ninten, her face rather flustered, “Oh! Hello…just uhhh give me a few!” She called out as she soon spat out her gum, which surprised Ninten as he didn’t even notice she had gum. She used said chewed up gum in the wrapper to blunt the cigarette. Ninten raised a brow at her action of budding the cigarette but she smiled, “My mom taught me that, much better than stomping on the ground with it, won’t burn the ground.”
Ninten blinked before nodding, “Y-Yeah, understandable.”
Judith sighed as she spoke, “Sorry you had to see me like that. The kids today seemed really energetic today.”
“Mhm, you’re in charge of the Sunday school program.” Ninten tilted his head as he watched Judith pull from her hat a bottle of perfume, “You run it all by yourself?”
“Yep, just me, myself, and I.” Once Judith sprayed about 6 to 8 pumps of perfume on her, she had used a small handheld folding fan on herself. Its colors were bright blue with white and yellow spots upon it.
Ninten’s eyes widened at the sight of it, “Wow, I didn’t expect to see someone else use one of those.”
“Oh? This little thing? My mom bought it for me when I was around 9, said she was coming from a—“
“—a series of business trips from Asia and she thought of you when she saw it?” Ninten finished for Judith.
Now Judith was surprised as her eyelids were wide with surprise and awe, “How’d you do that?”
“Mhm, just a hunch.” He winked but Judith narrowed her eyes a bit.
A small, smug smile was formed on her lips. “Oh I get it now, you’re the psychic hero everyone was praising about.” She raised a brow, Ninten’s eyes moved away from her in embarrassment. He had forgotten his adventure to Mount Itoi had left him a title in the town: Hero. No longer the “troublemaker” everyone assumed he was.
“Crap. Yeah, that’s me.” He spouted, mentally kicked himself for cursing in front of her, “Shit I’m so sorry—I mean, uhm…” Judith seemed to giggle at his display of a professional impression. Ninten could already tell he had already made a fool of himself!
“Nah, it’s alright. Frankly, I'm wayyyy too tired to give a shit about profanity.” Judith chirped, her voice giving off a strong sense of honey like sweetness. She placed her fan away and she stepped towards Ninten, he couldn’t smell too much of the smoke, but his nose got a whiff of the perfume she had on, “But yeah, people told me about you, so I guess the psychic powers thing is true?”
A smirk spread to Ninten’s face as he pointed to a near object, a lighter Judith had dropped when she was budding her cigarette. It trembled a bit whilst it was captured in a reddish lighting before it levitated off the ground at a fast pace, Judith’s mouth let out a gasp just before the lighter flew into Ninten’s hands and he ignited the lighter’s flame by pulling his thumb down upon the trigger, “You bet they are!” He passed the lighter to Judith as he blew out the flame, “You should probably hold onto that, wouldn’t want a forest fire to happen.”
“I guess they’re common around these parts?” Judith laughed as she placed her lighter back onto her sunhat, right behind the ribbon across the hat.
Ninten put his hands onto his dress pants pockets as he nodded, “You have noooo idea Judy.”
Judith blinked at the sudden nickname, “Judy?” She repeated, a faint blush was on both their faces by now.
Ninten realized the second mistake he made, “Oh I’m sorry, if you want I can call you Judith if you like!”
“No I’m fine with that…Judy.” She placed her finger on her lips slightly tapping the bottom lip while she was thinking, “I like that little nickname. Most people call me Jude for short, but that’s a new one!”
Then Judy’s eyes widened, “Wait, what’s your name? Never got to formally introduce ourselves, did we?” She opened her hand out for Ninten to shake it. He shook his head and took her hand upon his, he was smiling from ear to ear, “Ninten Grey. 17 year-old psychic troublemaker, and ex captain of the baseball team for Padina High School.”
“Oooh? Ex captain?” Judith raised a brow, questioning the last title.
“Had to quit, just wasn’t feeling it anymore.” Ninten’s eyes held some distance, as if he was disappointed to say the least about quitting. Judy noticed it was a sore topic and quickly introduced herself, “Well, my name is Judith Knox! I’m a 17 year-old girl who just has a lot of tricks up her sleeves.”
Ninten raised a brow, “Oh really? Do tell.”
“If you’re lucky I could show you, one day.” She flicked his forehead as Ninten slightly yelped from the action, rubbing his forehead just when Judy gave a half-suppressed laugh, “Sorry! It was too silly to pass up.”
Ninten crossed his arms as he chuckled as well but soon their laughter was interrupted when the church bells rang in the distance, signaling that everyone was starting to leave the building, “Alright then, miss goody two shoes, I’ll see you soon enough…” Ninten stopped as he quickly turned around, “You going to Padina High? Correct?”
“Mhm! Practically the only school in this empty town, from what I've seen.” Judith jabs slightly with a cheshire grin.
Ninten sticks his tongue at her, winking, “You don’t get to talk trash about this town, not yet anyways, you just got here!”
“Oh spare me with your talk about Podunk. I’ll learn enough about the town tonight!” Judy waved her hand at his antics. As Ninten began to walk down the hill he heard her yell out, “Wait up!”
Ninten turned to face her again, Judy held her long skirt up as stepped down and descended down with him. Once meeting up with him down below, she slightly pulled on his collar, “This must be so tight on you, you’re practically sweating around your neckline!” She readjusted his collar and fixed his tie as quickly as a whistle before Judy pulled away from him and she broke the silence, “There! Feel better now?” Ninten hesitated for a moment, his chest tight but still feeling better than how he felt previously with the tight collar. She had fixed his collar and tie, she only helped him, so why was he feeling like this?
Why did he feel so…squirmy? “Y-Yeah, much better.” He replied after moments of silence, but that reply was nothing short of pathetic to him. It was squeaky, not anything like the normal him.
Judy didn’t seem to notice as she clapped her hands, “Great! Come on, let’s go back to the church before our parents start wondering where we are.” She began her fast pace walking through the field, only after Ninten stood still for a moment. Something sweet in the air surrounded them during that small gap of time close together. Ninten just didn’t know what it was. Once he realized she was at least meters away from Ninten, he finally began to move as he hastily followed her footsteps.
By the time all the kids were back into the car, it was 3:50 pm. Carol was absolutely drained from the activity, and so was the rest of the family. Carol turned the keys to the ignition as she muttered, “Never again, this was a terrible idea.” The kids all mumbled in agreement once Carol was pulling away from the parking spot, the family wagon then drove away from the parking lot and now was on the road back to town.
“How was meeting the pastor?” Ninten asked, his eyes on his mother as he buckled his seat belt.
“It went horribly—“ Mimmie began, but one quick glare from her mother in the rearview mirror made her shut her mouth. It was then that Ninten knew something had happened while he was gone, bad enough that Carol didn’t want him to know until they got home.
“It was fine. Some of the ladies had gotten riled up for some reason, but we were fine.” Carol sternly explained, her eyes now focused back on the road, “The pastor was rather…captivating and charming.”
“Yeah, Kendrick! You should’ve heard his voice! It was so deep and soothing, he’s like, the perfect person to tell bedtime stories to children!” Minnie clasped her hands together as she could remember the pastor’s voice, “His name is Hayden Knox! But he mostly goes by Father Hayden.”
Ninten nodded as he leaned his head against the window, feeling the vibrations of the car’s rocking onto his head, “Hm, Judith’s father, I assume?”
“Yes of course Ninten, her father. Which by the way; YOU should’ve been with us for that!” Ninten could feel his mother’s scowl on him as she continued her rant, “For honest sake Ninten, we were supposed to do it as a family and—“
“I met his daughter.” Ninten abruptly stopped his mother’s lecture when he finished that sentence.
The car stopped at a spotlight near the town plaza, that was the time for Carol to turn her head to her eldest son, “You did?”
Ninten nodded softly, he hummed in affirmation. No words were spoken for those minutes as Carol could tell something was wrong with her son, she only softened her glare before she cracked him a small tired grin, “That’s wonderful sweetie, how was she?”
“You’re not wrong about her being sweet. But she’s way different than I thought she’d be, she’s a…” Ninten trailed off as the cloud that passed by certainly looked like a form of a sunhat, or maybe it was his imagination, “…she’s pretty cool.”
Carol's eyes widened as she watched her son describe Judith, soon enough she was smiling broadly, “Glad, you like her Ninten.”
Ninten was starting to realize what his mother meant in that sentence, “N-No! I don’t like her in that way! Just like, in the way we could be friends! Y'know, a friendly hug here or two. She’s just a sweet girl! That’s all.”
“We can tell, especially with how you smell right now, you smell like the beach.” Mimmie scoffed, but she gave a cruel smile towards her brother, “I guess Ninten likes his women at the beach now huh—” She was cut off when Ninten threw Carol’s church hat at her face, “AGH! NINTEN!”
“SHUT THE HELL UP!” Ninten shouted as Carol’s annoyance immediately came back upon the fighting between the kids. Carol pulled up at the house as she parked next to the sidewalk near the fence.
While Minnie and Carol got out of the car normally, Carol had to drag Ninten and Mimmie out of the car like territorial cats fighting, “Enough of this!” She yelled out that she dropped both Ninten and Mimmie on the ground, “We don’t need to put hands on each other, alright!? Mimmie, you and your sister go change or do whatever it is you girls do!”
Mimmie dusted herself off before she stuck her tongue at her brother and walked off, walking past him as Ninten stuck his tongue back at her for good measure whilst he got up from the ground. Minnie dusted off his dress pants before giving him a thumbs up and following her sister. Once the twins entered the house, Ninten turned to his mother, confusion and hesitation in his eyes, “Do I really smell like the beach?”
Carol gave Ninten a soft small chuckle in response, “Well, you very much do. But…it’s more of a “Lost in Paradise” type of smell, know?” She passed Ninten as she finished grabbing her keys and purse from the car, “You can come in when you like Ninten.”
Ninten stood still once again, his mind wandered back to Judy, her perfume was the smell making him hazy and snuggly, right? The beachy fumes were the problem, right?
He pulled the collar of his dress shirt, once he brought it to his nose he took a small sniff and instantly his nose was surrounded with the scents of the shore. In his mind, a clear crystal seaside view is replayed into his visualization; certain fragrances clashed together.
Coconut, salt-water and crisp sandalwood.
Yeah…it’s just her perfume that’s getting him all dizzy. Just the dumb…elegant…pretty seashore aromas.
Right?