and pulled the fabric onto the metal table. Wide-eyed, I searched the faces of everyone in the room.
Still, no one noticed me. Somehow, I managed to give nothing away.
The paper burned in my pocket. The question mark scorched my leg. The pain behind the note blistered my heart. I had left the one person who said he loved me in the dark about everything. My teeth found a new piece of my inside lower lip to chew on as I fixed my face on the pieces of tan camouflage in front of me.
As I sewed the two pieces together, I realized what I would do.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The First Presbyterian Church on West Street seemed eerie in the fading light and even stranger when I thought about how The Party had forbidden worship. Someone had boarded up the two main stained glass windows that framed the wide double doors of the entrance. A large metal chain snaked its way through the handles of the front doors and one thick lock held the chain in place. On the left-hand side of the front, thick black graffiti marred the brick. Dandelions pockmarked the grass in the short front yard and around the steps.
I slid up beside one of the brick walls to make it harder for anyone to see me and made my way down the small hill to the side yard. I hoped the large shrubs along the road concealed me.
8:24PM.
I studied the boarded up windows on the lower level of the church, the part that had once been the church’s fellowship hall. Huge nails held the big boards in place. I chose a section and pulled on the boards. The wood crunched and creaked under my fingers, but didn’t break free. The roughness threatened to splinter my hand. I pulled anyway.
“Damn,” I said under my breath after the tenth try.
Hadn’t Thompson told me to get in the church this way?
I picked another window from the five in front of me. It didn’t pry open either, no matter how much force I put into the boards. I stepped back and put my head in my hands for a few seconds, exhausted, frustrated, and so very tired. I wanted to sit down and never get back up again.
Instead, I tried a third window, this one the furthest one down from the street. I reached up to the middle of the left hand side of the window and yanked on the wood boards with force.
On the third pull, the wood broke free. The panel split in two pieces with a huge crack as I stepped back on one foot and scowled in frustration at the broken window. I estimated I made enough space to crawl inside the abandoned church. I placed the wood up against the brick wall.
I sucked in my breath and steeled my nerves. If any one of those soldiers caught me doing this, they would kill me on the spot. The Party did not allow worship at church for any reason. With this act, I once again thumbed my nose at the people who controlled my life.
Why did I care? They wanted me dead.
I placed a hand on the side of the large windowsill, lifted up a leg, and made my way inside the church.
“Hello, Charlotte,” said a deep voice I never heard before. “We hoped you wouldn’t be late.”
“I’m surprised,” said a much higher pitched voice. “I thought for sure she wouldn’t come.”
My dusty hands rubbed my black dress and my eyes focused on the direction of the voice. It came from my left. My eyes made out the outlines of four people through the stream of declining summer light coming through the window.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The figures took a few steps towards me. Familiar beads of sweat pooled in the grooves of my neck. The dread in my stomach tightened and then pulled at my insides.
“It’s okay,” Thompson said as he stepped even closer. “These people came here with me.”
“And that makes them—”
“Allies.” Thompson smirked. Next to him, a small, impish woman with a pinched face put her weight on her left leg as she studied me through smoldering eyes.
“She’s not as pretty as you said she’d be.” The woman had brown hair, small eyes, pale skin, glasses, and a mouth naturally set in a thin
Still, no one noticed me. Somehow, I managed to give nothing away.
The paper burned in my pocket. The question mark scorched my leg. The pain behind the note blistered my heart. I had left the one person who said he loved me in the dark about everything. My teeth found a new piece of my inside lower lip to chew on as I fixed my face on the pieces of tan camouflage in front of me.
As I sewed the two pieces together, I realized what I would do.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The First Presbyterian Church on West Street seemed eerie in the fading light and even stranger when I thought about how The Party had forbidden worship. Someone had boarded up the two main stained glass windows that framed the wide double doors of the entrance. A large metal chain snaked its way through the handles of the front doors and one thick lock held the chain in place. On the left-hand side of the front, thick black graffiti marred the brick. Dandelions pockmarked the grass in the short front yard and around the steps.
I slid up beside one of the brick walls to make it harder for anyone to see me and made my way down the small hill to the side yard. I hoped the large shrubs along the road concealed me.
8:24PM.
I studied the boarded up windows on the lower level of the church, the part that had once been the church’s fellowship hall. Huge nails held the big boards in place. I chose a section and pulled on the boards. The wood crunched and creaked under my fingers, but didn’t break free. The roughness threatened to splinter my hand. I pulled anyway.
“Damn,” I said under my breath after the tenth try.
Hadn’t Thompson told me to get in the church this way?
I picked another window from the five in front of me. It didn’t pry open either, no matter how much force I put into the boards. I stepped back and put my head in my hands for a few seconds, exhausted, frustrated, and so very tired. I wanted to sit down and never get back up again.
Instead, I tried a third window, this one the furthest one down from the street. I reached up to the middle of the left hand side of the window and yanked on the wood boards with force.
On the third pull, the wood broke free. The panel split in two pieces with a huge crack as I stepped back on one foot and scowled in frustration at the broken window. I estimated I made enough space to crawl inside the abandoned church. I placed the wood up against the brick wall.
I sucked in my breath and steeled my nerves. If any one of those soldiers caught me doing this, they would kill me on the spot. The Party did not allow worship at church for any reason. With this act, I once again thumbed my nose at the people who controlled my life.
Why did I care? They wanted me dead.
I placed a hand on the side of the large windowsill, lifted up a leg, and made my way inside the church.
“Hello, Charlotte,” said a deep voice I never heard before. “We hoped you wouldn’t be late.”
“I’m surprised,” said a much higher pitched voice. “I thought for sure she wouldn’t come.”
My dusty hands rubbed my black dress and my eyes focused on the direction of the voice. It came from my left. My eyes made out the outlines of four people through the stream of declining summer light coming through the window.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The figures took a few steps towards me. Familiar beads of sweat pooled in the grooves of my neck. The dread in my stomach tightened and then pulled at my insides.
“It’s okay,” Thompson said as he stepped even closer. “These people came here with me.”
“And that makes them—”
“Allies.” Thompson smirked. Next to him, a small, impish woman with a pinched face put her weight on her left leg as she studied me through smoldering eyes.
“She’s not as pretty as you said she’d be.” The woman had brown hair, small eyes, pale skin, glasses, and a mouth naturally set in a thin
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