The Forsaken (The Chosen Series Book 2) Page 3

  What in the—

  Daniel turned toward the sound. There in the wall next to him was a crack. No, it was too straight to be a crack. It was a seam. And it was popped out just enough for him to notice it was there.

  Where did that come from?

  Gently, he pushed his fingernail in the seam, and it opened wider. He got a hold of it with the tips of his fingers and pinched it open just barely enough for his fingers to fit snugly inside. Glancing around, he felt as though he’d just been transformed into a CS Lewis novel.

  As excitement built inside of him, he looked around once more. No one was around. Daniel pushed his finger into the crevice and pulled. The opening widened.

  Pulling his hands back quickly, he was afraid of where it might lead. Was there another world waiting for him on the other side? That was nonsense. Stuff like that only happened in books and movies. Although he would not mind if it did. Anywhere was better than living in a secluded house with a madman. That was what his father had become. A raging, murdering madman.

  Not anticipating the unexpected but hoping for it anyway, Daniel slowly pulled again at the seam, and it opened further. He peeked inside, almost expecting a coat closet filled with jackets. Nothing but darkness.

  Footsteps sounded from the direction of the dining room. Quickly Daniel pushed the opening closed. As he pressed in on it, there was a click, and then it disappeared. Daniel rubbed his fingers across the wall to feel for the seam. The footsteps drew closer. There was nothing. How would he find it again?

  “Daniel?” his mother called.

  “Yes, Mother?” Daniel’s voice cracked.

  With his fingernail, he etched a small mark in the spot he’d pressed on to open the hidden entrance. He’d have to come back later to see where it led.

  “There you are. Where have you been?” she said as she came up from behind him.

  He turned, trying to mask the anxiety in his face with a smile.

  “Have you finished—” She stopped. “Daniel, are you okay? You are as white as a ghost.”

  “I am not feeling well, Mother. I think I will go lay down.”

  Daniel rushed past his mother to his bedroom. As he laid down on the bed and stared at the ceiling, he wondered what in the world he had discovered.

  Chapter 4 ― Rachel

  Rachel sat in the lobby of the doctor’s office and stared out the window. She was almost thirty-six weeks pregnant and felt like a hot air balloon about to burst. It had been six months since The Chosen had fleshed her out, or as the English would say “banished” her from her community. Shelly had saved her life that night when she’d found her almost passed out in the desert.

  As soon as Shelly found out she was with child, she’d made her see a doctor. But she wasn’t at her obstetrician, this time. No, this wasn’t a routine doctor appointment, nor was it her normal doctor. Shelly called the lady a psychologist, but Shelly’s son, Lenny, had said it better. “A shrink.”

  She’d tried everything she could to get Shelly to change her mind, but she wouldn’t budge. And being that Shelly was her legal temporary guardian now, there was nothing Rachel could say about it. It wasn’t right to speak to a stranger about matters so personal, and Rachel didn’t plan on talking to the lady. Shelly was only trying to help, and Rachel appreciated her for it, but Shelly did not understand the ways of The Chosen. Rachel had gotten over the fact that she was no longer Chosen, well mostly. Actually, she hadn’t gotten over it at all. It still broke her heart to know her community, her own family, had sent her away to die.

  As she sat in a hard, metal chair, she pulled out the book she’d brought with her from her bag, but instead of trying to decipher the jumble of letters, she stared down at her stomach. In the last week, her feet had swelled to the size of a grapefruit, and it took every ounce of energy she had to get up out of a chair unassisted, much less the bed. That was almost an impossibility.

  The headaches were the worst, but Rachel never mentioned them. She was sure the only reason for them was the lack of sleep she’d been getting due to the recent nightmares plaguing her each time she closed her eyes. The reason she now sat in the waiting room of the town psychologist, waiting to get her head shrunk or whatever it was they did.

  Just months before, the court had officially granted Shelly full guardianship of Rachel. With no dispute from her parents, it hadn’t been hard to establish the need for Rachel to be provided with care. It pained her that her parents hadn’t even shown up for the court hearing and had therefore lost all parental rights to her. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputy had served them himself, so they knew she was alive, but still, they did not show up to claim their daughter.

  Rachel sniffled to hold back the tears. Lately, just about everything made her weepy.

  Shelly put her hand on Rachel’s knee. “It’ll be okay. I had to go see a psychologist for a while after the thing with my husband. She’s a really nice lady. You will like her.”

  Rachel rolled her eyes. Another thing she’d learned from Lenny. Something she’d never have done at home.

  But you are not at home anymore.

  And that was precisely why Shelly was forcing her to see a shrink. The nightmares plagued her incessantly, night after painful night.

  But what good would it do to talk about them? She’d feared them in her sleep, why did she want to fear them during the day as well? No, talking about it would do no good. It was all a waste of time.

  She brought her attention back to the book she’d brought with her and changed the subject. “How does anyone ever read this stuff?”

  That was another of her issues. She’d been learning how to read for months, and still, it was so confusing.

  “You’ve caught on very quickly,” Shelly answered. “I just wish I had more time to work with you.”

  “The English language has got to be the hardest language to learn, ever!”

  Shelly raised an eyebrow. “Intense,” she mimicked Lenny’s new word of the month. Everything was ‘intense’ with him. It made them laugh often.

  Rachel giggled. “Seriously, though. Why is it that nothing sounds the same? Like though and through. It makes no sense. How does adding an “r” make the entire word sound different? And then there are those blends you speak of. A “t” sounds like a “t” until you add an “h” then it—"

  Shelly giggled. “I never thought about it, but you’re right. I don’t know how I ever learned the English language.”

  “And then, why are there three ways to write a single word. For instance ― to. Or two. Or too. Is one spelling for all three not proper?”

  “Well, I suppose it’s because even though they sound the same, each of them means something different. They cannot be used interchangeably.”

  “Intense is right,” Rachel agreed. Nothing Shelly said made a bit of sense to her.

  She’d learned the alphabet and their sounds quickly for the most part, but when she’d tried to put them together to make words, they did not make the same sounds when connected to other letters. There were words sounding the same but spelled differently, words spelled the same but with different meanings, and words not spelled anything as they sounded. It most certainly had to be the hardest language to learn.

  “It takes time. Don’t worry. You will catch on. You are a smart girl.”

  The door leading into the back offices opened, and Rachel shrank into her seat. Since she and Shelly were the only two in the waiting room, she was sure she was next in line for a head shrinking.

  “Have a good day, Dr. Paine,” a voice said as a taller than average man, sporting a white overcoat, not unlike her obstetrician, came through the doorway and into the small waiting room.

  “You too, Jenn. See you tomorrow.” He waved.

  As he came closer, Rachel believed he had to be as tall as some of those basketball players in the games Lenny watched on the television. Maybe not quite, but still. Just as she’d released a sigh of relief that it wasn’t yet her turn to see t
he doctor, a twenty-something, short-haired, blonde woman popped her head in the doorway and called out. “Rachel Pence?”

  Rachel gave Shelly one more pleading glance.

  “Go on, sweetie. It’ll be okay. I promise.”

  Hesitantly Rachel stood and headed for the awaiting door.

  “Follow me,” the girl waved happily.

  Maybe she has seen the shrink a few times herself?

  Rachel looked back at Shelly one last time. Shelly gave her a big smile and nodded for her to go. Nervously, Rachel followed the girl as the door closed behind them.

  “My name’s Jennifer. Most people call me Jenn though,” the girl announced, turning around to smile at Rachel.

  Rachel smiled.

  “Don’t talk much, huh?” Jenn said. “I get it. I mean, well I don’t get it — get it. I’ve never had to go to a — well, you know what I mean. I wouldn’t be happy to have to — oh look we’re here.” The girl stopped at an open door with the number eleven posted on the side.

  Rachel had never heard someone step over her own words as much as the girl in front of her. She did her best to not roll her eyes at the girl. Instead, she smiled.

  “Dr. Paine, your patient is here.” Jenn peeked her head into the room as Rachel waited behind, wondering what in the world the girl had just been trying to say.

  “Thank you, Jenn,” a voice called from within. “Send her in.”

  Jenn opened the door wider and extended a hand, inviting Rachel to enter the room.

  “Have a seat, sweetie.” A heavier than average woman said as she loomed over the desk, clearing the remnants of Styrofoam containers.

  The woman was just a hair taller than Rachel and wore a burgundy dress suit matching quite well with the auburn hair stacked neatly on top of her head.

  Rachel sat in one of the several seats available. It was directly across from the exceptionally clean and organized desk. She watched as the doctor swept boxes and containers into the trash can. She reached a hand into the receptacle and pushed the pile down as foam squealed underneath the pressure.

  “Sorry about that. My husband stops by every day to eat lunch with me. I guess we took a little longer than usual.” The woman gave a wave of apology.

  Rachel nodded. As she made the connection, she smiled. The basketball player looking guy was the shrink’s husband.

  “There.” The voluptuous woman swiped the remaining crumbs into the wastebasket and then came around to sit in the chair opposite her.

  “So, how are you today, dear?” The woman smiled, revealing a piece of left-over spinach stuck between her two front teeth. “Rachel, is it?”

  Rachel nodded.

  “Give me just a second to look over your file, and I will be right with you.”

  The woman reached over to a big five-drawer gray metal cabinet and pulled open the second drawer. She then pulled out a nice-sized folder and placed it in her lap.

  Rachel wondered what kind of information was in the file and where the lady had gotten it from. She watched as Dr. Paine flipped through page after page of information. Some of it handwritten and others typed.

  With so much information right there in front of her, the fact that she couldn’t read a word of it made her eyes lower in frustration as tears tried to force their way out once again.

  That wasn’t completely true. She could make out a good deal, but not enough to make sense of it. And that frustrated her.

  After several more minutes, the woman looked back up at her. “You’ve had quite a time.” Her smile was genuine, but Rachel had a hard time taking her seriously amidst the green chunk flopping up and down on her two front teeth.

  “So, where should we start?”

  Rachel sucked her teeth as if the leafy green was stuck to hers instead of the woman’s. She shrugged. It was going to be a long hour.

  The woman looked down at Rachel’s protruding belly. “Why don’t we start there?”

  Chapter 5 ― Malachi

  Malachi grabbed a stack of quilts to load into the truck. He couldn’t help but think about the scene that had happened only months before. The incident plagued him each time he came to the storage building to load the trucks for market.

  The vision of his brother, Jacob, zooming by at top speed in the passenger seat of a community truck. That girl was in the driver’s seat. She’d been the one to lead his brother to the depths of hell. None of it would have happened if it weren’t for that devil’s spawn. And now his brother was dead. They were all dead. And she was to blame.

  “Is the truck loaded and ready for PSP in the morning?” Brother Aaron asked as Malachi swung the last load of quilts into the bed of the truck. PSP was the Phoenix Swap Meet where they sold goods to the locals. Many of them used the acronym and all the men who went on the trips knew what it stood for.

  “I am tending it to it now, Elder Aaron.”

  Elder Aaron had been the one to race off after them and come back with the news that they were all dead. Malachi hadn’t been able to look the man in the eye ever since. And it wasn’t because he blamed him, it was because he blamed himself.

  He’d treated his brother harshly. He always had.

  The last conversation he had with his brother had been an argument. And that plagued him over time and time again. He’d been furious that day. Jacob had put his entire family under the scrutiny of the elders by sneaking out to see Rachel and eventually impregnating her. He’d shamed them all, and Malachi had been so angry with him.

  Not so much for what his brother had done, but more so because the High Prophet had seen to it that Jacob was rewarded by allowing him to marry early instead of punishing him for his indiscretions. And, in turn, he had forced Malachi to wait another year for a wife.

  For years Malachi had awaited the day to have his own home. To get up from under the heavy rule of his father and have wives of his own. And Jacob had ruined it all.

  But now Jacob was gone, and it all seemed so senseless. Malachi jumped into the bed of the truck to situate the goods so they would be secure for the morning trip to market.

  Elder Aaron stood against the wall and watched Malachi. “You are much like your brother, Malachi. I fear soon the two of you will meet again.”

  Malachi turned. “My brother is dead.”

  Elder Aaron nodded.

  “What are you saying, Elder Aaron?” To question an elder was unacceptable, but the man was goading Malachi, and he was in a foul mood already.

  “You are a wayward soul, Malachi. You have the devil inside of you.”

  It was common knowledge that Jacob’s soul had been damned to the fires of hell. The elders preached of it on Sacrament, rubbing it into their faces, placing the fear of God into their hearts.

  “I have done nothing wrong, Elder Aaron.” Malachi placed the canvas cover overtop the quilts. “You cannot condemn me for the acts of Jacob.” Before he even spoke the name, he knew what he was doing. Jacob, Jonathan, and Rachel’s names were forbidden to be spoken ever again.

  “You dare to speak the name of the son of Satan?” Elder Aaron walked closer. “Your name shall soon be written right next to his.”

  “The list is getting longer by the day, Elder Aaron. Soon we shall have none left to choose from.”

  “Your father shall be hearing from me.”

  Malachi stood and smiled. “I am sure he will welcome your visit, Elder Aaron.”

  Elder Aaron was a harsh man, but he was smart. He would not visit Malachi’s father and admit to him that he deemed himself worthy to condemn a man’s soul to hell based on the acts of his brother.

  Malachi jumped down from the truck and left Elder Aaron standing alone to watch him leave. “Blessed day, Elder Aaron.”

  Chapter 6 ― Abigail

  At the sound of her father’s voice, every eye in the building looked up, and every hand stopped working.

  Shaking in terror, Abigail stood up.

  “Yes, Father.” Her voice was barely above a squeak.

&
nbsp; Her father said not another word, but instead, he turned and walked back out of the building. Abigail turned to face Tabitha. Was this it? Was her fate to be just like her sister, Rachel's? Was she doomed to die in the desert?

  “You must go,” Tabitha whispered. “Do not keep him waiting. You will only fuel his anger.”

  Abigail nodded and rushed to the front door where her father was sure to be waiting directly outside. Sister Rhoda looked away as she passed. Abigail continued on shaky limbs out the door and into the hot evening sun. The sun beat down on her like an oven as she searched for her father. She found him leaning against the side of the building in the only shade available. The evening temperature had already exceeded a hundred degrees several times in the week. It was going to be a hot summer. She’d picked a fine time to be fleshed-out.

  Lifting her dress from the ground, she hurried to her father. As she approached, he did not look at her. Instead, he turned and walked to their nearby home. Abigail followed. As she searched her mind for the words to say to her father, she remembered the man she’d seen come by months earlier.

  She’d had to run home during the noon meal break and she wasn’t supposed to be there, but she’d left out of the house that morning without her noon meal. Since her home was close to the work building, Sister Rhoda had allowed her to go back for it so long as she made it quick.

  She grabbed her meal from the counter and was just about to head back out the back door when there was a knock at the front. That was a bit strange. The people of her community did not make it a habit to knock on a door in the middle of the day. They all knew each other, and it was standard to walk into another’s home without warning, day or night. There was no need for such formalities among The Chosen.