Unmask

Chapter 12

I wake up at three am and rush to the kitchen to prepare food for James. He will be leaving early for GreenVille and I did not bother asking him the details, why is it of use to me. I pack everything into a bag and continue to prepare his clothes, laying them out so getting ready is easy for him. I find myself wondering if being married is like this for every woman, basically taking care of an old baby. Or maybe it is fun because most couples do not live in their parents houses and depend on their parents for everything.

He leaves three hours later after kissing and hugging me goodbye. A part of me melts at the gesture every single time, but all that is only waste now.

I tidy up the room and then go through my journal.

Dalia.

"Who else do you think knows about this. You know the Father Bear thing?" I ask placing back the cleaning material I was using into the storage cupboards.

"I am not sure really. And I do not think anyone will admit to knowing that easily. Everyone is scared of the bear so." She continues to make everyone's breakfast and I start washing the pile of dishes in the sink, the hot water relaxing my muscles.

"Sean knows something. He opened cases against Father bear. I am sure he knows something." I say ideas racing through my mind.

Joshua continuously chants 'Father Bear' and I giggle at his innocence. The name has become a code name for the Reverend so that no one can easily catch up on who we are talking about, and seems to be working well for us.

The same day Lunette got married to Max, Sean, Father's older son from a different woman also got married to Libby, a thin girl with a body of a model and looked younger than her age and was definitely a late bloomer. It was a double wedding, the most glorious one considering the Reverend's two sons were getting married. Three weeks later, the congregation was called so settle a dispute between Sean and Libby and that ended in vain because Sean sent Libby home and basically told her their marriage was over.

He said, she wanted nothing but money and he apparently caught her cheating. In three weeks, all that had happened and left us shocked and definitely confused. Sean refused to take her back and Libby walked out of that room with her head bowed down in shame with her embarrassed mother following right behind her. In the next service, she was there when everyone expected her to disappear without a trace to avoid everyone's judgmental glare, and the next service, and the next one, and it was obvious that she was much more braver than most of us who filled the congregation room.

Michael soon left after that and started opening rape cases against his Father. He went searching for victims from the fallen congregation and convinced a few to assist him in putting the Revered behind bars. It was a shock because not to long ago, he was getting married and celebrating with his family and then shortly after that he was trying to put his Father behind bars. The number of victims pilled up and of course, we as the new congregation prayed and fasted that the Lord protect him from all the evilness and false allegations sent his way. It was a way to bring our Reverend down and destroy his hard work, and so we stood by him, others getting lawyers and coming up with ideas that would destroy Sean's unjust campaign. Others like us, sat and were only supportive by word of mouth, praying and giving our blessings to him. We cursed at those against him saying their victory would never see the light of day and it never did. The police who were assigned on the case suddenly dropped it saying the case files had disappeared.

"What about Helen?"

"I really don't know," Lunette says slowly, deep in thought as if trying to remember the girl she was once best friends with. They had been tagged the most beautiful girls of their time and I looked up to them with admiration. Helen was the first to marry at a very young age only for Lunette to marry a year later, and then their friendship vanished then.