“Melanie!!”My feet halt when I hear my name, I pant as I scan the area for who must have called my name, my heart raced and my ears roared, it was pitch black, so I am not sure how long I have been running, or how long I had been lost in my head. “Melanie, I had been calling your name, I thought you were ignoring me.” Chris says as he appears next to me, panting as if he had been chasing after me. “Were you following me?” I ask with narrowed eyes.“No, of course not, I saw you about three minutes ago, and when I called you weren’t responding. I would have left but this path is better threaded on in day light.” he gestured towards the path I was on, it was darker than the night itself, with low hanging vines. I wouldn’t have been able to find my way out. “Oh, thanks.”He let out a sigh, “It is the least a fake bestie can do right?”I chuckle, and he beams, as if accomplished now that I laughed at his joke. “Do you know how to get back home?” I didn’t recognize the environment, it

“Your father was also a priest?”He looked at me from the driver’s side, before returning his eyes to the road. I stare at him with the new information swirling in my head.“Books hardly ever lie, don’t you think?”I snort at that but return my eyes to the well aged pages in front of my eyes, I didn’t get to read much back at the church, he had an impromptu meeting with Father Bernard and I had to change the entire schedule for the the day. “Bad news, Father Bernard has urgent work out of town, and he has asked me to fill in for him until then.”I had murmured a great deal, didn’t help my case, so I moved to his assistant’s office and got his schedule, she was old and going deaf so communication was almost impossible, I had to find it myself on her table. It seemed everybody hated the use of computers, and loved to pile papers on their desks. “We are here.” he announced pulling the car into the driveway.“No!!!!!! I was just about to read the part where you asked him about your mom

I let out an awkward chuckle and extracted myself from his hug, his family had excited and expectant smiles on their faces.“I am here for work, Father Aryan, please lead the prayer for the departed.” I give him a tight smile, and I can see a thousand questions in his eyes, a million emotions in them. Great. “Oh, yes please, close your eyes everyone.” Mrs Logan commanded as they are trickle around her, forming a circle. Aryan led the prayers, and I felt safe enough to breath as the pain meds started to kick in, and when I turn, I lock eyes with Victor who was beaming at me. Goosebumps cover my entire body, and not even the good kind. Victor always creeped the shit out of me, like why was he doing that right now? Especially when his family had their eyes shut. I always found his doting cute, and beneficial so I agreed to go on a date with him once, the whole time he straight up worshiped me, he took my words as the final say, you might say that was supposed to be a good thing, but

We all can agree that I had a long day, so when I was finished from the bank, I went straight home, skipped dinner but had a nice warm bath and settled into bed. I know you must be wondering what Aryan’s response was to my baiting, the priest did not ignore me this time, he muttered, “Maybe I will.” Under his breath, and I played his part, by pretending he did not say that, because if he wants to do something about it, I should have no say in it. Anyway, I was cuddled up in bed, with his journal that I hadn’t finished reading yet, my eyes at the pages that tween Aryan wrote. Even at such a young age his writing was great, he explained things his father had said to him in explicit detail, giving us a window into his childhood. His father much like my parents, never laid a hand on him, but acted like he should be grateful he was hitting him with words instead. Poor tween Aryan usually went days without food, but his father had the money to take proper care of him, he just would not

“You hate it.” I say with realization.He frowns at me, his brows almost touching, even with a frown on his face he still looked extremely beautiful. I shook my head, this was not the time to get distracted by his beauty. “What?”“You hate being a priest, you absolutely despise it, you don’t want to do it, so why?”The frown lines disappear, he had a guarded expression on his face. I peer into his eyes, trying to find what exactly he was trying to keep close to him. “I love being a priest.” he winces slightly at his obvious lie.“If you were going to lie, you should not be so terrible at the lie, especially since you were lying to a liar.” He says nothing and resumes going through the papers in front of him, ignoring me and the daggers I was staring into him. “Painting the pub comes next, it was a commitment you made on your own, don’t miss it.” I tell him, pick up my bag and everything that belonged to me, before leaving. Not knowing where to go next, since I did not exactly hav