CHAPTER 43: THE PROMISE

This afternoon, Aaliyah had stood in front of the mirror staring at her reflection. It felt to her like everything she had believed in all her life was a big lie, and there were so many things out there that were unthinkable...and real.

As she walked up the stairs, faced with the double doors she recognized all too much, there was only one thing on her mind. She was here to keep her promise, with a little extra gift.

Aaliyah had a pair of baggy black pants on, and a cute blue top. Her hair was let down as usual, and she was shrugging off every form of anxiety that was trying to hold her back. She wanted to do this alone, and the evening was the perfect time.

Apart from the clothes, She had received two things from Alastair.

There were still people walking in, even though the sermon had begun already and Aaliyah slipped in together with them. As expected, the place was dark and the seats were full of those who had come for worship.

The only source of light was from the projecting screen, and a recorded voice reading out some verses. Aaliyah took out the first equipment she had been given and fixed it to the wall quickly, then she glued the second little one inside her collar, hidden from other eyes.

Her eyes moved along the congregation of people standing at the Altar. Most of the nuns were around, including those she hated the most... but Pastor Ramus was not here yet. Living in this church for years, she’s known him to always be around here waiting for the sermon to end so he could start enlightening the people with words he never worked with himself.

A bad feeling crept up Aaliyah’s back, and she moved quickly. There was a bad door to her right that only a few people knew how to unlock, and she was one of those people. A few tweaks on the key panel with an iron wire and the door clicked open.

Immediately, she slipped in and closed it back softly.

She moved along the empty place and climbed up the stairs. As she went, she sighted some of the kids using rags to clean the stairs. They looked very starved and barely had enough arm strength to move the rag to and fro.

Of course, the people in this church hadn’t changed their devilish attitudes in taking care of the orphaned kids. And no one ever knew what was going on behind the scenes because they believed Ramus was a good man.

As she walked past them, they could barely look up at her due to their exhaustion.

"Here...come with me," She snatched the rag and threw it away, then took their hands.

"We are sorry...," They mumbled and flinched like they were gonna get hit. They still hadn’t even looked up at her, and seeing the bruises and swells on their faces had Aaliyah boiling inside.

"I’m not here to hurt you," She squatted and cupped their faces to look at her. Aaliyah looked a lot different than they remembered. Her eyes had more life in them, and she had more will to survive. Her well-combed hair and the clothes she was putting on were other reasons, "Go to your rooms and lock yourselves in there. Trust me,"

The way they obeyed and moved like zombies gave Aaliyah more strength to go on with this.

She continued on her way till she got to her destination. Ramus was not where he was supposed to be, and Aaliyah had gone to the second place that crossed her mind.

The whimpering noises that softly left the slightly opened door had Aaliyah cringing badly. Tears immediately clogged her vision, but she sucked them back in. As she summoned the courage to peek inside the room, what she saw was a reminder of what had happened to her many times.

Penelope was the one making the crying noises, and there was Ramus lying on top of her. His lips moving and whispering threats into her ears had Aaliyah cringing again, and his palm on her naked lap had a tear rolling down her eyes, her stomach ready to let out everything she’d eaten that afternoon.

Throwing the door open, she burst in and hauled Ramus off Penny. He rolled over in anger, thinking one of the nuns had grown the audacity to go against him when he looked up and saw Aaliyah standing there.

Penny’s sobs grew louder on seeing Aaliyah, and she stood up and ran over to hide behind Aaliyah with her torn dress barely hanging to her body.

"I should have been here days ago, but I’ve been having some unexpected detours," Aaliyah’s voice was shaking, and so was her whole body. She’s never been so brave and bold, and this was only the beginning.

"You?!" Ramus looked into her eyes as he stood up, unable to believe what he was seeing, "Aaliyah?"

"Surprise," She creased her brow.

"A very unpleasant one," He began to dust himself. He was dressed in his prayer robes, and had a disgusting smile on his face, "I cannot believe you’re not dead yet. Your husband... treating you well?"

Every second she spent with him felt worse than what she went through In the hollow, "You are going to tell everybody who you truly are, and let all these kids be adopted by good people,"

The way he laughed sounded like he was shrieking, "Is that what you came here to tell me?" He gave her a once over, his eyes ogling every part, "So, you have grown wings? I thought you were going off to die. Seems that man that forced the marriage on us was more dumb than I thought,"

"You’re the dumb one!" She fired back, "If you think you can get away with this forever. Before the end of the day, you’ll have all these kids released!"

In a second, he had reached in and grabbed the front of her shirt. Behind them, Penny almost screamed.

Ramus’s eyes grew wide open, dancing with a mixture of lust and a maniacal glare, "How about the both of you take off your clothes and shut up your goddamn mouths!"

"A great pastor like you should not curse. Isn’t that part of the sermon you usually deliver to the people of this town?!"

"F**k the sermon and f**k the people. The only thing I care about are the people in front of me right now," His other hand gripped her thigh tightly, and he smiled again, "And I sure as hell ain’t letting go!"

By now, Aaliyah’s ears could pick up rushed tones coming from downstairs, where the congregation was.

"Let the children go! You and the Nuns have tortured them Enough! You have tortured me enough!"

"The mouth on you...," He mumbled with blazing angry eyes and threw a hard slap across her face. Her head whipped to the side, and she could taste blood inside her mouth with some peeking by the side of her mouth, "You know...after you left, I regretted letting you go, Aaliyah. Nothing did it for me again the way you did. No matter what I stuck my d**k in, it was never as Perfect as what your p***y felt like,"

She glared at him, eyes trembling with fury.

"But now that you’re here again, I’ll miss the stupid shit going downstairs and have lots of fun with you. Let me remind you of what we used to have,"

The second she felt his fingers moving up to touch her there, she pushed him back. Her blouse tore a bit in the process, but she didn’t care as she had burst into laughter. Her shoulders moved as her laughter grew heavier, "At least you were honest with me," She said, "The people who deserve to beat you to a pulp are all those you have fooled for many years...and your time in hell is just beginning,"

Just then, Rushed footsteps like a stampede came from the stairs and Ramus looked so terrified for the first time in his life.

"What did you do?" He demanded, taking steps back.

"All of us in here were little kids when you brought us In and locked us away from the world. If we knew about the vast opportunities and ways out there we could have used to expose you to the world, this would have already been in the past. But now, I get to watch everything you’ve built get trampled to the ground. You’ll be surprised to know how what an angry town can achieve,"

The second Aaliyah finished her statement, the door behind them burst open and the townspeople came rushing in toward the man they believed was the purest, the so-called pastor. Aaliyah grabbed Penny’s hand and pulled them out of the way just as the angry people surrounded the pastor and went down on him.

Aaliyah had her arms around Penny, holding her to her chest and all both women could hear were his screams and pleas for mercy.

And even though it sounded horrifying, none of them had a single remorseful look or tear to shed.