These Three Remain
Posted: Tue Sep 04, 2018 7:45 am
((Maddy Stone continued from Fight or Flight))
She had found her bible.
It hadn't even been her intention, to take a bible with her. She knew enough of it off by heart to last a week, and if she was in doubt there were several other GODSpeed members on the trip who would be more than happy to lend her (if perhaps a bit surprised as to why she didn't bring one with her). But it was there, and Maddy suspected her mother's involvement. Several chapters had been helpfully marked out for her, and they were her mother's favourites, indexed with the blue sticky notes that she always used.
Looking at the bookmarks had been the hardest thing about this so far. She'd had three guns pointed at her face, been threatened for an idea that wasn't hers, and watched her friend get shot in front of her by someone who barely a shoadow of a motive, someone who didn't even know him. But that was all a dream, it happened in a part of her brain that she could compartmentalise off as being out of the ordinary, and Maddy could just about convince herself that all of this wasn't real.
But the post it notes in her bible? They screamed of such normalcy, something that was so definitely real, that she couldn't deny their existance, couldn't deny that they were here.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13. The very last sentence. Always a favourite of her mothers, it was already underlined from years ago. Maddy had never really thought about it before, what it meant. It had been dissected over the years in sermons and bible classes, but she had never paid attention. That was when Church was a chore, a ritualised way to prove to the world what she believed, even though she had known anyways. And now, when that sentence was more important than ever, she had lost one of them.
"All I have left are hope and love," she said softly to herself, gripping her cross in her hand, the shorter arms digging into her palm, but not quite drawing blood.
Maddy had tried to follow Raidon. Clio was too far gone, but she wanted to get something straight with him as it seemed unlikely that she would ever see him again. She wanted to tell him that she hated him, and she hoped that he went to hell for what he'd done. Perhaps it was a good thing she'd never managed to catch up with him. She was sitting against a tree, her legs straight out in front of her, a weapon either side within eacy reach, the bible open on her lap, facing the sea. Angry, waves crashing against the rocks, but out there? Out there was the world. Somewhere out there was Bayview, St Pauls, Minnesota, America. Somewhere out there her family were worrying where she was, only knowing that she was alive by watching the programme they always swore they never would (herself included). It looked so simple, escape. There were no visible boats, no visible snipers, nothing to stop her from swimming. Except... Her hands fluttered to the collar around her neck. They have control of you. You are not free.
Closing her eyes, I need to sleep, she tried to forget the world again.
She had found her bible.
It hadn't even been her intention, to take a bible with her. She knew enough of it off by heart to last a week, and if she was in doubt there were several other GODSpeed members on the trip who would be more than happy to lend her (if perhaps a bit surprised as to why she didn't bring one with her). But it was there, and Maddy suspected her mother's involvement. Several chapters had been helpfully marked out for her, and they were her mother's favourites, indexed with the blue sticky notes that she always used.
Looking at the bookmarks had been the hardest thing about this so far. She'd had three guns pointed at her face, been threatened for an idea that wasn't hers, and watched her friend get shot in front of her by someone who barely a shoadow of a motive, someone who didn't even know him. But that was all a dream, it happened in a part of her brain that she could compartmentalise off as being out of the ordinary, and Maddy could just about convince herself that all of this wasn't real.
But the post it notes in her bible? They screamed of such normalcy, something that was so definitely real, that she couldn't deny their existance, couldn't deny that they were here.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13. The very last sentence. Always a favourite of her mothers, it was already underlined from years ago. Maddy had never really thought about it before, what it meant. It had been dissected over the years in sermons and bible classes, but she had never paid attention. That was when Church was a chore, a ritualised way to prove to the world what she believed, even though she had known anyways. And now, when that sentence was more important than ever, she had lost one of them.
"All I have left are hope and love," she said softly to herself, gripping her cross in her hand, the shorter arms digging into her palm, but not quite drawing blood.
Maddy had tried to follow Raidon. Clio was too far gone, but she wanted to get something straight with him as it seemed unlikely that she would ever see him again. She wanted to tell him that she hated him, and she hoped that he went to hell for what he'd done. Perhaps it was a good thing she'd never managed to catch up with him. She was sitting against a tree, her legs straight out in front of her, a weapon either side within eacy reach, the bible open on her lap, facing the sea. Angry, waves crashing against the rocks, but out there? Out there was the world. Somewhere out there was Bayview, St Pauls, Minnesota, America. Somewhere out there her family were worrying where she was, only knowing that she was alive by watching the programme they always swore they never would (herself included). It looked so simple, escape. There were no visible boats, no visible snipers, nothing to stop her from swimming. Except... Her hands fluttered to the collar around her neck. They have control of you. You are not free.
Closing her eyes, I need to sleep, she tried to forget the world again.