Aquata Cove Ch. 92

"Father Eustace, please!" She jogs over to the men, "Please reconsider, he needs your help!"

"Jessica." Eustace looks down on her, "You cannot give help to those who do not want it. The two of them have made it clear to me that we were not needed today."

"N-No! You don't understand!" Jessica persists, "She is blind, and content to let Adam live his life in sin! She doesn't know better, and neither does he!"

"Jessica, when you called me last night, you led me to believe that that young man was possessed by the devil himself." He glares down on her, "You have wasted our time and spiritual resources on... On what?" He adjusts his stance, "I knew you had an infatuation for that man, but even I have to admit that this has shown me a rather distasteful obsession.

"I recognize him from what Bertha had described to me at church, why a handful of our members went to a protest at the docks months ago, and... Jessica, I know just what and who he is, and there is no excuse for what you have brought us to do today." He said before he started walking again.

"But you said so yourself once!" She quickly stepped with him, "'Man shall not lie with another man; it is an abomination'!" Eustace stops, closing his eyes, trying to conjure some patients, "I need your help so he can stop living in constant sin!"

"Hhhhh, Miss Foster..." Eustace starts, "Yes, homosexuality, in it of the actions that are done, are indeed sins. But do you know what else is considered as a sin?" He asked, "Murder is such a sin. As is theft. Gluttony. Defacing reverent property. Eating a shellfish of any kind. Uttering the Lord's name in vain. There are countless sins that we all commit at one time or another, if not everyday. Some believe that all sins are equal in the eyes of the Lord."

"Please, you understand the urgency! All I'm trying to do is change him for the better!"

"While I do not endorse or believe in same-sex marriage and romance, I also do not stand against it. It is not my fight, and I prefer to stay out of a subject matter that I do not completely understand. That man is as irrelevant to me, as I am to him. I will say, however, for your sake, that there are worse things in this world to be than homosexual. "

"But Father Eu-"

"Jessica, you have misled me, made us look like fools today, and you have wasted enough of our time."

"HEY! The hell you doin here?!" Jamal suddenly shouted from the end of the hall, as he sees Jessica with a few priests with her.

"Oh not you again." Jessica frowns as he strides over to them, almost going into a jog, "Go away, this has nothing to do with you!"

"Uh, 'Scuse me, Reverend?" Jamal says, glaring, "I mean no disrespect or nuthin, but are you here to do, what I THINK you gonna do here?"

"No. We were just leaving." Eustace says, "It was a false alarm, I assure you."

"Aight. You gonna kick her out too then, right?" Jamal asked, crossing his thick arms.

"I'm sorry?" Eustace blinked strangely.

"Yo Christian girl here ain't so Christian."

"This has nothing to do with you, Jamal!" Jessica glares heated daggers at him, "Just leave!"

"Hold a moment." Eustace holds his hand to her, and then tucking his arm back under his bible, "What are you speaking of, sir?"

"That girl there?" Jamal glanced at her, "She raped a patient here."

"What??" Eustace blinked in shock.

"No! He's lying! Stop lying, you creep! Please just go!" Jessica yells, her insides turning to temperamental fire.

"Naw. She snuck mah friend Adam out a couple a nights ago, and had sex wit him, even after he said he didn't want to. Over and over again."

"Jessica, is this true??" Eustace asked, stunned. It's too convenient that they're talking about the same 'Adam', as this man is saying. "Was all of this just a ploy for you to get involved with this Adam character?"

"N-No! He's LYING!! Nothing happened!"

"He told me himself." Jamal replied darkly with a shrug, "He been afraid to tell anyone else. She forced him to get nekkid, saying she didn't want him to go to hell like a faggot."

"I did NOT say that!!" Jessica shouts, her eyes rimming with tears, "Father Eustace, please don't listen to him!"

"Jessica." Eustace says as he looks her in the eye. "Tell me right now. Is this man telling the truth?"

"No, I swear, nothing happened! He collapsed before..."

"Before?" His eyebrows rose. "And you're saying he collapsed." She stopped, stammering about what to say and how to recover from that slight slip-up. "I see."

"N-No, I just, he only needed to-"

"I've heard enough." Eustace says, "We need to leave, now." He gestured for his priests, before stopping, "And Miss Foster... In light of recent... Unfortunate events... I must ask that you do not attend my sermon this Sunday."

"What... What?" Jessica hushed.

"I think you need to seek asylum for better guidance. At least until you've come to terms with what you have done. Yours is an unfavorable influence in my opinion."

"Fa-Father, no... Please..." She begged weakly. Before he leaves, he turns one more time to look at her.

"And I must also inform you of one more thing. Sexual relations before the ceremony of marriage, is ALSO a sin against the Lord. I gather that you have forgotten that one. Goodbye."

With that, Father Eustace turned around, and left with his priests.