Throughout the rest of the day, Trinity did her best to keep her head low and not attract attention. Many of her teacher's had reassigned her to a new seat in order to better keep an eye out for potential bullying among the students. This had been requested of each of them from the school principal, after her father had advised that some of the students may not be very welcoming with her return back to school, due to recent events.
While walking through the school corridors in between classes, she could feel everyone's penetrating gaze fixated on her. The hoodie hadn't been of much help. Everyone knew exactly who it was as she walked by.
She would hear whispers from people as they stared and pointed in her direction. Giggling amongst themselves, and didn't care enough to attempt to hide their disdain. Some looked at her in fear, as they scurried off at the mere glimpse of her. While others held a sly smile on their lips and looked at her with admiration and approval. Although, she seriously doubted that these people saw Zyxel in the same way that she used to see him before.
Then there were the last batch of onlookers that gave her chills down her spine. Those that looked at her with that same hatred in their eyes that the boys back in the alley had looked at her with. Those eyes that deemed her a traitor and wanted her dead.
She just wanted to make it through the day without any trouble, get out of there, and go back home.
When the lunch bell rang she ran to grab her lunch from the cafeteria line, then dashed outside to meet up with Jessica at their favorite spot under a large shaded oak tree. However, she was amazed to see Rachael was with her.
"You didn't get detention?" Trinity asked Rachael, surprised. She was sure that with the incident that happened on the bus, that Rachael would have been given In-School Suspension for the day.
Rachael grinned in amusement. "Nope! I explained to the Principal what happened, and he requested the video recording from the bus to be sent to him. When he had seen the boy who threw the egg at you, he knew I was only defending you. Although, I did get a stern lecture about not taking conflict into my own hands and was reprimanded on how I should have reported the incident instead."
She scoffed at the thought. "I don't regret punching him, not even for a second. He deserved it!"
"You got lucky!" Jessica stated.
Rachael shrugged as she stuffed a french fry into her mouth that had been drenched in ketchup.
"So..." Jessica fidgeted around, uncomfortably. "Rachael and I have been dying to ask you, but neither of us wanted to ask in front of all of our parents, before. But we were wondering, what happened to you after the demon kidnapped you? I mean, was that really him who killed those guys? Why did he choose to save you? Is it because of what happened that day inside the church?"
Jessica was nervous asking this. She didn't want to upset Trinity, but the curiosity to know what happened got the better of her. Rachael sat up straight as she became intent on hearing what Trinity had to say.
Trinity stared down at the grass with a nervous smile on her face. "Yeah, he did. I was pretty out of it by the time he showed up. Basically, what I was able to see, he slit the throats of the four younger boys, before he spoke to the leader. This was mostly out of my vision, and I couldn't fully see much. I could only hear what was spoken."
Lines formed across both Rachael and Jessica's forehead as they listened.
"What did he say to the leader?" Jessica asked, curious.
"He asked him if he enjoyed what he'd done." Trinity replied.
Jessica scoffed, but Rachael just continued to stare at Trinity as she waited for her to continue the story.
"I couldn't hear what the guy answered." Trinity continued. "I was fading out of it by that time. But I did see the demon rip his heart out, before he picked me up." She hesitated briefly before looking up into both of her friend's eyes. "He whispered into my ear that he wouldn't let me die. I passed out shortly after that."
She bit her lip before continuing on with the story. "When I woke up, he had healed my cuts and a lot of my internal bleeding. But he wasn't able to heal my broken bones that I'd received. Those had to heal naturally, but he had splinted and wrapped my injuries into a makeshift cast. He gave me herbs and tea to help with the healing and pain management. As well as carved me a staff to help me walk once I was capable of standing."
Jessica and Rachael both sat there blinking in surprise. Neither of them knew quite how to respond to what she had just described to them. Trinity bit her lip nervously once more, as she waited for a reaction from one of them.
Rachael was the first to react. She scowled and stared hard at Trinity. "I hope you aren't thinking that he is suddenly a good guy or something."
Trinity shook her head. "It's complicated right now. I don't quite know what to think at the moment. I'm conflicted between everything I was taught, versus everything I witnessed first hand from those three weeks." she answered aloud. 'Not to mention, I'm not sure yet as to how I feel about what I had seen at the crime scene yesterday.' she added silently to herself.
Trinity didn't want to voice that last thought out loud. For one, the police still had yet to disclose to the public, about what had occurred. And two, Lucifer's words still kept ringing loud in her mind, refusing to leave her alone. Repeating what he had told her about not hating Zyxel for his actions.
But the problem was, how could she not be repulsed by what she witnessed? The mere recollection of that memory was enough to make her want to throw up all over again. The image of the crime scene and the pungent odor of the decaying flesh, stayed with her in her mind, and nothing she tried would make it go away.
Her stomach began to feel queasy all over again as the memory of that morning became vivid in her mind. She did her best to avoid showing any outward signs of being nauseous, as she didn't want to have to explain that side of him that she had seen.
'I wish Lucifer would have at least warned me about what to expect to see! He had known that Zyxel had already given in to his hunger. Couldn't he have said... something?! I want to be able to understand it, but it's not really something that I can easily just accept either.'
Trinity sighed with the internal debating raging through her mind.
Watching Trinity's expression as it shifted back and forth, Rachael could tell that she was deeply conflicted as to what to believe. She leaned in close and wrapped her best friend in a big hug. "We're here for you to help you through this! Don't feel as if you have to suffer through this alone."
Trinity gave a weak smile as she hugged Rachael back. "Can I ask both of your opinions on something?" she asked in a low voice.
"Of course!" Jessica and Rachael both answered in unison. Rachael sat back down as she waited to hear the question.
"I want your honest opinion on this question." She bit her lower lip as she hesitated. "Why do you think that we are taught that demons are evil? And, is there a possibility that we could be wrong?" Trinity asked as she looked them both in the eye. She wanted to be certain that the answer they gave wasn't just to console her. She wanted to know what they truly thought.
They both frowned at the question, but before either of them could answer, the bell rang; alerting them that lunch was now over and to resume their classes.
"We need to finish this discussion later." Rachael demanded in a stern voice, while Jessica nodded in agreement. "We're all going over to my house later. My mom and dad will still be at work, so we will have the house to ourselves." Rachael added.
"This is actually a good thing. This will give the both of you the rest of the school day to truly think about your answer." Trinity mentioned as she fidgeted back and forth in her seat on the ground.
"Trinity, there isn't anything to think about! We all know the answer to that!" Jessica commented.
Trinity shook her head. "No. I want you both to give me an actual reason why you think they are evil. And I do NOT want to hear, 'because the bible says so'." She stood up slowly, as she turned to head to their next class.
Jessica and Rachael both stared after Trinity with their mouths open wide in shock. Neither of them had ever seen Trinity like this before. She never once ever questioned her faith. They both looked at each other with worry in their eyes.
As soon as Trinity rounded the corner and was out of sight of any spectators, she crouched down low. The queasiness in her stomach from remembering that scene, had become too much to bear any longer. Leaning against the wall, she found herself throwing up all over again.
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Books I am currently writing:
- The Forbidden Luna
- Divine Banishment