Page 10 of Friar
The walk back to my room felt longer than the desperate rush to the bathroom had been.Each step was heavy with dread, with the certainty that this couldn’t go on much longer.Sooner or later, Uncle Pete and Aunt June would notice.The vomiting.The missed periods.The changes in my body that were still subtle but wouldn’t remain so.
I pushed open my bedroom door, steps faltering when I saw Aunt June sitting ramrod straight on the edge of my bed.Her thin face was pulled even tighter than usual, lips pressed into a bloodless line.And in her hand -- my heart stopped -- was the pregnancy test I’d taken then hidden in a plastic bag in my drawer.
“Explain this.”Her voice was cold, colder than I’d ever heard it before.
I stood frozen in the doorway, unable to move, unable to speak.The morning light caught the silver cross around Aunt June’s neck, sending a blinding reflection into my eyes.My mouth opened, but no words came out.
“I asked you to explain this.”She held up the test, two pink lines clearly visible.“Though I suppose it speaks for itself, doesn’t it?”
“Aunt June,” I finally managed, my voice small and cracked.“I --”
“How could you?”she interrupted, rising to her feet.“After everything we’ve done for you.After bringing you into our home, raising you in the way of the Lord, teaching you right from wrong.”Her voice rose with each word, her thin frame vibrating with fury.“You repay our kindness by behaving like a common whore?”
The word lashed across my face like a physical blow.I flinched, backing up against the doorframe.
“Who is he?”she demanded.“Some boy from school?Or worse -- one of those… those bikers we’ve seen you looking at?”Her face twisted with disgust.
Tears welled in my eyes, spilling hot down my cheeks.“Please,” I whispered, though I didn’t know what I was begging for.Understanding?Forgiveness?
“June?What’s going on?”Uncle Pete’s heavy footsteps approached down the hall, and my stomach dropped even farther.His broad frame filled the doorway behind me, forcing me to step fully into the room, trapped between them.
“Our niece,” Aunt June said, voice trembling with rage, “has been living in sin under our roof.”She thrust the pregnancy test toward him.“She’s pregnant.”
Uncle Pete’s face darkened, the color rising from his neck to his forehead in a tide of crimson.The vein at his temple throbbed visibly as he looked from the test to me, his eyes narrowing to slits.
“Is this true?”he thundered, his voice seeming to shake the crucifixes on the walls.
I couldn’t speak, could only nod, my tears falling faster now.
“Harlot!”he spat, the word hitting me like a fist.“Jezebel!After all we’ve done for you -- taking you in when no one wanted you, raising you in a godly home, teaching you the way of righteousness -- this is how you repay us?By bringing shame and disgrace upon this family?”
“I’m sorry,” I choked out.
“Sorry?”He barked a humorless laugh.“Sorry won’t undo your sin.Sorry won’t erase the stain on your soul or the bastard in your womb.”
“Pete,” Aunt June cautioned, though whether she was objecting to his language or his volume, I couldn’t tell.
“No, June.She needs to hear the truth.She has fallen, given in to the temptations of the flesh, allowed herself to be defiled.”He pointed a thick finger at me.“Proverbs warns us about women like you.‘For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil; but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.’”
“I didn’t -- I never meant to --” I stammered, but he cut me off with a slashing motion of his hand.
“You have one hour,” he said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous tone.“One hour to pack your things and get out of our home.We will not harbor a sinner under our roof.We will not have your shame taint this godly household.”
“Where am I supposed to go?”The question burst from me, panic rising in my chest.“Please, Uncle Pete --”
“That,” he said coldly, “is no longer our concern.You made your choice when you spread your legs for whatever devil’s spawn put that abomination in your belly.”He turned to leave, then paused in the doorway.“One hour.And then I never want to see your face again.”
He stalked away, heavy footsteps retreating down the hall.Aunt June remained, still as a statue, her face a mask of disgust and disappointment.
“How could you, Cheri?”she asked, her voice softer now but no less cutting.“After everything we taught you.”
“I made a mistake,” I whispered, tears streaming unchecked down my face.“I’m scared, Aunt June.Please don’t make me leave.”
For a moment, something flickered in her eyes -- a softening, perhaps, or a memory of the frightened girl I’d been when I’d first arrived at their doorstep.But it vanished as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by the hard shell of righteousness she wore like armor.
“You’ve made your bed,” she said, the old saying taking on new, cruel meaning in this context.“Now you must lie in it -- though you’ve already done plenty of that, haven’t you?”She placed the pregnancy test on my nightstand with two fingers, as if even touching it might contaminate her.“One hour.”
Then she was gone, leaving me alone with the ticking clock and the magnitude of what had just happened.I stood still for several seconds, paralyzed by fear, until the reality of my situation crashed over me like a physical wave.One hour.One hour to pack up my life.One hour before I was homeless, family-less, alone.I’d known they wouldn’t let me stay, but I’d thought I had more time before they found out.
