The Forsaken (The Chosen Series Book 2), Patricia Bell [e textbook reader .txt] 📗

“Where were you when the fire started?” He watched her closely. “The entire community was there to put out the fire, but I did not see you.”

Oh, but I saw you. You were chasing after them. If it weren’t for you, maybe they would have not been so reckless.

But she could not say the words she longed to say. It would not do to test him at this moment. It would be much better to appease him than oppose him. Besides, the community was comprised of over a thousand people, and that day had been chaos. There was no way he’d have known if she was there or not even if he had been there.

“I was there, Elder Aaron. I helped fill the many buckets at the well.” She had.

Just as soon as she’d run back home, she’d gone straight back out to help combat the fire.

She still wasn’t sure why she had run away from the fire when everyone else was running to it. She hadn’t really thought it through. Her only thought was that she did not want to look suspect. And now, she looked that way anyway.

“Tabitha can confirm it. We stood side by side as we filled buckets for the men to carry to the barn.”

“And you were wearing your covering?”

“Always. Is it not forbidden for a girl to be without?” she asked appalled he would ask such a question.

“It is. And Tabitha will confirm you were there?”

“Yes,”

“You are not to have any communication with her until the two of us have spoken. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Elder Aaron.”

Elder Aaron stood and left the house. Abigail sat nervously and contemplated her situation. What would Tabitha say? She hadn’t lied. She and Tabitha had filled buckets together. But Abigail had come onto the scene a bit late. Would Tabitha tell them that? Who had seen her without her covering?

“Abigail?” Her father interrupted her thoughts.

Startled, she turned to him. “Yes, Father?” She looked up into his sad eyes.

“I am sorry. May God forgive us both for our transgressions.” His eyes glistened. “We must pray.”

“Yes, Father.”

As her father prayed for forgiveness for the deception they had spun, shame drenched Abigail’s heart as if she’d been plunged into a vat of poison. She was now and would be forever tainted. She sat quietly with her head bowed as her father prayed silently for them both.

When she looked up, her father was staring at her, his eyes glossy. He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly.

“I do not wish to lose another child.”

“I am so sorry, Father.”

“WHAT HAS HAPPENED?” Tabitha asked Abigail during the Sunday Sacrament noon break.

“I am not allowed to speak to you.” Abigail turned to leave.

“Elder Aaron has questioned me. He said you are free to speak now.”

Abigail turned back around. “What did you say?”

“I told him the truth. You were there with me the entire time.”

“But—”

“That is how I remember it.” Tabitha cut her off. “Is that not how it happened?”

“It is,” Abigail said, grateful to Tabitha for covering for her.

“Now,” Tabitha said, pulling Abigail aside. “I have something to tell you. You can keep my secret, no?”

“Yes, of course.”

Tabitha locked her arm inside of Abigail’s and pulled her to the side.

“Two nights ago, I came downstairs to use the outhouse, and Father was speaking to someone. I stopped and listened. I should not have, but . . . well, I heard him say . . .”

Tabitha stopped. She glanced around the area and then back to Abigail.

“What did he say?”

“He said he would find Luna and bring her back. He even used her real name. Father has never called her by that name.”

“He what?” Abigail stared in unbelief. “But I thought – Is she alive?”

“Elder Aaron said she had disgraced the community and brought about an uprising among the young folks. He said—”

Abigail could not believe her ears. And the fear on Tabitha’s face was intense. “What—” she couldn’t finish.

“He said she would need to be punished in accordance with the Old Testament.”

Abigail stared at Tabitha. It could not be so.

“Deuteronomy?” she asked.

Tabitha nodded. “I am afraid for her. And father has been gone so much lately. I am sure he is searching for her.”

No one had ever been stoned to death in their community, but it had been preached as a warning on several occasions. It was the ultimate punishment that far surpassed any other. The offender would be tied to a post in the center of the community, and the people would throw rocks at the person until they were dead. The Stoning Court had stood unused in the center of the community for as long as Abigail could remember. It was merely a circular cement slab with a post in the middle of it, but it was a fearful sight to the community. All around it were boulder-sized rocks. Not just small stones. They were stacked several feet off the ground and encased the slab. It was a warning. They were forbidden to go into the area, and no one wanted to anyway.

“We must go,” Tabitha said. “The service is about to start again.”

Abigail broke from her trance and looked around. People were throwing away their trash in the bins and heading back into the service. Abigail and Tabitha hadn’t gotten the chance to eat. It didn’t matter, her appetite was gone.

Rebecca is alive. She’d already known the elders had lied about Rachel. Did that mean Jonathan and Jacob had made it out as well? Why were the elders lying to them?

Chapter 7 ― Luna

It was good to be back home. Luna had enjoyed her time with her father and her younger siblings, but she was glad to be back with Jonathan and her mother. No offense to her little brother and sisters, but she wasn’t used to all the noise and chaos.

Jonathan had finally gotten the job at the moving company and was excited to get started.

“Hey, guys.” Linda came strolling into