In the name of God (Arvin Russellxreader)

Chapter 16 - Subtlety takes practice

(Very much a filler chapter, apologies...)

Preston Teagardin would face two hells; one by the devil, after his death, and a very real version, bequeathed to him by Eliza Williams and executed by her sister Y/N. His torturers would be the very being he feared as a Christian and a 17-year-old who wanted revenge, the latter he should have been more scared of, because he could not predict what awaited him at her hands. There was no Bible telling him what would come, it had abandoned him.

Preston Teagardin was something that he had not been since he was a boy; Preston Teagardin was scared.

(Y/N POV)

I was elated, I had Preston Teagardin shaking in his boots and for once I felt like I might sleep well tonight. I skipped home, skimming polite conversation that erupted from my family when I wandered straight past them and up to my room to write a letter to my adoptive parents. It was incredibly rushed and less delicate than previous ones but I was too excited that I couldn't stop smiling.

Dear Mr and Mrs Williams,

You'll be pleased to hear that Narcissus' descent has begun. The thread has been plucked and it is starting to unravel, so it shouldn't take long before it ends or is cut by the fates.

I hope all is well back home with you, especially with little Marian.

Lots of love,

Y/N xx

P.s. – Sorry if my handwriting is a bit all over the place, I'm just beaming with joy because of the fine weather.

I quickly sealed the letter in an envelope and scrawled the address on it before leaving it on my desk and collapsing onto my bed flatly. Finally, he was going to have his borrowed time revoked. Preston Teagardin was going to suffer, at mine or his own hands.

{Time Skip to Monday}

"Mornin' Lenora." I called to her through the hallway, pushing through the clusters of cliques that were dotted through the school. I joined her at her locker, leaning against the next one.

"Hey Y/N. How are you today?"

"I'm good, what about you honey? You look a little flushed." I pressed by hand to her head, feeling the heat throughout her face. "Are you feeling okay Lenora?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, really." I sensed there was something else and it was confirmed when she peered around before leaning closer to me. "When Arvin was driving me to school, we saw that preacher's car and he waved to us. He's so polite."

As soon as she said 'Preacher', my face dropped internally and an alarm rang through my head. I couldn't come outright and say "Stay away from him, he used her for sex, got her pregnant and refused to claim the child, even after she (Eliza) died." Because asking anyone to believe that over a man of God, at the time, seemed ridiculous. I just smiled sweetly to her, "That's nice of him. But you just be careful if any boy does that to you, because they only want one thing."

(A/N- I don't believe this, but during this time it was a common saying.)

"I don't think many boys would do that for me anyway. I'm not as pretty as you."

"Thank you, but it's not true, Lenora you have such beautiful eyes and gorgeous hair and a good soul, which is more important than anything else." I tried to rouse her spirits and show her how beautiful she really was.

"Sure, but right now, I think Gene is trying to get your attention." She turned my shoulder to face the teen moron who was posed against the locker with his head back and was clearly attempting a smoulder that actually looked like a pout. I waved to him cutely before walking away, dragging Lenora with me. His two goons did their usual move of being idiotic and hounding him with comments about me, because those boys knew subtlety like Marilyn Monroe knew how to avoid attention.

"See, would you really want the attention of those halfwits? I'm pretty sure they have a collective brain cell that they have to share. Wonder which of them gets it today." Lenora chuckled, the smile returning to her face. "Have they been leavin' you alone?"

"Yeah, they're too busy to bother with me, now you're here as the perfect distraction." She continued down the hallway narrowly.

"Well, thank you, I take my job as a distraction very seriously." I joked. "Glad that I can be of service mademoiselle." I added a small curtsy at the end, causing Lenora to let out a loud giggle in the hallway, which in turn caused several head to turn but promptly return to their monotonous conversations. "Now, go have a good day." I hugged her as much as I was able since we were both carrying books.

The moment reminded me of Eliza; She reminded me of Eliza. They were both so child-like and delicate but deep down I knew how strong Lenora really was. I could only hope that Preston's gesture was flippant but realistically, with his track record, it wasn't. Well, I supposed one warning couldn't hurt, but it took some planning, couldn't have him finding me out.