DECEMBER JANE

December: I'm not supposed to know

Worship was weird, but not bad. Just confusing.

People filed into these long pews and listened to this Priest named Sean give this really over-emotional speech on the prophecy of the Holy Spirit and its importance in the presence of our hearts. If I had been to church before this, it didn't feel familiar. Laori seemed to be eating it up. The James guy from earlier hung awkwardly on stage behind the Priest near the piano, totally still. He looked so fake, he could honestly have passed as a statue. When he did finally move to start playing the piano, it surprised me more than it should have.

The service concluded, and we got out Hymn books and sang Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed? I didn't sing, though, because I'm pretty sure most choral arrangements didn't have parts for the fried chicken equivalent of vocal cords. Laori sounded pretty good. She should be a singer, in my opinion.

When the service actually ended-ended, small groups of conversation popped up among the edges of the room in circles. Laori smiled at me. "How was that?" she asked.

"It... was."

"Better than bad, then?"

"If you want to say that."

Laori turned her attention to the stage again and gestured towards James. He played this tune, soft and graceful, that echoed against the walls of the church. I kind of fell in love with the sound. His playing was beautiful. The grace notes of the piece resonated with the atmosphere-- and when the mood changed to this sort of sorrowful sound, my heart moved with it. It has been a while since I last listened to music. I missed that part of living.

"This is Humoresque, I believe," she said. "He's played this one several times before."

The church emptied, and I found myself alone with Laori, James, and the Priest Sean from before. I turned my attention to Sean, who immediately smiled bright white teeth at me. "You must be new here!" he announced, way too excited about me. I nodded. "For now, I guess."

"Well, we hope to see you here more often!" He said. "I'm Sean O'Brien. You are?"

I held my hand to shake, and he firmly took it. "December," I said.

"What a unique name!" he said. "Again, we are glad to have you here. Now, if you want updates, there's an email list. There should be a clipboard in the lobby-- feel free to fill that out. Texts are available, too." He let go of my hand. "Have you met James yet?"

"Indeed, I have," I said.

He smiled. "That's well," he replied. "He is a bit strange, but I'm sure you'll find him quite comforting the more you know him."

Yeah, sure, I thought.

"May I ask about your burns?" He said. "If you don't mind."

I shrugged. "Internship gone wrong." He frowned. "That's terrible," he consoled. "How long ago was this?"

When he asked, I panicked. No, I had no idea how long ago it was. I didn't remember what it was for, who my professor was, what uni I went to, etc. I didn't even know what state I had ended up in. I just knew I was in America from the flags that hung around the old abandoned hospital.

"About a year," I lied. He nodded. "Keystone will always be here to help you in times of need," he said, calmer this time. "Don't be afraid to reach out to us. The community here is wonderful."

"Minus the Mosheyevs," James shouted over his playing.

"James," Sean scolded. James did not respond but instead continued playing. Sean shook his head. "My apologies," he said. "He had some bad experiences with some ex-members of our establishment. Jolene is perfectly fine."

"She's a Mosheyev?" I asked. He nodded. "Jo has been with us for at least ten years. She must be your welcoming committee if you're with our lovely Laori here."

Laori smiled in response.

"Well, I'll leave you to head home," he said. "I'll see you around!"

"Perhaps," I said, with a wave. He sped off at a brisk pace into a back hallway behind the stage. After a moment of him being gone, the piano abruptly stopped. James stood up and slowly stepped from behind the piano.

"Laori," he cooed. "Leave me and December alone for a moment, would you?"

She nodded and marched off into the church lobby.

James stared at me as she walked out. The doors thumped shut behind Laori. He began to take slow steps down the stage stairs.

"You shouldn't be here," he growled.

I snorted. "Yeah, thanks. You're a bit late on that."
"I've known that longer than you've known yourself."

"Wow. Edgelord. I see you." I was truly uncomfortable with what he just said, but it wasn't something dry humor couldn't fix. He took a few steps until he was only about a meter in front of me, then stopped. His eyes sickened me.

It still felt like I had met him before.

"You know what you shouldn't know. You need to leave."

His voice gave me chills.

"Like what?" I challenged.

He paused. "Something that I should."

I shook my head. "Whatever, dude. I've gotta get back home here."

"You walked here."

"Okay, what the hell, man?!" I snapped. "Can you not over-analyze the shit out of everything?! I get it! I'm Canadian! BOO!"

James stared, totally unfazed. "That's not it."

"Is it my sauteed half?!"

He shook his head.

"Then I cannot help you," I said. I began to walk as quickly as I could towards the door.

"You won't come back," He said. When I made it to the door, I swung around to face his daunting stance.

"Oh, yes I will."