Fake Me To Church

Chapter 12.1 - Mama Mia

- AHMED -

Steven's house was only about ten minutes away from mine. After we dropped him off, I spent the majority of those minutes without saying a word before Mrs. Prudence finally broke the silence:

"You needn't be afraid, dear," she tried to assure me. "God cares for you very much. He will protect you if you trust in Him."

"H-how?" I managed, my mind whirling wild over all that was happening. "How can you be sure?"

"I have faith, Ahmed," she said. "And you should too. God won't abandon us, especially not at a time like this."

I sighed. "But what if...what if God's the One doing this? I mean, what if this is what He wants? What if He wants to reveal whatever everybody in this town keeps hiding?"

"Ahmed, God doesn't need a murdering psychopath to accomplish His goals, and He's certainly not trying to exact some esoteric revenge through blood and corpses. Whatever this town is hiding is its own fault, but God is not raising up killers as a means of reckoning; you know that's not who He is." Her voice was gentle yet stern, assured. "And as for you and me, it's up to the two of us to pray and continue to seek Him. We have to trust that He will deliver us."

"Well, that's kinda hard when everywhere I turn, somebody's head's been chopped open or my teammate's hospitalized or some creep detective's trying to pin a murder on me."

Prudence was silent.

I sighed again. "It just seems like lately God's been giving me nothing to go on. I mean, how am I supposed to 'grow in faith' when there's barely even time to breathe before the next body turns up rotting in a nursery?" My gaze fell to the floor, and I exhaled lowly.

"Maybe it's not only you who's supposed to grow," Prudence suggested. "Maybe there's more to this story than you first expected when you moved here, Ahmed."

I frowned, could feel the confusion written all over my face. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if I had to guess, I'd say things have been pretty hard on Steven lately...maybe even harder than they've been on you."

"So what?" I asked, crossing my arms. "Life tends to get crappy when you're a jerk to everyone. He brought it on himself."

Prudence blinked once, slowly, knowingly. "You might be right...but something tells me there's more to it than that."

I froze. "W-what do you mean?"

"Well, look at your adoption, the way your birth parents gave you up." She narrowed her eyes as she kept them fixed on the road. "I doubt anyone would argue that being separated from your parents was hard," she said, her voice somehow still sounding sweet. "You loved them—and they loved you. Whatever you may think about everything that happened, surely you don't believe that you 'brought it on yourself.'"

"But...but that's not the same thing," I countered.

"Of course it isn't," Prudence said. "And that's the point."

I gulped

"Ahmed, there's something you need to understand," Prudence said. "People like Steven will always exist—cruel and unfriendly, just for the sake of it. But that doesn't mean it's God's Will for them to stay that way." She drew a long breath. "And perhaps it's true that he's experiencing so much tribulation because of something he did long ago, something for which he's never asked forgiveness. From what I've heard, I'd say it's long past time for him to grow. And though your history is nothing like his, it may be time for you to grow as well."

We pulled up to a stop sign, and Prudence looked me directly in the eyes. "Sometimes, our trials are our own fault; sometimes God has to allow them so we don't keep following a dangerous path. If I had to guess, I'd say that's probably a large part of what Steven's going through right now." She paused, eyes still fixed on me. "But sometimes, the difficulties we face are Satan's fault—sometimes, he puts stumbling blocks in our way to keep us from growing into what God has for us. And based on the past few weeks, I'm betting that's a lot more of what you've been going through." She drew another breath. "But regardless of why trials come our way, God can still help us to grow, to not be defeated if we trust in Him."