The world as we knew was collapsing before our eyes. Slowly without us being able to do anything to prevent it. Our free will was taken away from us. We became puppets, controlled by a higher power. All we wanted was to escape, to cut the threads th...
A heavy "yes" finally came over my lips when I felt Frida's nagging start to get to my head. What harm could it do them to go to church? Didn't everyone worship god during pressing times? Believer or not? As a last cry for help. Wasn't that just what we all needed now?
When our baskets were full of berries and I had taken a nap after dinner, Frida was waiting for me. Beatrice crossed our path to the church gate. She herself was heading in the opposite direction. She gave me a smile, but when she turned towards Frida, the smile died.
Stay away from her, Frida muttered to me. Surprised by her words, I stopped for a millisecond, but then Frida's arm was there under mine and pulled me forward.
When I asked her "why?", she just shook her head in response.
I half-heartedly listened to Mikael's words about hope and forgiveness. Then the cup with the wine was held up, the bread was broken, and afterwards the whole congregation stood up. I looked questioningly at Frida, who pulled me up from a sitting position. We approached the priest and partook of the meal. I just followed Frida's movements. But I felt incredibly out of place the whole time. When the priest ended his sermon by announcing a wedding that would take place in a few weeks, I heaved a longing sigh.
Afterwards, Frida lingered while I myself fled to the exit. However, there were so many people gathered in the aisle in front of me that my social phobia was reminded. Silently I retreated to an empty bench at the bottom of the hall. The more the crowd dispersed, the more distinct the voices at the front of the church became.
- How can a same-sex marriage be accepted by the church? The voice belonged to an elderly man who sat muttering sullenly to himself in one of the benches.
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Frida seemed to have heard his words because she quickly walked up to him where he was sitting.
- What is a devil worshiper doing here in the church?, she said firmly, her eyes directed at him. When he lifted his head towards her, his chin dropped.
- What are you saying? Frida crossed her arms over her chest.
- You can't be talking about MY church or MY god when you say such hateful things?. The man opened his mouth to say something but Frida was faster.
- You should know that God stands for love and the Devil for hate. My God would never hate someone's love. Those words you speak of belong to the devil and you should be ashamed to utter such terrible things in church.
I could hear her voice trembling. Out of anger or crying, I couldn't tell. A hand on my shoulder told me that Mikael had joined me.
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He had previously been standing at the exit busy taking everyone in the congregation by the hand. A warm feeling spread in my chest before this scene. How Frida pushed the man's distorted view into the ground. It was like she grew several centimeters in front of me, this was a side of her I hadn't seen before. How she unquestioningly stood up for her opinions regardless of the consequences, it inspired me.
When Frida loudly rushed away from the man, Mikael let go of me. He met her with open arms. Now I saw her tears flowing, saw how she threw herself around Mikael's neck and let him comfort her.
Then all I heard afterward was the sudden crash of a body landing hard on the ground.
