After graduating from high school, Mathew sets out to do a two-year missionary service like everyone else his age.
Mathew thought that his only problem would be him adjusting to the city as someone who's lived in a farming town all his life. he didn...
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We were in the chapel in the next town. It was quiet, so quiet. All I could hear was Nath's low humming, and he was sitting right beside me with his eyes closed. What was he doing? Was he praying? Meditating? I let my focus rest on the cross at the center stage up front. Yes, I haven't really seen crosses with a crucified Jesus on them, few denominations used it.
The church was a large one with fancy stained-glass paintings. We've been sitting here for the past hour, and how grand the place looked still fazed me.
Nath had brought me here because I asked, but I didn't fail to see that he needed it too. I found myself bending over and holding my clasped hands to myself as I tried to reach into that part of me that believed in prayer. We sat in the chapel until people started to file in and fill the pews. Nath nudged me, whispering in my ear that people were coming in for evening mass, and we should probably leave.
I followed him out into the parking lot, and when we got into the car Nath turned the radio station to a talk show before driving out of the clearing and into the main road.
"Did it help?" he asked after we had been quiet for a while. I looked over at him before muttering a small 'yes.' A smile formed on his face as he made a turn.
"I'm glad," he said, and I smiled too, resting my back on the car seat as I looked out the window to watch the passing scenery. It was six in the evening now, and Nath was taking us to the bar we came to the last time. I still wasn't going to drink alcohol, but I was sure I'd be more willing to loosen up and have fun.
When we got to the clearing Nath packed in it was already past seven in the evening, the sun had gone down, and the evening was dimly lit with the street lamps, and lights coming from the bar itself. I could hear the music when Nath wound down the window glasses before winding them up again and opening the door so that we could get down.
"Come on," he said in a calm voice, startling me. I hadn't noticed that I had just been standing still and not doing anything. "Come on, you'll have fun, I promise," he said with a smile as he reached out to take my hand in his, squeezing it lightly before dragging me to the bar with him.
When Nath pushed the door open and dragged me inside with him, I was hit with hot air, loud music, and the moving dance lights. I wasn't given much time to process everything since Nath pulled me through the crowd of men as quickly as he could until we made it to the front of the bar.
He smiled at me as he helped me get on top of a barstool before sitting across from me. "It'll be fine," he said before looking over the bar to the bartender. "Hey, can you get me a shot?" he asked the man behind the bar. He was a skinny man with a wide smile, and long hair he styled into a ponytail.
"Which one?"
"Anyone," Nath answered, making the man hum before he looked over at me.
