Don't Get Angry

35- Dalta: Someone to Talk to

"The guy's a psychopath. And he uses the church to get attention. That's all."

I ran my hands over my face. "I can't believe-"

"That people are bad?"

I frowned and scratched my neck in disbelief. "I went to his house. I slept over at Betty's... He's never said anything weird or done questionable."

Ethan shrugged. "People can choose whether they want to be bad or good... Some people chose to be bad and don't try to change... After what happened... After you guys left me alone at the gas station, I realized that I was being stupid. The old guy behind the counter wasn't even the owner, and he was shaking out of his skin. So, I left. And when I was driving away, a cop pulled me over." Ethan chuckled, but tears glossed in his eyes. "I thought I was going to jail that night... I've been having nightmares since then."

I sighed. "Whoa."

"I had my wake-up call." His veins lit up in his temple as he clenched his jaw. "Betty's mother died and her father didn't have his. Betty ran away and he still had the nerve to lie and claim that she eloped so the church wouldn't think she ran away because of him."

My couldn't breathe. It was beginning to make sense.

"Better to have everyone think she ran away with some guy than to have them figure out that he's a coward."

I stared at Ethan. "You tried to rob the station for her...didn't you?"

He looked down. "Betty and I became friends last summer at your church's camp. We were swimming one day and I saw her bruises and asked her about them. She told me she fell. But I know abuse when I see it." His eyes fluttered. "So, I told her that I knew that she wasn't fine. I told her that I had family who suffered abuse and I told her I could help... Then this summer, we met Peter at your church again. He was doing this Arts and Crafts thing for one of your members and I was helping out. He borrowed these masks from the Fraternity so the kids could wear them. He had this whole thing planned out. The kids were supposed to wear them like they were in Noah's Ark. Betty came in crying and we left the kids to talk to her. She said he'd hit her in the car. That's when Peter found out about it."

I stared at Ethan with wide eyes, taking in everything he said.

"He got mad and started shouting about how a man should never hit a girl...then he attacked her dad."

My brows lifted. Everything I'd heard about that scar under the Pastor's eye was a lie. I couldn't believe I'd let the idea that Betty'd attacked him even seep only mind. I nearly believed it. So many people had said it.

"But you know him. He told the members who saw it happen that Peter was a street kid who needed the help and was given a summer job... And everyone believed it. I tried to get Betty to say something...to speak up. But she didn't. She said that people wouldn't believe her. Not with her history."

I bowed my head.

"We hung out with Betty for the rest of the summer. Us and this other girl from out of state-"

My eyes quickly lifted to him. "New York?"

His brows fell. "Yeah...How'd you know that?"

I shook my head and smiled a little. "I told Otis she had something to do with this. I told him that I wasn't crazy. Those masks were custom made and she had one of them."

"Yeah. Peter made them for the fraternity when he was with them. She stole one before she left. She had a really tragic life."

"I read the article they wrote about her...stealing the water bottles?... This is unbelievable." I took a deep breath and rubbed my chin, feeling like I had been piggybacking a giant for forever and had finally put him down.