Ghost Flowers

Chaos Theory

She stood in front of the mirror, pulling her pale blue hair back with a clip. She smoothed down her black silk dress and smiled. She looked out the window and sighed; it was such a beautiful morning, perfect for walking. It sucked that she had to waste it in church. She never was a religious person, but she went anyway to please her parents. All she ever wanted to do was keep her parents happy. That’s why she kept her relationship with Bethany a secret. Her parents were extremely homophobic, and would disown her and hate themselves as well for raising a dyke.

“Lena!” her mother called up the steps. “Hurry up! We’re going to be late!”

“Coming, mom!”

Lena grabbed her bag and ran down the steps and out the front door, hopping in the backseat of her father’s black Ram truck. They drove the ten minutes and soon arrived at the United Baptist Church of God. It was a large building with a beautiful bell tower. Lena and her parents rushed in and took seats in the front pews. Soon, the lights dimmed, and the pastor came out with such a glorious entrance, one must wonder who you were truly there to praise. Lena rolled her eyes and sat back in her seat, preparing for a boring hour.

“Good morning. Today, our sermon will be about the evilest evil of all: the homosexuals. We will read a few scriptures about the evil of homosexuality.”

Lena sat through this sermon, growing more and more infuriated by the minute. Finally, she just couldn’t take it anymore.

“Bullshit!” she cried. “You can’t possibly be buying this, can you? God says he loves all of his children, does he not? He created every human being, yes? Then he created the gays! He made them gay because he wanted them to be! He loves all of his children, and even the homosexuals are his children!”

She rounded on the pastor with a red face, “And you! You are a liar and a crook. You think we don’t know where all the money goes? I know you just sit in your office, sipping wine from a chalice and counting your money then proceeding to take the money for yourself. Do you really think that we’re all blind?! You will rot in hell, you dick.”

The pastor had a look of shock on his face, which he quickly masked with anger. He pointed to the door.

“Get OUT. You and your family are no longer welcome in this house of God.”

Lena and her family walked out, her mother in tears and her father seething. When they got outside, Lena’s father let his anger out.

“What the hell was that back there?” he roared. “You know damn well that he was right!”

“No, he was wrong! Everything that I said was the truth. If God made everybody who they are, then God made the gays gay. That is how it works, dad!”

“Caren, get in the truck.”

Lena’s mother obeyed, and stepped into the truck, slamming the door behind her.

“From this day on, we have no daughter, and you have no parents. We tried to teach you better, but I guess we failed. You might as well be a dyke, for all the good our teaching worked.”

“News flash, Rick, I am a dyke. Have been for years. Bethany and I have been going steady for six months as of next week. Fine, disown me. I don’t care. You will rot in hell with the pastor for this.”

Rick got in the truck and drove off. Immediately, Lena called Bethany. She explained her situation, and Bethany agreed to pick her up. Shortly after she hung up the phone, a white Elantra pulled up, heavy metal music blasting out of the windows.Lena climbed in the car, and Bethany drove off. They both were silent the whole way to Bethany’s house. When Lena walked in the house, she was immediately pulled into a hug by Bethany’s mother, who had tears pouring down her face.