After five hours of sitting around mindlessly staring at his laptop and thinking about what more he could've done to help out Darryl, he decided that his soul needed some healing. It was Sunday and after turning in his radio and vest from Safe Walk he made his way to the Basilica to attend the 4:30 PM mass. The Basilica was the focal point at CUA. Although the largest church in the Western Hemisphere was technically not a part of CUA's official campus, it was definitely a part of the CUA community. Students are initiated as undergraduates during convocation inside the Basilica, and they graduate as seniors in a sea of chairs, stages, and people outside the Basilica four years later. With its spire tower, golden and blue dome, and front facade beautiful enough to invite angels into the building, Luke was constantly stunned by the magnificent appearance of God's house.
The inside was basically an art museum. Statues, paintings, frescoes, murals—it was overwhelming. Upon walking down the middle aisle, you are greeted by a massive figure of Jesus dressed in a red robe with his arms outstretched welcoming you into his presence from a ceiling behind the altar. In the center dome, the Holy Trinity, surrounded by saints, made it feel like they were watching over you as you pray, hanging on your every word.
This was the place where Luke attended mass. This was the place where he celebrated the Eucharist. This was the place where he stood after mass to pray for Darryl, for guidance, for forgiveness. I can tell you word for word what he prayed for, but such things should be kept confidential—between a person and his God.
Once the ushers did their job and encouraged Luke to leave since the Basilica was closing, he took himself around the back of the Basilica to Mary's Garden. He sat in front of a fountain spewing water up like a steady geyser. After 15 minutes of contemplation, he moved on to a small pond that laid at the foot of a statue of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus to her chest—like a mother would do to rock her baby gently to sleep in her arms.
Luke knelt down in front of the pond and spoke, "Mary I need some guidance. Give my thoughts to Darryl, let him know that I'm praying for him. Convince God to welcome him into His kingdom, even if he has to endure the trials of purgatory to get there."
Luke looked down into the pond, lit only by the moonlight pushing through the dead late winter trees. He saw his face in the pond, with bags beneath his eyes, and said, "None of this should've happened. What can I do to make up for it?"
A gust of wind blew from his left and a blade of grass settled gently into the pond, causing a slight ripple effect. Luke's face became distorted. His hair had grown out of his head and turned violet-red, flowing down to his back like a waterfall of blood. His eyebrows seemed to have been plucked, and his stubble, from days of not shaving, was wiped away. His skin had aged forward a century and wrinkles formed terraces out of the slopes of his face. Yet, while some features on his face changed, others remained the same. His teal colored eyes, his concerned withering lips that still quivered, and his light brown skin remained unchanged in the moonlight.
Luke extended his hand slowly towards the person in the pond thinking, Is that me? But another gust of wind shook the branches above him, snapping a small piece off as it collided with the face in the pond—splitting the face and sending small waves in the pond. Once it settled, Luke was staring at his own face again, undistorted by the blade of grass.
Who was that? Luke thought to himself. It looked almost like an old girl version of me, or an incomplete facial reconstruction.
Luke heard some ruffling behind him, like footsteps on dead grass. He turned around and examined the scene closely.
"Gio? Alex?" Luke called out.
The minute they heard their names Luke could've sworn he saw them jump out of their skins. They flinched violently and turned towards him.
Alex was the first to speak, "What's up Luke? What the hell are you doing over here?"
"I could be asking you the same thing," Luke said.
"Yeah well tough titties cause I asked first, so spit it."
Luke gestured to the statue of Mary, "I was praying. Now, what are you two doing here?"
Gio stepped in, "We were searching for the confessions that was supposed to be going on. We got an email about it earlier."
Alex banged his chest and exhaled almost like he had heartburn, while Luke took out his phone and noticed a ton of notifications that he had been ignoring all day. Some were from the Tower, others from his girlfriend Nellie, with the last one saying, "Why are you ignoring me?" Finally, he saw an email notification, one of many, entitled "Residence Hall Confessions." Luke glanced through the email, curious since he wouldn't mind speaking with a priest about the problems he was facing.
Then he noticed the date and time, "It says here it's tomorrow from 8 to 10 PM. And it's going to be held in O1 chapel."
Gio snapped his finger and sucked his teeth, "Damn it, I knew something was up when the doors to the Basilica was locked. I thought it was going to be held here."
"Yeah, I mean how else can they give confession to the whole campus," Alex added while Gio elbowed him.
"I don't think it's for the whole campus. I think it's just for people in a specific building," Luke said.
"Yeah Alex," Gio mocked. "Plus, I doubt they'd even need a Basilica to hold confession for CUA students. A chapel would be fine."
"Then you underestimate the dedicated nuns and walking Bible recordings on campus," Alex said. "They'd swarm the Basilica in masses. These super religious jerks are no joke."
"Jerks?" Luke asked.
"Yeah, they walk around thinking they're better than you cause they pray more. They're all showy and shit, and it's freaking annoying."
"Jesus did say to pray in private and not make a scene," Gio added. "I agree that some of the super religious fanatics on this campus go too far."
A chilly breeze ripped through all of their coats and a shiver jolted down Luke's body as if he'd been hit by a freezing lightning bolt. "It's getting pretty chilly out here. Why don't we head back to the dorm?"
Alex looked to Gio and Gio nodded at Luke, "Yeah, makes no sense sticking around here if there ain't any confessions."
The three of them headed back to the dorm, discussing their upcoming midterms that week and their plans for Spring Break. For once, Luke felt okay. He wasn't discussing the suicide, he wasn't thinking about the fire incident. It was a taste of normal that he had been savoring over since he summoned a flaming ball in the palm of his hand.
On the way back, the wind started to pick up and Luke was tempted to rub his hands together to generate warmth. Then he thought about it and decided it'd be best not to light his hands on fire in front of his suitemates. But for the first time, the thought that he had been trying to suppress crossed his mind, Could I summon that flame again? By asking himself this, he knew he was on the verge of insanity. To ask himself to recreate a flame sprouting from the palm of his hand was accepting the fantasy he had been trying to deny.
*________________________________________________*
Author's Note
Some of you may be thinking, Finally something supernatural has occurred again. I was starting to think this was just a fan fiction of "13 Reasons Why." The weird face in the water: any thoughts on who or what it may be (or is Luke just going insane because of the stress he's been going through)? Cast your thoughts now before it is revealed later in the book (I'll neither confirm nor deny in order to prevent any spoilers, but I'll be reading through the comments for sure).
The cool thing about having a book take place partly in the real world is that you can look up pictures of the actual places described in the story. The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception is a massive church located in Washington, D.C. on the edge of The Catholic University of America's campus (see the funky photo I took a year ago below):
Mary's Garden is located towards the right of the Basilica: (the happy birthday balloon was there because the photo was taken on Mary's birthday):
If the images you conjured up in your mind doesn't match these, that's great because you're creating your own vision, your own version of this place. So stretch those imagination paintbrushes, and keep on stretching them in the chapters to come.
See ya soon.
- L. A. Rivera