As he becomes conscious, he feels his entire body is sore, the majority of the pain focused on his chest. As he became aware of his surroundings, he saw that he was in his bedroom, his eyes focused on the cross that was the centerpiece of his otherwise bland room with empty walls. Despite his aching body, he otherwise felt fine to stand up for a short while to check the clock on his wall, which read 7:34 pm. His family would probably be finishing their

Bible study by now, as he heard commotion from outside his room.

As the sounds of the living room dissipated, he heard his mother walk towards the hallway.

"I'm going to check on Jonathan," She says, her voice slightly muffled.

Then, the door opens up and she steps inside. Her brown hair is held up in a ponytail by two black hair ties, and she wears a conservative, long sleeved floral patterned dress that reaches her knees.

"Oh, Jonathan! You're awake. How are you feeling, honey?" She asks, sitting down on the edge of the bed beside him.

"I'm fine. A little sore. What happened?"

"Oh, those same two boys that attacked you last week abused you again yesterday! They've been expelled now, so you won't have to worry about them any more, thankfully. You just lay down now, I'll get you some tea."

"Okay," He says, doing as she says and leaning his head against his pillow.

She walks out of the room, shutting the door behind her as her footsteps dissipate from him and into the kitchen. As he lays in bed, he attempts to remember what happened to him before he woke up in his bedroom. As he thinks in silence for several moments, his memory comes back to him in pieces. Being dragged towards the closed off area of the school and beaten senseless by the same two boys as before.

He was baffled as to why they were this dedicated to making his life just that much worse, but he would most likely never get the answer. His mother came in soon after with a small mug of hot tea in hand, along with a plate of crackers.

"I wasn't sure if you'd be hungry or not, so here's a little snack. Do you need anything else?" She says, placing down the mug and plate on his bedside table.

"No, thank you Mother."

"Okay. I'll be in the living room if you need anything."

"Okay."

Jonathan takes a sip of his tea and eats one of the crackers off the plate, wondering how he'll be able to fight the boredom with nothing but a Bible. After he finishes drinking his tea, he decides to get some rest and hopefully be well enough by morning to play outside. Then again, if he was well enough to play outside he'd be well enough to go to church as well, which he had no interest in doing. Perhaps he could fake it and get to stay in.

Eventually, he fell asleep and managed to get several hours of sleep, until he was woken up for no reason in particular. He looked around his room, which was pitch black, and he couldn't read the clock on his wall. He stood up and flipped the lightswitch on to see the time, which was 12:30AM.

He turned off the light and attempted to go back to sleep, which he found nearly impossible to do. As he felt all the exhaustion leave him, he was stuck laying aimlessly in bed. He sat up, looking around at the darkness. He opened the plaid curtains that covered his window, looking out at the glowing half moon in the sky. Crickets chirped and the trees and grass swayed gently with the light wind.

He walked towards his bedroom door, slowly opening it just enough for him to get through the crack and closing it behind him. He goes to the front door, where the family's shoes sit in a neat row. He slips on his and walks outside, where he ties them sitting on the porch step. The cool night breeze brushed against his pale face, like a gentle hand lulling him into a peaceful state of mind.

He walks down the porch and around the house to the back, where the forest that remains contained from the property by a wire fence sits ominously. He stares at it for a moment, nearly treating it as if it were a living, breathing person. If it were alive, it would call him inside its vast body of trees, with a promise of escape from his bland reality.

As though the forest really was calling him inside, Jonathan begins to walk towards it, not looking back at the house that had only given him nothing at best. He steps onto the wire, pushing it down and walking over it. He walks past the many trees that surround him, not even fearing the possibly dangerous nature he was amongst. His mind was blank, as if the forest had cleansed him of any bad thought he might have previously had. Walking through the forest, he ran his hands along the rough bark of the trees, relishing in the beauty of the nature, though it was difficult to see.

As he continued walking, he began to feel tired once again, and sat down on the ground, leaning his head against a tree. It wasn't the most comfortable position, but he still somehow fell asleep, where he had no dreams and was not awoken once by anything around him. He woke up to the sound of birds chirping and the sun shining bright amongst the clear blue sky, feeling refreshed.

His clothes were dirty and he would have to shower once he got back to the home, but he had never felt better. He stood up and stretched, rubbing his eyes and looking around. In the distance, he heard the sound of someone calling his name, most likely Mother or Father.

Not wanting to worry them too much, he walked back towards the property and stepped over the fence, where both his parents stood in various parts of the property, calling his name. His Father turned and noticed him first, before running towards him and very sternly asking him where he went.

"I was in the forest."

"All night? What were you thinking! Why would you do that, Jonathan? We were worried sick!" He responds, putting his hands on Jonathan's arms and squeezing tightly.

His Mother comes to him next, asking the same as his Father did.

"Jonathan, honey! Why would you do that? It's very dangerous out there! Don't ever do that again."

They were clearly upset, but decided against punishment, as he didn't break any specific rule.

"Well, we're gonna be late for church now. The girls are already ready, but you're too dirty to come. Can we trust you to stay home?" His Father says.

"Yes, Father. I'll be fine on my own."

"Ok. You wash up while we're gone, too. Well, let's head on out now, honey."

"Alright. Bye, sweetie!" His Mother says, walking away with Father back to the front of the house.

Jonathan waves at them, though they don't react in response. He watches them walk towards the front of the house and get into the car along with Mary and Esther and drive off onto the road. He heads back inside the home, going straight upstairs to the bathroom, where he showers and brushes his teeth. Feeling clean now, he goes back downstairs and sits on the couch with Ava, rubbing her back as he looks outside at the window, the water from his hair dripping onto his shirt.

He never answered the question of why he went into the forest. He barely knew why himself. But as soon as he had woken up from sleeping in it all night, he felt like a new, refreshed man. He understood exactly what he needed to do to satisfy himself.

As he sat on the couch, he heard a subtle noise come from outside. He turned his head to face the window that faced the driveway, where the same two boys that had beaten him twice now appeared once again, riding their bikes up the driveway towards his house.

He'd never regretted not going to church before. Today might just be the day he does.

*****

Hey guys! Sorry for the delay.  Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Next one will be out soon, hopefully by next week (:

Bye now! Be sure to comment and vote if you enjoyed it!