"Rise and shine," my mother said as she opened the curtains in my room. I was fast asleep when she did this, and waking me up wasn't a thing she ever did. The sunlight lit up my room, and I couldn't help but groan as I cover my head with my blanket.                                                                                                                  
"What are you doing, Mama?" I groaned sleepily.                                                                               

"It's Sunday and we're going to church," she stated as if she weren't giving me an option.         

"Not today," I told her as I rolled over. "I don't want to see him."                                                                    

"I know, but I got a call from the Pastor this morning. He has some exciting news."                                 

I pull back the blanket and to look at her. "What news?"                                                                                               

"I don't know, but he says he wants the whole congregation there. That means you too, young lady," she said she opened my closet.                                                                                                                                                 

"Mama, I'm tired," I mutter.                                                                                                                                               

"She don't care," said a sleepy voice from my doorway. I looked over to see my half asleep brother trying to tuck in shirt into his pants. "She dragged me out of my bed. My bed, Clara. She ain't messing around."                                                                                                                                                                                  
"I'm not gonna win, am I?" I asked my mother.                                                                                                                  

"No," she said as she threw one of my Sunday dresses at me. "Now get dressed. We are already running late. Afterwards I'll take y'all out to breakfast. Now get dressed,"  she said as she usher Everett out of my room and closed the door behind her.                                                                                                                           
I sighed as I pushed the blankets off me. All I wanted to do was stay home and contemplate my life now that it was crashing down all around me. But it seemed like I had no choice to to do what my mother wants today.                                                                                                                                                                 
Twenty minutes later, the three of us pulled into the parking lot of the church. The church was busy like usual. It seemed as if everyone was here to hear this important news the Pastor claims to have. In the front seat, my mother was going off about something, but I couldn't bring myself to listen. The closer we got to the building, the sicker I began to feel. My stomach felt like it was in knots, and I felt light headed. Maybe I'll excuse myself to the restroom and duck out until the service is over.                                               
Everett parked the car and almost immediately, my mother hopped out of the car and walked over to a group of ladies gathered around the door. I almost began to feel guilty that I'm not excited to be here today, but I couldn't help it.                                                                                                                                                     
"Want me to floor it?" Everett asked softly as he looked at me in the rearview mirror. "We can just pick up mom in a few hours. She won't even know that we're gone."                                                                                                                                                     

I crack a smile. "Tempting, but she would kill us."                                                                                                               

"We can take her," he chuckled as he scanned around the church as if he were looking for someone. "Do you think he's here?"                                           
"Probably," I sigh as I lean back in my seat. "It's probably what the exciting news is about."               

"You think so?"                                                                                                                                                                                

I nodded. "I saw him last night when I was leaving the bar."                                                                                         

"You what?" he shouted as he turned back to face me. "Did he try anything?"                                                     

I shook my head. "No. I did shove him though, which felt nice."                                                                                  

Everett has always been protective of me, and he is the only one who knows the truth about what happened that night. I've only told him the part of Johnathan cheating on me and the booze, but that was it. However, he did see the bruises on me so I think he put the rest together.                                                             

"What did he want?" he said as he gripped the steering wheel so tight that I could see his knuckles being to turn white.                                                                                                                                                                            
"Something that was never going to happen," I say as I look out the window to see mama staring us down. "We better head in before we get dragged out of the car."                                                                                  

"Yeah once was enough for today," he says as he takes the keys out of the ignition. "Just stay with me then. I won't let him come near you."                                                                                                                                             

"You promise?" I asked as I cracked open the backseat door.

"Hell yeah," he said as he walked around the car to stand besides me, "Look, I've faced worse thing then that little fucker when I was overseas. He comes near you, I'll make sure he knows that things are different now and he's not welcome."

"Thanks," I say as the both of us walked in the front doors of the church.

The church was packed. Packed way more than it should be. Every seat was filled which was something I never seen before. As I glanced around the chapel, I saw people who I hadn't seen in church in years. Some of them looked excited, some looked like they'd rather be somewhere else. Hell, some of them even looked hungover.

I could see my mother sitting in the front pew with a bunch of people who I believed were her 'Church' friends. With me not wanting to go and Everett being at the base on Sundays, she had to find people to be with. However, Everett and I just stuck to the back wall close to the exit. I didn't want to make my way through the crowd of people. Somehow, I just knew that if I did, the whispers would start again.

For the first month of me being ending my relationship with Johnathan, everywhere I went I could hear people I didn't know judge me for my decision. I couldn't blame them much. It was a small town. Gossip swept throughout every possible corner it could. The only thing that really bothered me was people coming up with exaggerated stories of what had happened between us. Some were close, like with the cheating. My personal favorite that I heard was that I killed Johnathan not long after the break up, and the church mission he went on was all just a farce since I apparently dumped his body in the nearby swamp for the gators to eat. I guess that theory went down the drain since I could see him standing by his father by the alter with a box in his hands. He had his back to me, but by the way his dad kept glancing up at me, I could tell I was the subject of their conversation.

"I think coming here was a bad idea," I whispered to my brother. We had only been inside for a few minutes, yet I felt has if every set of eyes were on me at some point.

Before Everett could reply, the sound of a microphone kicking on boomed through out the small room. I looked up to see Paster Fred, who was almost my father in law, stand at the podium with a big smile etched on his face. The chatter in the room immediately died down, and the only sound that could be heard was all the bodies in the building turn to face the front.

"Good morning," he said as he scanned the whole congregation before him. "It's a very exciting day, isn't it?"

A mutter of agreement chorused around the room in agreement. However, I remained silent. I felt strange being here, and all i wanted to do was run out the church doors to escape, but I didn't. I began to tune the whole sermon out the best I could, which actually worked out pretty good. Since I grew up in the church, I spent many Sunday mornings here. After so many it gets repetitive, and you learn how to zone out pretty fast. I just stood there leaning against the wall, staring off into space. Hell, I'm convinced if I were actually sitting down, I could be peacefully napping.

"...and as for Johnathan," I heard Fred say, which snapped me right out of my day dream. "I'm proud of what he had accomplished on his time away with up. Johnathan, come up here please and share with everyone else what you told me yesterday."

Johnathan, who looked like he had been waiting for this moment, stood up and ran his hands down his clothing to get rid of the creases. From where I was standing, he looked smug. I absolutely hated it. If all these people here knew what he did, they wouldn't be cheering him on like this.

"I want nothing more than to grab him by the back of the neck and drag him out into the parking lot," Everett said through clenched teeth.

"One of these day brother," I told him reassuringly as I squeezed his elbow before turning back to face the front.

Johnathan walked up to the podium and cleared his throat. "Good morning, ya'll," he said as he scanned the room as if he were searching for someone one. When his eyes fell on me, he smiled.

I instantly felt nauseous. I would have assumed from our conversation last night, he would have gotten the hint that I wanted nothing to do with him. Just how dumb could he be to think that?

"I recently come back here after spending some time with a small, isolated  tribe of a village in Southern Africa. Now, I can't exactly remember the name of the town. Well, more like pronounce it," he said with a chuckle, which ended up with a few what sounded like forced laughs. "But no, they were nice people. Myself and as well as many other people went down to help build a water irrigation system, that will allow them access to clean water."

There were cheers coming from the crowd. A couple hollers too. However, I didn't buy one minute of it. As long as I've known Johnathan, he wasn't smart enough to do anything like that. He barely passed any of his classes in school when we were together, and even when we were adults he could barely function.

"I did, however bring back a few souvenirs that were given to me from the people of the tribe, and I thought i should share them with you," he stated as he pulled out a box that I saw him with earlier.

"You think he actually got that stuff willingly from the people or do you think he stole it?" Everette asked as we both watched him pull out what looked like an animal skin.

"He defiantly stole it," i said in disgust as be began to step off the stage and began to walk around the room with it, trying to coax people to touch it.

"Now this is the hide of a wildebeest," he said as he watched people touch in in awe. "Now, when we all arrived, this was what was just slain hours before. This was what we had for dinner that very night." A chorus of 'ews' came from all the children in the room, and most of the people in the room laughed. Johnathan kept getting closer and closer to the back of the room where I stood. Everett straightened up, and I could see his jaw clenched. Within seconds, Johnathan was standing in front of me, holding the pelt up mere inches away from me. "How about you, Clara? Wanna touch it?"

My mouth instantly went dry. All eyes were on us, and I could hear the whispering start. My face went hot, and being put on the spot like this made me feel sick. All I wanted was to have him leave me alone, but this was all just a game to him. He will keep this up until he gets what he wants.

Me.

Before anything else was said, Everetts hand immediately reached out towards Johnathans chest, knocking him back slightly. I looked up at my brother, and I could tell that he was seeing red. Without a word, I slowly grabbed the back of his hand, signaling that I was okay.

"She doesn't want to touch it, dumbass. So get it out of her face," Everette said, which caused a chain of gasps around the room. I couldn't help but smile.

"My bad," Johnathan said with a cocky smile before walking off back to the front.

"I'm gonna kill him," Everett said before looking over at me. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm good."

"As soon as this is over, I'm smashing his face into the gravel outside."

"He's not worth it," I told him.

"But you are," he stated without breaking eye contact away from Johnathan.

For the next thirty minutes, we listened to Johnathan try to be humble, but brag about all the stuff he did and what he got from the tribespeople. He pilled out jars of dead bugs that he passed around that looked like things from a horror movie. A handmade basket, plates made from clay, and a funny looking stick that was made out of other sticks weaved together.

"And lastly, this is my favorite thing I brought back," he said as he reach in the box and pulled out what looks like a very old book. "The head of the tribe gave this to me just before we left. I can tell this is something very important he wanted to share with us. Heck, I was the seventh person he asked to take the book. He practically begged me to take the book away with me."

"That makes no sense," I whispered to my brother. "Why on earth would they give him something that old? I mean, look at it? That looks like it belongs in a museum."

He shrugged. "Maybe he stole it like everything else he has up there."

"Probably," I say as I face forward. "But still, if he's telling the truth wouldn't you find that weird a group of people from a tribe as old as god knows would give up something like that?"

Before anything else could be said, a voice calls out. "What's in it?"

Johnathan chuckled. "That's the thing. I can't open it."

Even I found myself intrigued by what he said. A book that couldn't be opened? That didn't make any sense.

"What do you mean?" Shouted another person.

"I mean that I spent the whole flight home trying to open it, yet I was more puzzled than you folk," he said as he tried to open it in front of everyone. "It's like the pages are glued. But according to their leader, its cursed."

A couple of gasps erupted from the room, and a few others began to talks amongst themselves about the alleged curse. I on the other hand, couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"That's quite the way to sell a story," I mutter to Everett. "Tell a bunch of bible thumpers about a cursed book that way they put money in the collections box afterwards."

"It's a bunch of horse shit," Everett tells me. "Besides, I don't even think he went to Africa. For all we know he glued a old book shut and sticks together and went thrift shopping for the rest of that stuff."

"Huh," I said as I thought of his theory. "I think you might be right. Besides, you'd think he'd be showing off photos of everything to back it up. I mean, come on. He couldn't even remember the name  of the village he went to."

"I think you're right," Everette says as the crowd started to get out of their seats. "Come on, lets get out of here so everyone can kiss that idiots ass."

I nodded as the two of us rushed out from the building before anyone else. It was nice to get some fresh air. The breeze felt nice, and that sick feeling was just about gone. Now, it was just a matter of time before we can leave. The only real highlight of my day will be getting breakfast with my family.

Both Everett and I stood by his car as we watched people slowly emerge from the building, Most of them were going off about what Johnathan had said in there. I couldn't help but feel disgusted as I watched people talk him as if he were some sort of hero. But I couldn't really blame them. Not one of them knew what transpired that night between us, and I want it to stay that way.

"Can that women move any faster?" Everett said under his breath.

I remained quiet, but I nodded in agreement. It was strange that mama was still inside, yet just about everyone else was in the parking lot. I knew I shouldn't worry. It's not like anything bad would happen in there, but still I didn't feel comfortable with not knowing what was going on.

"Should we go check on her?" I asked worryingly.

Before Everett could say anything, we both watch our mom walk out the front doors of the church, but she wasn't alone. Next to her was Johnathan. It made my blood boil watching him talk to her like an old friend. He was carrying the box with all the items in his arms as I watched him make conversation with mom, but what ever they were talking about, I didn't like it.

"Oh hell no," Everett said as he took a step towards them. He was obviously pissed, and he wasn't afraid to show it. "Mom, you ready to go?"

"In a minute sweetie," she said as she got closer to up. "Johnathan was just telling me about his trip. He even showed me some pictures of the village."

'There goes that theory,' I thought to myself as I cleared my throat. "If we want a table we're gonna have to leave before the rush, mama."

"You folks going to Marthas?" Johnathan asked with a smile. Marthas was one of the only diners in town, and that was were most folk went after church services. "Oh man, I really missed her cooking. Would ya'll mind if I tag along."

"We mind," Everett said as he stepped in front of Johnathan as if he were sizing him up, which he definitely was. Everett had a couple inches on Johnathan, and he was better built from his army training. As if people in the parking lot could sense a fight, they pulled away from their cars and began to gather around and watch. "Better go run off to your daddy."

Johnathan chuckled as he took a step towards my direction. We locked eyes, and I froze. Before I could react, I watched Everett grab Johnathan from the back of his shirt and yank back. I saw his eyes widen as he stumbled back a few feet. He looked at Everett with fire in his eyes, but before he could react, I saw Everetts fist raise, and then all the contents in the box flew though the air.

Everett stood over Johnathan. I could tell Everett wanted to hit him again, but I could tell he was holding back. Johnathan sat on the ground while holding the side of his face. After a minute, he made a move to get away, but Everett shoved him back down.

"Where you trying to run off too?" Everett asked as he grabbed him my the front of his shirt and pulled him up to his feet. "I know you like to throw fist. So lets go."

Johnathan, visibly shaken up, began to shake his head. "No."

"Why not?" Everett said harshly. "Because you like to hit girls, don't you."

My breath hitched when he said that. I asked Everett to never bring that up to anyone. I wanted to forget that night, which I did for a few months. But with my ex returning and my brother blurting out something I wanted to keep hidden, it was only a matter of time before word spread and everyone knew.

"Get your shit and go," Everett said as he shoved Johnathan again.

Without a word, Johnathan grabbed his stuff that was scattered throughout the parking lot. Johnathan looked pissed because not only did he get bested in a fight, everyone could see him for what he really was. He was no longer the saint he fooled these people he was. He was just an asshole.

It took me a minute to realize that someone was calling my name. I looked up to see my brother with his hands on my shoulder. Concern was etched on his face, and I was just now realizing that I had tears streaming down my face.

"Clara? Are you okay?" He asked.

I felt a lump in my throat. "I want to go home," I managed to say. "Please, take me home."

Everett nodded slowly, and he began to help mom into the front seat of the car. I took a step back, but I felt something under my foot that was not gravel. I turned and looked down to see what looked like a blackened rectangle. Curiosity got the better of me, she i kicked it with the tip of my shoe before I realized what it was.

It was the book Johnathan was showing off earlier. It must have flew out of the box when Everett punched Johnathan earlier and he must have not seen it when he was getting his things. I looked over in the direction Johnathan ran off too, but he was gone. I bent down to pick it up, and I could feel what felt like electricity coming from the book. Like a humming of some sorts. I closed my eyes and shook my head. I must have been imaging the feeling, because when I opened my eyes I no longer felt it.

Without a word, I hopped in the car with the book in my hand. I knew I could have just left that book in the parking lot. He would have come back for it eventually when he realized it was gone. But something inside of me told me there was something strange about this book, and I wanted to find out what.