(Authors note: This chapter is much longer than most of the others because it was written before I decided on a limit of 2000 words per chapter, my apologies. I have separated the chapter into four pages to facilitate your reading.)
June 2
The park turned out to be a bit too small for the cult's plentiful supply of parents and their offspring. The children easily dominated the field with their youthful energy. Two of them were assigned to Meeki much to her disdain. She was tasked with telling them the story which the cult was based on, but she chose not to do that. She claimed a spot under an old tree and relaxed without saying a word. The young girl became confused and spoke up.
“Miss Meeki, aren't you going to tell the story? Isn't that why we're here?”
“She doesn't have to, Yakera. We already know it from school anyway,” the boy said.
“But Algero, what'll we do here without the story?” Yakera asked. She seemed almost afraid, like they would be punished.
Meeki shrugged. “I didn't want to be here at all. I don't care about the story.”
“How can you not like the Story of Braya?” Yakera asked.
“There's no point in obsessing over a creation story. You can do more useful things with your time. That's why they made the Week of Motivation, to remind us that we can always improve our lives,” Meeki said.
Yakera dropped the subject. After a moment Algero shot a suspicious glare to the distant congregation. Meeki followed his gaze and saw four cloaked figures emerging. Several people in the crowd also noticed and were looking to them with distasteful glares. Those cloaked ones were a mystery to the entire cult, but their rude disposition earned them a negative reputation.
“Something about them you don't like?” Meeki asked.
“I don't like them at all. They don't look like good people to me,” Yakera said.
Algero hesitated after his sister's outburst. “One of them is our father.”
The girl blushed in embarrassment and confusion. “Daddy's with them?”
“How do you know?” Meeki asked.
“He comes home late and talks to mom about it. He's been mumbling about weird stuff lately, always about 'dirty business' and 'putting them down for good.' I don't know what that means but it sure doesn't sound nice,” Algero said.
Putting someone down meant killing them. It was a phrase popular in spy novels and television crime dramas. Their father could be involved in something bad, but Meeki didn't believe it. It was a phrase often meant figuratively.
“Don't be so sad, Algy. Dad's a smart guy, he probably has a good reason to be with those weird guys,” Yakera said.
“Yeah, maybe you're right.”
Yakera's head shot up to the congregation, sensing something of great interest. A girl in the crowd waved to them and Yakera's face glowed in pure happiness.
“Come on Algy, let's go see her,” Yakera said as she tugged at her brother's arm fiercely.
“We've got to stay with Miss Meeki,” Algero said as he pulled back.
Yakera easily defeated his resistance with a powerful yank. Poor Algero couldn't avoid being dragged away to meet his sister's acquaintance.
“So much for babysitting,” Meeki said, smiling to the despair on the boy's face.
Meeki looked to the cloaked group. They were sitting at one of the thick wooden tables. The larger of them was someone known as James, a bulky man with a heavy tan and a loud voice. He shouted and waved his arms angrily at the others, and they cowered under his verbal might.
Samara suddenly pointed to Meeki. James adorned his head with a dark hat and took to his feet. As he marched toward Meeki, she saw from the grimace on his face that he was still quite angry.
“Woman, you didn't dress as properly as we desired,” he said. His words were followed by a hostile glare.
Meeki wondered how they could come to that conclusion. She had been wearing a shirt and skirt, both of which were white. That was about as formal as she could stand dressing, and she hated it already.
“This is the best I've got,” Meeki said. “If you wanted me to be like a princess, you should've looked for a rich person.”
“Shut up.” He pulled the hat off and clumsily dropped it over her head. “This hat is for you.”
With the hat covering her face, Meeki scowled at the rude behavior.
“I don't care what happens to you, but the other guys think the hat will make you harder to identify. Makes no real difference to me, I just hope you'll take the rest of your instructions seriously,” he said.
He turned to leave, pounding through the field as he walked off. Meeki resigned herself to the hat and set the timer alarm on her phone. She laid back against the tree and took a nap.