JACOB
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17
Her cries were audible through the thick wood of the door. Standing in witness, I listened to her pleading still. My body was tight with anxiety, my mind grasping to understand how she could confuse me with another.
“What is wrong with her, Father? Should we call for an ambulance now?”
A long sigh escaped, evidence of my own confusion. “Yes. I think we should. She’s delusional, Sister Joyce. At least, I believe she is. I don’t want to burden her family with the price of her treatment.”
“Perhaps the church can fund her convalescence.”
Darkness ran across my thoughts, carrying with it the frustration and anger that I held towards the organization of which I was part. What good was the parish if it could not assist its own members? Fighting against cursing the church itself, I bit my tongue hoping not to distress Sister Joyce with my struggle.
“I’ll go make the call.”
Stepping away from her, I was followed by the echo of my steps through the seemingly abandoned building. My breathing was heavy for reasons that were unfitting of a celibate priest. I wanted to deny to myself that her touch had affected me, to deny that for a split second I’d wanted to pull her into me rather than force her away.
Shaking myself of the thought, I remembered the reverence in her expression when she looked at me, the way her green eyes had danced beneath the low light of the room. Her hair hung heavy down her back, dark and thick, a reminder of a past I’d left behind.
“Father Hayle? Will you be able to look at the gardens to approve my work? I won’t get paid until the Church hears from you.”
Pulled from my thoughts, I turned, my eyes searching over the haggard appearance of George Whitaker. An elderly man, his clothes hung from his emaciated body, the years of manual labor worn like a shadow over his frame. “Yes. Of course, George. I need to make a phone call and then I’ll be out to approve.”
When I stepped away, he called out, “Is that young lady okay? The one from the cult?”
Frozen in step, I spun back to where he was standing. “What did you just say?”
He looked sheepish to have intruded, but still, he couldn’t refrain from pressing for more information. “The woman who collapsed in the yard this morning. I was outside getting an early start before the afternoon storms and I saw her fall. I was going to help, but you and the Sister got to her so quickly. I decided my help wasn’t needed. I just wanted to know if she’s okay.”
Shaking my head, I specified what I meant by my question. “Yes, she’s fine, George, but what did you mean by cult? What do you know about her?”
Shrugging his thin shoulder, he answered, “She was wearing one of those weird blue dresses all the women wear. We see them in the neighboring town from time to time. Every other week, I drive out there to sell vegetables and fruit at the Farmer’s Market. I think they stay at the old abandoned crazy farm little ways down the road from the market. Don’t know how they stay in that place. It gives me the creeps just driving by it. Used to be an old tuberculosis hospital before it was a mental place. Seems to me, they risk getting sick living inside there.”
The hospital wasn’t familiar, but that wasn’t surprising. I barely left the parish except to go into town. I’d never traveled farther, or to the neighboring town.
“How do you know they are a cult?”
He shrugged again. “Don’t know for sure, but I see them carrying around Bibles, and the main guy is always telling the ladies to mind their eyes and keep them directed to the ground. He says sin and temptation is all around them. He especially stays on the poor girl that collapsed in the yard.”
His eyes narrowed as he scrutinized my face. “Come to think of it, you look a lot like that guy. In fact, you’re his spitting image if my old eyes aren’t deceiving me now. I’m surprised I never noticed before.”
My curiosity was piqued, a thought brushing my mind that couldn’t possibly be true.
“Thank you, George. I’ll go take a look at the gardens now.”
Walking away, I changed my mind about calling the police about Eve. I was more interested in finding out about the supposed cult that was in the town neighboring mine.
. . .
Just as Mr. Whitaker had said, the abandoned hospital was only a few miles inside the neighboring town.
Slowing down, I approached and studied the razor wire running along the large cement walls that blocked my view of the property. The road leading up to the entrance gate was unpaved. Dirt and dust rose up from where my tires crossed, casting an ominous haze over the dwindling, afternoon sun.
The entrance gates were tall and poorly maintained. White sheets were woven through the bars, obscuring my view. Stopping my truck on the road outside the main drive, I stepped out to walk the remainder of the distance.
An odd silence hung over the land, the wind blowing through the trees the only source of noise. With heavy, cautious steps I approached, dust kicking up around me only to settle back down as if it had never been disturbed in the first place.
With only feet between where I stood and the softly blowing sheets over the gates, I heard metal slide against metal.
Pulled from the center, I stood motionless as the gates opened.
Nothing could have prepared me for what I faced.
Staring into my own reflection, I almost fell to my knees.
The wind from an approaching storm whipped through the now opened gates; black clouds racing in to steal the light of the dying sun. The canopies of the trees cracked and groaned, their boughs bent forward by the violent weather that encroached.
“Jericho,” I whispered, too far in denial to put strength to my voice.
I hadn’t seen my twin brother in almost eighteen years.
He smirked, his expression far more placid than mine. “Brother. I was wondering when you’d find me. I’m surprised it took this long.”
When I found my voice again, I spoke. “You don’t sound as surprised as you claim to be.”
Tension hung between us, as thick as the stirring of my memories of our youth.
Lightning cracked in the distance followed by thunder that mimicked a rumbling train. I found the timing of nature’s display to be prophetic, a warning that trickled along my spine as the static shock spread across my skin.
Jericho stepped forward, the soft thud of his shoes carried over the distance by the turbulent wind. Three men stepped up behind him, each man wearing dark blue pants and a white collared shirt. Jericho stood out among them. Dressed all in black, the gleam of his silver buttons flashed in the scant sunlight still breaching the clouds.
“Is that any way to greet your brother? And here I thought you’d be happier to see me.” The corner of his lip twitched with humor.
“How long have you been here?” I asked. “What is this place?”
He shook his head, tsking as he stepped forward. “So many questions. You never were one to simply accept that God has a plan. We’re twins, Jacob. We came into the world together. It only seems natural that once split, we would find our way back to each other. Blood calls to blood.”
Studying me, his sharp gaze traveled over my clothes, pausing on my clerical collar. “I guess your faith isn’t as weak as I thought.” His eyes met mine. “What happened that could have sent you running back into the open arms of the Church?”
“How long have you been here?” My patience was running thin. Even as a younger man, Jericho would never answer a simple question. He always turned the inquiry around on the asker with another question.
Jericho smiled, finally stepping close enough that he could reach out and place his hand on my shoulder. “Why don’t you come inside?” Glancing skyward, he made a point to remind me of the impending storm. “Unless, of course, you prefer standing in the rain.”
We stared at each other for a few seconds before he finally relented and answered, “I’ve been here for ten years, Jacob. However, my family…” Waving his arm, he motioned to the men behind him. “…we’ve been together since I left our childhood home.”
He circled behind me, allowing a better view of the property within the gates. I knew Jericho better than to believe the movement wasn’t intentional. He was attempting to intimidate me, throw me off guard so that I would be more receptive to his manipulation.
“Why are there rumors that you’re running a cult? What is this place?” Refusing to be intimidated, I turned and stared him directly in the eye. “Why did one of your family collapse in the front of my parish this morning?”
His eyebrows rose with the strength of my voice. Another small grin played over his mouth before he answered, “Eve is alive. That’s good to hear. I was wondering where she’d run off to in the middle of the night. A small woman like her wouldn’t survive long in the woods by herself.”
“Why was she running?”
He leaned in my direction, his mouth close to my ear when he whispered, “You should come inside and look.”
Backing away, he raised his voice to ask, “Why do you seem so nervous, Jacob? Aren’t you excited to see your long lost twin? If I didn’t know you better, I’d swear that you’re upset to see me. But that can’t be true, can it? It makes no sense. Blood is blood, after all.”
“It might have something to do with the condition of the woman I found this morning. She was freezing, emaciated, so fucking exhausted that she passed out in my yard. Any man who could allow a member of his family to end up like her is one that concerns me. I came here after I was told about your group. I wanted to see for myself what, exactly, was going on.”
Chuckling, he said, “It’s unbecoming of a priest to swear. It appears you’re not as clean-cut as you present yourself to be. Does your flock know?”
He turned, looking over his shoulder when he walked away and called out, “I’ve invited you inside, Jacob. Come and see for yourself.”
Swiveling around, Jericho kept his eyes trained forward as I watched him walk onto the property.
The looming clouds obscured the sunlight. I looked up to see lightning brighten the dark sky. Doubting that he would harm me, I accepted the invitation, silently following him through the gates.
Once we were safely tucked within the entry room of the hospital, large wooden doors slammed closed, the sound rolling in waves through the empty space. Jericho moved to the center of the room, turning to look at me.
“What would you like to know, Jacob? Ask me and I’ll gladly tell you.”
“I want to know why a young woman collapsed on the front lawn of my parish.” It wasn’t my intent to yell, but I was sick of his dramatic gestures. “Cut the crap, Jericho, and tell me what is going on.”
“It’s Elijah now,” he murmured, his voice as dark as it was soft.
No longer confused as to Eve’s insistence on the name when she saw me, I stood in silent shock.
“Did anybody call you or find you when I left home?” he asked, an eyebrow arching over his blue eye.
“Yes. Aunt Rose called to tell me that you’d fallen out of favor with the Church and our father.”
“Did you wonder what happened? Why I was excommunicated and cast aside as if I were diseased?”
His admission stunned me. Gathering my thoughts, I finally choked out, “I didn’t know you’d been excommunicated. I was told that they asked you to leave. I assumed you would go to another parish.”
He chuckled, his eyes flicking up to catch mine. “You know what they say about assumptions, right?”
People flooded into the room from doors on every side. Within seconds, the space was filled with men on the left, women and children on the right. It appeared that they all wore the same clothes, each person only distinguished by the color of their hair or the features of their face. There must have been at least a hundred in total, each person appearing healthy and calm.
I glanced from face to face as Jericho spoke again. “Do you see the condition of my family? We’re not exhausted. We’re not emaciated. We’re not freezing or trembling or hurt in any way.”
I looked at him.
He smiled. “We’re not afraid, either.”
They might not have been frightened, but I was certainly less than thrilled. Completely surrounded, I was at the mercy of my brother. “What do you have to be afraid of?”
He didn’t answer, instead lifting his hand to snap his fingers. It was an apparent dismissal of the others, only a few men remaining behind to stand in front of the entrance doors.
With a detached voice, he said, “You have Eve. I want you to return her to me. She became lost, that’s all. We were out for a walk and somehow, she wandered away from the group. We searched for her. However, with the lack of light, we were unable to find her and decided to resume our search when sunlight returned.”
His words didn’t make sense. “How many men do you have out looking for her now?”
Smiling, he shrugged his shoulder. “You always were the smart one.” Stepping forward, he stopped inches from my body. I didn’t back down as he’d expected.
“I tell you what. Why don’t you keep Eve for a period of time? When that time is up, I’ll come collect her.”
Anger slithered across my skin, my muscles painfully tight over my spine. “She’s not a possession to be traded back and forth. She’s a human being.”
A black eyebrow arched inquisitively over his eye. “She was. Yes. Sedra was a boisterous child when she was brought to the compound. So beautiful, passionate, energetic … full of innocent youth.”
Ratcheting higher, my anger was barely containable. “What did you do to her, Jericho?”
“It’s Elijah. I’ll not respond to any other name.”
Choosing not to respond, I awaited his answer.
“Nothing happened to her. I helped raise her. I enlightened her and led her down the path of a righteous woman. She is extraordinary, Jacob, a woman who knows nothing in this world except God. There is no one else like her.”
I scoffed. “And from what I learned by talking to her, she doesn’t even know her own name.”
Taking a step forward, I grinned when he took one back. My voice dripped with ice. “Does she know Elijah is not your actual name? Do any of your family know?”
Pacing, he mocked me. “Who? What? When? Where? Why?” He spoke slowly, stressing each word by pausing in between. “So many questions, Jacob. Always the scientist.”
His steps stopped. “You never were one to just blindly believe in the way things worked without the need to discover the reasons.”
I glared at him, a sardonic grin pulling at my lips. “And neither were you. We’re twins, remember?” He sneered when I threw his words back at him. “There are some common traits we share. Tell me, Elijah, was it your incessant questions that caused you to fall out of favor with the Church? Or was it your deviant behavior?”
His eyes burned into mine, cruelty and disgust rolling behind the clear blue color. “You’ll have your answers, Jacob. Just not today.”
Footsteps echoed through the silent room as he walked in the direction of a side door. Looking back once more, he smiled. “Enjoy Eve. Keep in mind that your time with her is limited.”
His exit from the room was punctuated by the loud creak of the entrance doors as the men who’d remained behind opened them.
The storm having passed, sunlight rolled into the room, bits of dust and debris swirling within the beams.
There was nothing I could say or do to change the situation with Jericho, but there was something I could do to save the poor lost soul who’d collapsed in front of my parish earlier that morning.
Stepping out, I didn’t bother looking at the men standing by the entrance. The slap of wood as they closed the doors was the only sound I heard as I walked away.