Samara
A groggy feeling consumed me as my eyes slowly opened. “What-what is happening?” I asked, my voice quivering.
My body was tied to a bed, while Devon and The Mighty One stood over me. I was confused because I thought Devon wasn’t truly one of them; yet, he stood before me as if this was the plan all along. His head rolled toward the Mighty One before he bowed.
My mouth began moving quicker than my brain. “What is wrong with you? All of you are bat shit crazy.”
“Dad? What type of sick shit is this?”
“Enough!” the Mighty One stopped him. “She doesn’t have to believe, but her ass isn’t going anywhere. See, at first, I thought it would be easy, you know, like your mother. However, I see that you think differently. Clark said—”
“Clark!” I shouted.
He smiled. “Yes, Clark Mercier, the Dean of the school you went to. His disdain for your found family is why it was so easy.”
Right then, it all made sense that my mother knew the timing of my flight.
She knew more than she should have about me.
From the letters I’d sent her to Clark, having access to my personal information was exactly what got me where I was.
To think my mother was so desperate for acceptance from these people that I became a casualty destroyed me inside.
All my hopes and longings never came true, and the little girl inside me who was crying had fallen silent because she understood that part of her life would stay unfulfilled.
The reality was I was just like everyone in the Zoo.
We all had our own struggles in some way, and that shared experience brought us together.
That was what made us a family: no one’s circumstances were unique.
God intentionally brought me to Dio, uniting people who yearned for a family.
However, maintaining that bond was our responsibility.
I had nothing left. I felt defeated because I didn’t have time to give Dio any information, and it was clear that I wasn’t walking away from here alive. If by chance my mom, dad, or Dio found me, this cult was going to meet the maker they had so desperately been waiting to see.
The Mighty One clapped his hands, and women entered the room.
They were dressed in all-white garments as they brought in baskets of roses and began tossing them onto the bed and me.
Something was in these petals because shit started to happen.
My eyes scanned the room as The Mighty One stood there with a sinister grin on his face.
My breathing became labored, and my eyes fluttered.
I didn’t want to die. I just wanted to go home.