𝐔𝐆𝐇! {𝐋. 𝐇𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝}

Nine

The present
Faith entered the confession box, making a cross with her hand as she stood in the darkness. "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned," Faith muttered just loud enough for the priest to hear. "I don't remember the last time I confessed, it's been awhile, but I have sinned, I've thought about taking another life."

"God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," said the Priest while Faith recited the Act of Contrition.

"O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell. But, most of all, because they have offended Thee, my God, Who art all good, and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy Grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. Amen."

Faith left the box, wiping a tear away from her eye as the Priest followed her, stopping her before the door.

"Faith, I want to know who you've thought about," said the Priest, his hand on her shoulder as they sat down on a bench near the exit.

And after a deep breath, Faith finally said...

"...Nate Jacobs."

The past
Faith had never shown up late for school. She had always been on time ever since Kindergarten, and had only ever missed a day once when she had a burst appendix, but that's a story for a different time. Lexi, Jules, Rue, Kat and Cassie had been texting the Morales girl all morning, but Faith hadn't even opened the text messages when she stormed into the school with a crowbar from her mothers shed.

"Nate!" She yelled out, seeing her target being escorted out by two cops and the principal. However, the sight of the three authority figures didn't disgruntle the girl, as she had taken near enough a gram of cocaine and four Xanax before she had left the house. She was high as fuck, and everyone could see it, even Lexi, who was clinging on to her textbooks for dear life, nervous about what Faith would do.

"Miss, put the weapon down," one of the cops told her, his right hand resting on his taser, his left hand out in front of him as he approached Faith. Faith stared at him blankly, letting out a grunt when she swung the crowbar at the cops near, causing him to hit the ground with a thud. As Nate took off down the hall, Faith took down the other cop, still not caring about the consequences as the principal and the other students backed away from her in fear.

There was a new crazy in her wide eyes, and it made everyone fear her, but not Lexi. Lexi knew Faith would never hurt her, and was going to get involved but Faith had began running after Nate, just as two more cops burst through her door at the other end of the hallway.

"Nateeeeeeeeee," Faith sang as she entered the boys locker room, dragging the crowbar against the floor, making that uncomfortable scraping noise you often hear with nails and a chalkboard. "Come on, Natey-Poo, I just wanna tawk," she said in a baby voice, kicking a toilet door open. "Fucking Hell, Nate, I'm not gonna kill you," the Morales girl rolled her eyes, and when she heard a gasp in the end stall, she smirked. "I'm just gonna hurt you... really... really... bad."

"Fuck!" said Faith angrily, slamming the crowbar into the ground when she saw a scared Freshman sat on the toilet. "You're supposed to be Nate!" Her loud voice, filled with despair and anger, seemingly attracted the unwanted attention, for at that moment, four police officers, two limping from Faith's previous assault, burst through the locker room door, their yellow tasers raised and aimed at Faith's chest.

"Drop the crowbar, Faith," the cop ordered her softly, seeing the pain in the girls eyes. "We know you didn't mean to assault two officers, you're just upset about your friend," the woman told her, holstering her taser. "Shh, there now," the man, Officer Wilkins, told her soothingly, eloping the girl into a hug when she burst into tears, the crowbar falling out of her hand and hitting the floor with a thud, cracking the marble tiles.

"Hey, leave her be!" Officer Wilkins said angrily when the two cops Faith assaulted pulled her out of his grip and slammed her to the floor, slapping handcuffs to her hands, which were behind her back. The two cops ignored him, dragging Faith out of the locker room, not caring about the open wound on her head from where she hit her head on the floor.

And all while this was happening, Lexi stood there, angry with herself for not getting involved, angry with the cops for hurting her Faith, and angry with Nate for being the cause of all this drama.

—————

Faith was sat in the interrogation room, her hands free of her handcuffs and her wound cleaned and stitched. She hadn't even touched the food or the bottle of water Officer Wilkins had brought in for her, even if her stomach yearned for it. They wanted to charge her with drug abuse, assault of a police officer, intent to harm and disturbing the peace, which would see her in Juvie, and transferred to a low security prison for at least two years and five months.

Faith had looked up when Officer Wilkins walked in, with none other than Cal Jacobs by his side.

"You're free to go, Faith," said the African-American Officer told her, sighing as he looked from Cal to Faith. "You can thank Mr. Jacobs here," he nodded, before walking out.

"Why?" Faith asked when the tension grew in the air. "I'm a drug addict, I tried to harm your son. If anything you should be letting me rot."

"I believe in second chances, Faith," said Cal, sitting in the chair opposite Faith. "And so does your mother. You see, seventeen years ago, your mother and I slept together. Yes, it was wrong. She was fifteen, I was twenty five, it was illegal, and it was stupid of me to let my seventeen year old brother talk me into going to a high school party."

Faith stayed silent. She was horrified.

"That's where I met your mother, we slept together that night, and we were completely intoxicated," said Cal, taking a deep breath as he tried to figure out her reaction. "I was- I still am trapped in a loveless marriage with two sons, and your mother wanted to get away from the pressures her father put on her, then nine months later, my brother told me that she had you and moved away to Yale."

"She told me you never wanted me around," said Faith, her voice breaking as the first tear streamed down my face. "I remember one day, I came home from Pre-School and it was "Bring Your Daddy To School Day."

Faith banged the table with her fist, the sounds of her crying getting louder at each passing moment.

"You were there, Cal! With Nate!" She cried, watching her father sit there, with the decency to show the shame on his face. "I was the only kid not to have a fucking father! Fuck, even Rue's dad was there and he just found out he had fucking cancer!" Faith took in a deep breath. "Then one day mom told me my dad finally wanted to meet me, that we were all going to go Disneyland and one big happy fucking family, but guess what? Go on."

"What?" Cal asked her quietly.

"My dad never showed up, and we went together anyway," Faith breathed heavily, standing up. "And y'know what, Cal? The one thing I've gathered from this conversation that you're a cunt, my mother's a fucking cunt, your wife's a cunt your son is an either bigger cunt than your wife!"

With that, Faith stormed out of the police station, with only one place in mind.