Forgive Us Our Sins (Moral Orel Fanfic)

Chapter 7

The bell rang, echoing in the halls of a polished school as students in loose fitted uniforms sprung from their seats.

"Please remember to read the typed-up essay I put on the virtual classroom! Allison, I'm talking to you. I know you plagiarized off of June last time." Christina scolded, her students laughing it off.

Christina slammed her body into her chair, heaving from the long day. Teaching high school English was no joke, and at an all girls catholic school? Might as well strike her down. Of course, this was just her hunger talking. Christina loved her students more than anything, admiring their ambition to learn however it may be.

Her schooling was different. I mean, come on, does anyone ACTUALLY believe the lost commandments? Did they even exist? Christina found out how different the world was during her college years. Her family told her so much, but none of that was ever useful.

A knock on the door, and a smiling face brought her attention back from her mind lost in thought. "Brought you lunch." A familiar voice said from the door frame. Christina looked up and smiled, for it was her darling husband. "I love you. Pull up a chair, I wanna hear how your day is going." Christina excitedly tapped at her desk. Orel looked around, grabbing one of the desk-chair combos. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you." Orel replied in a nervous tone.

Christina took the brown paper bag and opened it up, handing her husband his portion and keeping hers. "You didn't grab the pad thai again, did you? I know you're trying to keep your mind open with new foods, but your tummy got all messy after that." Christina joked, giving him a cheeky smirk.

Orel chuckled and bit his lip, a scar forming from the bite already. "No no, I learned my lesson the first four times. However, it's really good so I'll continue to test myself." He laughs.

"Alright, so what's up?" Christina asked, smiling at him. Orel nearly forgot what he was going to say, but he couldn't keep this away from her. "I got a call."

"Oh!"

"...From Shapey."

"Oh."

"Da- Clay.. doesn't have much time left." Orel, worried for the response, began to fiddle with a loose string from his shirt. Christina, not sure what to say, took his hand and smiled softly. Orel smiled back, though it was more of a fake smile if anything.

"Did Shapey make arrangements? I don't think your church does a ton of funeral services." Christina asked, poking around at her noodles. Orel pursed his lips and took a breath "Actually, he asked me to visit... to say goodbye." Christina stopped, food half dripping from her confused face "Wait, what?" She replied, grabbing a napkin to wipe her face from the sauce. "You wanna go back?" Christina asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Just for a couple days. I can help Shapey and Block make arrangements for a funeral, get mom into a support group, maybe e-"

"Even what, Orel?" Christina's voice raised an octave, she only ever got this way when she was angry. "You said you didn't wanna go back, and now you're all hot and bothered to get there?" It's not as if she was mad though, she knew what this could mean for her husband. It has only been 12 years since Orel had mastered his panic attacks anyway.

"Christina, please just LISTEN to me." Orel begged his wife. He took Christina's hands and gave her a pleading look. Orel sighed, unsure of how to start the conversation. "I don't know.. WHY I want to go back. But.. the only thing really holding me back was Clay. He's in some hospital bed now, rotting his days away. Somehow in a messed up way that comforts me, knowing he won't be around the corner, calling me to his study."

Christina couldn't argue with that. Whenever she saw her husband so passionate about something, she couldn't help but smile. But this was still a big thing for him, his mental health even. Christina sighed "what about the kids? Christian and Mary still have school, you know."

Orel brushed it off like it wasn't a huge deal "Please, Mary skips class more times every month! And honestly it's quite impressive, I gotta hand it to her for having such ambition." He chuckled, as did Christina "You know where she gets that from." She smiled, giving him warm eyes.

The couple sat down and discussed it more. This was such a huge deal for the family. The last time something this big happened.. well, they left their hometown.

Course, neither of them knew what was going to happen. But does anyone?