Forgive Us Our Sins (Moral Orel Fanfic)

Chapter 16

This chapter was made before the hiatus was announced. Figured I'd drop it anyway!

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After a night spent at the motel, the family were back on the road again.

You can truly tell when you're in the biblebelt of America when you begin to see billboards practically shoving propaganda in your face... and directions to firework shops. Nonetheless, Christian and Mary were too busy giggling at how ridiculous the signs were. "Did you know.. Jesus saves?" Mary laughed, easily amused by the wording. "He must have good spending habits." Christian returned, shaking his head at his sister who was dying from laughter. Orel, on the other hand, looked nervous. From Christina's view, she saw how hard her husband gripped the wheel, brows furrowed and teeth gritting as he drove. "Hon, pull over. I can drive from here." Christina whispered, placing her hand gently on his arm.

Orel immediately snapped out of whatever trance he was in. "Huh? Oh, yeah." He replied, coming back to the land of the living. God, why was he doing this? Stressed out his mind, he decided to shoot Lou a text. She understood his situation, with toxic parents and all. He also didn't really want to burden his wife with his worries either, in her eyes he was past this.
- "We're almost there. I'm freaking out."
A minute or two passes, and the car heard a small chime from the passengers seat.
- "You're not a little kid anymore, they can't hurt you. And if they do just start pummeling ass"
Orel chuckled, shaking his head. Lou was much stronger than he was emotionally.. but also physically, that woman can lift his entire body weight without even trying.
- "Ooo did you pack some edibles with you???"
Orel frowned, he didn't.
- "No? Should I have?"
- "Dudee. There's only so much drinking church wine and dining on christ crackers  can do. Do they have a dispensary there?"
- "It's Moralton."
- "So maybe."
Orel put his phone away and just decided to take a nap, too nervous to talk or play car games with his kids. Why did he do this..

Mary looked over at her older brother, noticing his nervous body language. She threw a skittle at his face, hoping he'd turn around. "What?" Christian asked in an annoyed tone. Mary shushed him, quite loudly as a matter of fact. "Are you scared?" She asked, tilting her head. Christian wanted to reply back with a textbook "I'm fine" but that'd be such a lie. "... A bit. I kinda regret asking to come here, mom and dad don't sound the same. More tense." Christian frowned, gripping his sleeve tight. Mary huffed, nodding as she looked at her parents. She swore she'd never seen them so uncomfortable, then again she had no idea what her father's family was like. They never talked about it, but what could she do?

"We'll be okay." She replies to her brother, noticing his leg bopping up and down quickly. Christian nodded and looked at her, not exactly convinced but appreciative of the words. He smiled "Thanks." Replying before throwing some skittles back at her. Mary winced, laughing as a rainbow fight occurred in the back seats. Christina looked back and smiled "What are you two doing?" She chuckled, the two stopped "Nothing." They laughed, looking at eachother.

That's when Orel looked through the front window of the car. A large dilapidated sign in the distance, one he recognized. In bright white letters, he read "Welcome To Moralton." In an anxious voice. Grabbing his phone, he opened the messages app back up and found Shapey's number.
- "Hey! We're here, should we stop at the house first?"
Orel wasn't sure how his brother would respond. In the background, he could hear his families comments about old buildings and such. Something about this made him.. excited? Was that the right emotion?

- "drop everyone at home, and meet me at the hospital."
His brother replied to his text about five minutes later. "You remember the way to my old house, Christina?" Orel asked his wife. She nodded, heading into that direction. "Doesn't really look like much has changed." Christina commented.

"No. I guess it hasn't." Orel replied.