Salvation (Joseph Seed)

20. Nowhere else to go

As Evelyn looked at the closed front door of her house, no, her parent's house since she was no longer welcome here, she didn't know what to do with herself. Where would she go? What would she do? Seventeen and homeless wasn't exactly how she saw her life turning out. Evelyn wiped the tears from her face as she slowly turned around and stepped away from the door. There was only one place she thought that she could go, there was only one person that she could bare seeing right now. Actually, there was only one person that she wanted to see right now.

Joseph Seed.

The woman was barely aware of her legs moving, barely aware of each step she took. Slowly but surely, her feet carried her away from her parent's house and towards the Project's compound. Evelyn knew that she would had to pass through it to get to Joseph's house, she just hoped that nobody would interrupt her.

Evelyn finally reached Joseph's house, the house that felt more welcoming than her own. But when she knocked on the door, nobody answered. She felt the tears building back up behind her eye lids, now what? With a sigh, the young woman lowered herself to the ground.

Joseph finished up in the church, saying goodbye to the members of his flock, before walking up to his house alone. He was pretty lost in thought as he walked along the familiar dirt path, his house coming into view. He frowned when he saw the sight in front of him.

Evelyn was sitting on his doorstep, with her head in her hands and her dark hair falling over her face. It threw Joseph, he definitely didn't expect to come home to this. She didn't seem to hear him approaching but Joseph didn't miss the sniffle that came from her, muffled by her hands.

The sound of feet against ground made Evelyn snap her head up, her body relaxing when she saw Joseph walking towards her. She scrambled to her feet, wiping the fresh tears from her face and pushing her hair to of her face, like she was trying to make herself look presentable.

"Evelyn?" Joseph asked, it was rare that the preacher didn't know what to say but that's what Evelyn seemed to do to him. She didn't speak as Joseph walked up to her, now standing in front of her.

Her mouth opened to speak but no sound would come out, Evelyn sighed as she hung her head, feeling more tears brimming. Joseph absolutely hated seeing her like this, he had to do something about it. "Evelyn" Joseph whispered as he stepped closer and reached out to brush his fingers through her hair.

Evelyn lent into his touch before just wrapping her arms around Joseph's waist, without even a second of hesitation Joseph wrapped his arms around her. One of his arms wrapped around her body, pulling her closer to him, and his other hand was resting on the back of her head, stroking her hair as she buried her face in his chest. Joseph didn't speak as he rested his cheek on top of her head, holding Evelyn tightly against him in the hopes to comfort her.

"Alright, come on, let's go inside" Joseph whispered into Evelyn's hair, not pulling away from her until she nodded in agreement.

Joseph pulled away from the woman but kept his hand on her back as he led her into the house, closing the door behind them. He walked Evelyn into the living room and sat her down on the sofa. "I'll be right back" Joseph assured her before leaving the room.

Evelyn just sat in silence, replaying recent events over and over again in her mind. She was snapped out of her thoughts when Joseph walked back into the room, she smiled slightly as he wrapped a warm blanket around her shoulders and sat beside her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Joseph asked gently, wanting to know what had upset her so much but also not wanting her to talk about it before she was ready.

"...my parents kicked me out of the house" Evelyn sighed, staring down at her lap.

"What?" he asked, once again surprised by the woman beside him. He had a feeling that her parents were the most supportive after the misunderstanding before Hope County but he didn't expect them to throw her out of the house.