KEEPING THE FAITH

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(Imma let y'all figure out who this is...)

The man was not someone who looked sketchy or out of place. He wasn't a homeless man or a criminal.
In fact, he's never even gotten a ticket his whole life.
He was a strong Christian. He has been since he was a kid.
Most of his friends left the church as soon as they became 18.
But this man stood strong, despite his closest friends leaving to serve another Master.
He felt almost sick. His stomach was churning. His palms were constantly sweating, and he had to wipe them on his jeans frequently.
He heard what happened to Kedah.
And he heard that she died.
Ten freaking years ago.
And he just found out two days ago.
Of course, he knew that she was chosen as one of the Lights, along with another guy by the name of Julius Jones. And that she sacrificed herself to kill that one last monster.
As he was about to walk in the church, he took out the piece of paper that had the address on it, just to make sure he had the right one.
Of course it was. He's checked it a dozen times.
He took a deep breath and walked it.
The foyer was quite large. Huge pieces of beautiful tile covered the floor, and a modern chandelier hung in the ceiling.
Two double doors were on either side of a desk. A lady with glasses was peering at a hologram in front of her.
There were people all over laughing and talking. A few turned to stare at him with confused looks, but after a while they turned back to their conversations.
The man slowly walked up to the desk.
"Um, 'scuse me..."
The lady looked up at him and smiled.
"Hello there, how can I help you?"
The man scratched his neck.
"Well, um, I was wondering if...if I could see Pastor Steele? I'd like to talk to him, if possible."
"He's right behind you."
The man turned around to see a kind-faced man with silver hair.
Pastor Steele stuck his hand out.
"Good to meet you, sir."
The man shook Pastor Steele's hand firmly.
"Hello, it's good to meet you."
Pastor Steele smiled as he brought his hand back.
"A pleasure, I'm sure. How can we help you?"
The man shuffled a little.
"I'm looking for Brian Jones. Or any of the Jones actually. I'd like to speak with them."
Pastor Steele became a little serious.
"I think we could do that. Is there a reason why?"
"Yes actually," the man replied as he fumbled to take out his I.D. for The Chronicle, " I'm a reporter for The Chronicle. I'd like to interview them about Julius."
He took the I.D. card and inspected it with a clenched jaw.
"Alright. I think we can arrange that. Rita," he turned to the lady at the desk, "look up The Chronicle's office number. Find out if this man really works there."
"Yes sir," she replied.
Pastor Steele turned back to the man.
"I hope you can understand. Precautions, you know..."
"Of course," the young man nodded, " but, may I ask...why do you have to be so cautious? If you don't mind me asking."
"Oh, I don't mind. See-"
"Pastor Steele? I have confirmation that he does work there."
"Alright, thank you, Rita."
"Please," Pastor Steele beckoned for the man  to follow him, "follow me. We can go into my office for more privacy."
"Alright," he said, stuffing his I.D. back in his pocket.
"Please," Pastor Steele started, "have a seat."
The man nodded, then sat down in front of the desk as Pastor Steele closed the office door behind him.
"As I was saying," Pastor Steele continued as he sat down in front of him, "one of the Light's little brother, Kedah as you may know, is a target for his parents' old gambling foes and people that are against what his older sister did. Her parents still owed people money, so he's been taken from foster home to foster home."

This made his heart race.

He wiped his palms again on his jeans. But it took every bit of his willpower to keep himself completely composed and collected.

"But he's safe now."

Those words gave the man a little bit of relief.

He grabbed a pen and wrote down on a piece of paper. Then he tore it from his notebook.
"Take this," Pastor Steele directed as he handed the man the piece of paper, "that's Brian Jones' address. He'd  be more than happy to answer questions you might have. And I will let him know about your arrival."
The young man took the paper and inspected it briefly.
Then he put it in his pocket and smiled at Pastor Steele.
"Thank you, Pastor Steele."
"You're very welcome. Have a good day."
The man stood up and shook Pastor Steele's hand once more.
"You too."
He walked out of his office and made a beeline towards the exit.
~•~

BRIAN

LIGHT JULIUS JONES SEVERELY BURNED. ACCUSED OF BLOWING UP TRAIN NEAR SEATTLE. CAN WE TRUST CHRISTIANS?!

Stupid Chronicle.
That was the headline for the newspaper two days ago. I'm a little old school, so I tend to read the newspaper if I want to hear about the latest.
But I wasn't prepared for this.
They're accusing my brother of being a murderer of hundreds that were on that train.
Of course, I know the real story.
A teenage girl by the name of...Gina?
She told Julius to escape the train as soon as he could, and when he jumped off, he rolled down the hill and hit his side on a tree trunk.
That's when Gina told him to leave. To run as fast as he could. Though, Julius didn't know who she was. All he said was that she loved Hot Cheetos.
And then the train exploded.
The cluster of pine trees was set on fire, so as Julius was running, the raging flames managed to burn almost his whole back.
Bryce was the one on duty to rescue my brother and take him to the hospital for his burns.
And he was also the one to take him to Canada. Last I heard from Bryce, they're just about to get past the border.
That was this morning.

I slammed down the newspaper on the coffee desk.
This made me so mad.
Can we trust Christians?! That's the best they could come up with?!
"We can't trust the stupid Chronicle. That's what we can't trust here," I groaned.
I huffed and tugged at my red curls with frustration.
"Uh oh," I heard my youngest daughter say, "Daddy's mad."
She's four, but she talks like she's already a teenager. Not sure where she gets that from...
Come to think of it...
"Uh oh indeed, Sandra."
Gad came walking in from the kitchen. He carefully picked up Sandra, who was playing with her brother's race cars, and made his way towards me.
He's staying with us for the weekend so he can come to church with us.
"What's wrong, Brian?"
"Oh," I sighed, "just the fact that the Chronicle is telling lies."
Gad leaned over the coffee table slightly to look at the headline of the newspaper.
"Why would they do something like that?" he scoffed.
I stood up and grabbed the newspaper, throwing it in the trash in the kitchen as Gad followed me around.
Then there was a knock on the door.
"Brian, could you open that please?" Christina shouted from the laundry room.
"You know who it is?" Gad asked as he followed me to the door.
"I think so...Pastor Steele called earlier about someone from The Chronicle coming to interview us."
Gad furrowed his eyebrows up at me.
"I thought you said that they were stupid?"
"No, no. The person who wrote that is."
I opened the door and saw a kind-faced man.
His eyes were a pale, ice blue, but I saw nothing but gentleness in them. His hair was cut clean and short, and the color was so blonde...
I could already tell he was a Christian.
He was not a threat, that's for sure.
He stuck out his hand and smiled at me.
"Hello there," he started, "I believe Pastor Steele talked to you about my wanting to interview?"
I shook his hand firmly and smiled back.
"My name is Brian Jones."
"Kaiden," he stated, "Kaiden Robinson."