Children of Vice (Children of Vice 1)

His voice started to rise. “You are twisting God’s words.”

“No, it’s there. I’m sure.”

“You…” He took a deep breath. “In the Bible, boy, God is seeking justice, a righteousness for the whole world, in a world in which there are bad people who hurt people, because back then there were no jails. There was no way to stop people from continuing to hurt and cheat others. The church teaches us every life is precious and in a modern world jails do exist. As such murder is a sin.”

“What about the army?”

“It is for the overall well-being of the country and only approved by the church if it is absolutely necessary.”

Are all adults dumb like this?

“So then being a murderer is okay. You just need permission. And you can only get permission if it is necessary.

My parents only do things if it is necessary—”

“Nothing your parents do, boy—”

“Stop interrupting me!” I snapped, glaring at him as I stood up in the booth. “Stop calling me ‘boy.’ I told you my name is Ethan Antonio Giovanni Callahan. I haven’t interrupted you once. I’ve allowed you to speak your mind. And you’re the one being rude. I told you they are my parents and you still want to talk bad about them to me. If gossiping isn’t a sin it should be and you should confess to it. My parents only do things if it is necessary. People attack us all the time, and we defend ourselves, our families, and our people. If my parents weren’t murderers…if I wasn’t a murderer. We’d be dead!”

He gasped. “What did you just say?”

I didn’t reply. The more I looked at him, the angrier I got.

“You’ve killed someone?”

“Yes, but I’m not asking for forgiveness.”

Again, he made another huffy sound.

“What have they done to you? How old are you that they turned you into a monster?”

“Thanks be to God.” I said the last line from the confession card he’d told me to pick up before, which meant we were done. Opening the door, I blinked a few times, adjusting to the light.

“Ethan, what took so long?” Dona popped up right in my face. Her dark brown hair was curled up a lot and it made her look funny, but she still liked it. She was grinning like she knew something I didn’t. Dona’s smile always made me smile no matter what, though.

But before I could say anything, she was already heading toward the booth I’d walked out of.

Grabbing her arm, I pulled her back. “Don’t go to him.”

She looked at me for a long time before nodding and stepping back next to me. “All the other ones are full. Daddy, Mommy, and Wyatt went in.”

I looked around the cathedral and in the wooden rows were all of Mom and Dad’s people. Two were directly behind Dona, speaking to each other, and a few others moved through the crowd to be closer to one of the stalls where I guessed Dad, Mom, or Wyatt were.

“Just wait for another one.”

“Okay,” she agreed, sliding into one of the rows, her green dress puffing up when she did.

Just when I sat next to her to wait, another person moved to the stall, but jerk face Santa Claus came out. He didn’t look at me. Well, I think he couldn’t see me over all the other people. He apologized to the guy trying to go in next before going back. For some reason, I couldn’t look away. I had this feeling in me and I didn’t know what it was.

“Where are you going?”

I didn’t realize I was standing and moving until she said something.

“To the bathroom,” I lied and started to walk through the crowd.

“Ethan!” one of my dad’s guards called out to me.

“Bathroom!” I lifted my phone for him to see. I knew he was still following me, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t doing anything bad. Plus, all the people made it hard for him to catch up.