A punishment … sounds as if they’re quite used to seeing people get hurt here.
“Maybe it was love,” I jest, but the girls seem to take me seriously.
“Of course. Love is what drives our community.” Emmy nods.
“Exactly. Love brings us together,” Holly says. “God wants us to love and forgive.”
A load of bollocks if you ask me.
Love … but punish one another if someone commits some kind of sin.
Still, I can’t believe Emmy is so happy and cheerful when the whole reason I got into that mess in the first place was because I slapped her.
I suck in a breath and direct my attention toward her. “Look, I just wanted to apologize for what I did.”
Even if she was getting under my skin, she only knows what she knows, and I can’t blame her for being ignorant. It’s how she was raised.
“It’s okay,” she says, smiling. “I forgive you.”
“That easily?” I narrow my eyes.
“Of course. Forgiveness is love, and the Lord forgives everyone who love in His name.”
Oh man, there they go again with that Godly stuff. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.
Suddenly, a bell begins to ring in the distance, and Emmy’s face lights up like a Christmas tree.
“Oooh! It’s almost time for the ceremony. I completely forgot.” She immediately grabs my arm and whisks me off to the closet. “We need to put you in some appropriate clothes.”
“For what?” I ask.
“The ceremony,” Holly says. “Don’t you know?”
“No, the elder’s wife never told us about that,” April says. “Just some kind of ritual.”
“Oh … well, the ritual takes place at the ceremony. The ceremony is basically the place, the actual happening … and the ritual is how the women become wives.”
I frown. “What kind of ceremony or ritual is it?”
Emmy smiles. “You’ll see. Now c’mon, put this on. Your clothes look messy from your punishment. You can’t go outside like that.”
She throws a whole new white dress on the bed and hastily takes mine off without even asking me if I’m okay with it. They quickly undress and redress me into an outfit that looks exactly the same as if they’ve done this a million times before. A shawl is laced around my head, and my hair is tucked in as though I’m a nun. I feel like a puppet going to a show.
When everyone’s dressed, Emmy leads the way to the door and out into the community again. I follow, wondering where she’ll take us. There are a lot of people on the move right now, doors opening left and right, people streaming out in hoards. All of us are going in the same direction … the huge building that the elder sister marked as “the showers.”
I look around at all the people walking in droves in the same direction, chatting about how they are and what mundane tasks they’ve done today. Both men and women all walk in line toward that same building, and I’m starting to wonder if that’s where the ceremony will take place.
When we’re finally at the gigantic doors, I take a look inside. There are rows and rows of showers both left and right, none with any separation whatsoever. My eyes widen as everyone in front of us randomly takes their clothes off and places them in the big bins near the door.
Everyone’s walking around naked with not a care in the world, and people step under the showers together, sharing the soap bars like one big, happy family.
“Your turn,” Emmy says. Pushing me forward, she forces me to enter.
I shake my head. “This is the showers?”
“Yeah, it’s time for a nice shower,” she says. “Take off your clothes.” She peels away the layers of her own dress, throwing it into the bin before grabbing a soap bar off the many racks. “Go on.”
My throat clamps up. “I can’t do this,” I say, trying to step back, but the crowd behind me won’t let me.
There’s an elder by the door staring me down until I back away.
“Take off your clothes,” she barks. It’s not a question.
I shiver as I walk to a corner of the building and stay there.
Holly comes toward me and peels off the layers one by one until I’m left with nothing but my hands covering my body.
“C’mon,” she says, and she grabs my hand and leads me into the showers where men and women all stand together washing their naked bits, seemingly unaware of one another.
But I’m not … I’m acutely aware of my own body and the scar that’s on my belly, always reminding me of what human contact has done to me. Why did I have to get dressed only to get undressed? Is that part of the ceremony? Does everyone here shower like this, in front of everyone? And why?
I glance over my shoulder. April’s holding hands with Emmy, who’s guiding her into the showers just like Holly is pushing me, trying to get us to conform. But I’m not ready for any of this.