ANOTHER TIME

                            SUMMER 2002 

        That day, after school, Faith was heading to the school garden to wait for Josh. That was where she waited for him after school.  Their father was never one to pick them up. 

         "Hey, Faith Prescott!" someone called her from behind. 

       She turned to see Felicia, the school bully, standing behind her with her pawns. Felicia was always bullying her and she could never do anything. She dreaded Felicia so much but she dreaded her father more, he would never hear that they fought in school, no matter the reason. Felicia walked up to her with that deadly look on her face. 

          "Why did you keep quiet?" Felicia asked. Faith didn't know what she was talking about so she put her face down.   "You can't answer me?" 

       "Answer what?" Faith asked slowly. 

         "Mrs Amos said your mom ran away from home, is that true?" 

        Faith couldn't answer. Their father had warned them strictly never to discuss that with anyone, but she was too scared of Felicia, so she was caught in between. 

         "Answer me!" 

      Her father said no one knows about their mother's departure in their house except for the Reverend and some elderly members of the church. 

           "I don't know, why not ask Mrs Amos if she is speaking the truth?" 

       Felicia pushed her down and she crashed to the ground and bruised her elbow. She let out a cry but the girls seem not to be interested in her tears. They were busy kicking her. 

        "My mom said I should not play with you, since daughters always turn out to be like their mommies.  Like mother like daughter, Felicia yelled. 

        Faith only sat there crying. They taunted her and made jest of her until Josh appeared in sight. As he ran towards them, one of the girls screamed. 

       "Joshua Prescott is coming!" 

     They all fled in different directions, screaming at top of their voices. 

       Joshua ran up to Faith and carried her up from the ground and hugged her.   "Angel, what did they do to you?" 

       Faith who was going up in spasms of tears didn't talk. He dusted her clothes and arms checking for wounds and he saw her elbow. 

      "They did this to you?" Joshua asked.  Faith nodded still crying.  Joshua hugged her again, consoling her.   "Let's go home, don't cry. I will make sure I deal with them next time."

         When they got home, their father was at home reading a newspaper. He always wore a tiny, funny 

spectacle that he reads with and it was always perched at the bridge of his nose. He looked at them as they entered the living room. 

        "Kids, go upstairs and change into your house wears, come down here and have lunch and go observe your siesta," he said. 

        He said that to them every time they came back together. Although, they have know it was their routine he just said it every day. Even when he was not seated on that seat, reading that paper, Faith could always see and hear him saying those words, each time she comes back from school, whether she was alone or which Josh. 

       Joshua grabbed her hand and started walking toward the stairs. He didn't want their father to know about the bullying or what those girls had said to her. But their father who was a devil found out once he took another glance at Faith. 

        Faith used to wonder how her eyes were so sharp and alert even in their dark and gloomy house. She wouldn't see anything if she was seated where her father was seated. 

        "Faith, what happened to you? Why did you cry?" 

      Josh held her hand tighter.  "She tripped and fell while she was going to wait for me at the school garden." 

         "I believe Faith has a mouth and can make good use of it," their father said without looking at them, he concentrated on the newspaper. 

      Josh looked at Faith whose eyes were filled with fresh tears.  "She can't talk right now, she is in pain." 

       Their father glowered at Josh for a moment and then continued reading his newspaper.  "Go upstairs then and cleaned up, come down here and have your meal." 

        Josh and Faith left quickly without wasting any second.  When they got to Faith's room, Josh quickly took out the iodine and hydrogen peroxide he had picked to dress the wound. 

      "I will be fast with this so that he won't notice, please don't cry, eat the cookies I brought you, keep eating them even when I dress up the wound." 

       Faith nodded. Once Josh was done taking out everything he had needed, Faith's door flung open and their father came in, catching Josh with all the equipment. 

      "What's going on here?" he asked and went inside and grabbed the iodine from Josh and stared at it. 

         "Angel bruised her elbows," Joshua said slowly. 

Their father bent in front of Faith who started quivering with fear. He looked into Faith's eyes.  "Tell me, what happened?" 

      Faith couldn't bear to lie to him, his eyes pierced into hers and pierced into her soul. She felt that he would still smell her out if she lied to him. She looked at Josh, he was shaking his head slightly. She had not known why Josh had lied at first, but she didn't want to lie. 

        What was wrong with the truth anyway? Her father had always told them to always speak the truth that it would set them free. But it has never set them free, not with her father. The only reason she was going to say what really happened to her was that she felt her father had already seen her heart and had known the truth and she was the victim, she didn't fight back. 

        "I was bullied in school because..." She caught Josh's eyes and he urged her not to continue. 

         "Because of what?" her father asked, his eyes still piercing into hers. 

          "Because of mom. They came at me and asked me questions about mom, saying that Mrs Amos from church had told them so." 

     Her father gave her a dirty slap across her face and she fell back on the bed and let out a cry.   "Why did you lie at first?!" he yelled. 

        "I lied, not her! Hit me and let her be!" Josh screamed and jumped on the bed, pushing Faith aside. 

        Their father slapped him twice and he fell on the bed and wailed. He pushed Faith out of the bed, their father took out his belt. 

         "All liars go to hell! Say the truth and it will set you free! I won't let you go to hell! God won't ask me questions about you!" he said as he whipped him. 

       Josh placed his arms over his face as the whip landed all over his body. 

        "Spare the rod and spoil the child! I won't spare the rod and you are not going to get spoilt!"  their father yelled. He always has a Bible portion to say in accordance with why he was hitting them. 

       Faith stood there by the corner, crying to the top of her voice for her dear brother while their father hit him mercilessly. 

         When their dad had beaten him to his feel, he left the room still fuming.  Faith went and hugged her brother and they cried together. 

       "I'm sorry," she said. 

        "You don't have to be."  He pulled away from her and held her hands, looking into her eyes.  "We will run away from here, alright? We will run far, far away from here where he would not see us again, alright? We would run to a place where there would be no pain." 

       Faith nodded frantically believing her brother. There was nothing she wanted at that moment than to be far away from her father and she didn't know when Josh would take them away, but she knew he would do it, someday, somehow, but she didn't know the day or how. 

        When next their father came in, he came with a bowl of water and a towel. He looked at Josh. 

        "You shouldn't always be in her room. She is a lady."   He drew a seat closer and pressed out excess water from the towel, he took Josh's arm, but Josh withdrew his hand. 

      Faith was scared for him. His father might land him another dirty slap for refusing to be taken care of. But he didn't, instead, he looked at Josh for a while. 

        "I don't hate you. I hit you because I love you and wouldn't want you to perish." 

        "Keep your love to yourself!" Josh yelled and stood up. 

       Faith quivered with fear.  Josh might get another beating for that. When Josh left the room, her father turned to her and took her hand. 

        "Are you alright?" Faith nodded.  "I would follow you to school tomorrow and see your principal and I will go and report to Father Bernard about it too." Faith nodded.  "Now, wipe your tears." 

        Faith wiped her tears and nodded. 

     Just like her father said, he followed them to school the following day and reported to the school principal and the parents of those girls were summoned and they paid the charges for Faith's wounds and signed an undertaking never to talk to Faith anymore  and her father had condemned Felicia and the other girls' parent's parenting skills.