Page 142 of For I Have Sinned

My body is burning with rage, and I can feel the blood rush to my head, giving me the adrenaline to charge at the man who is trying to hurt Esther.

“Let go of her!” I yell.

With my eyes glued to the one who is holding her, I begin charging at him. I hadn’t realized that the priest who came to help him control Esther was no longer there until I was met with pain as his hand struck my face.

His hit is so powerful that my body twists, and my knees hit the floor. I catch myself with my hands, stopping me from my face hitting the dark tan carpet. My ears begin to ring as the pain grows.

A pair of worn-out boots steps into my line of view. The priest squats down, entangles his fingers in my hair, and jerks my head back to force me to look at him.

I can barely make out the light echo of a man in the background who curses, “Don’t you fucking touch her!”

The deranged man with the death grip in my hair brings up his other hand and aggressively clenches my cheeks together, causing me to wince from the extra pain he is causing me. A light squeak escapes my lips as his fingers dig into the already tender spot from being slapped.

He lets out a low chuckle, and it’s in this moment that I know he is just as insane as Father Keaton. They all are.

His lips curl upwards, and he says, “Stupid girl. Know your place.”

Before he stands, he spits in my face. I bring up my hand, wiping away the fluid as I hold back a gag. His shoes disappear from in front of me, and when I look to watch him walk away, he stops. Spinning on the heel of his boot, he gets closer to me, and to hopefully keep me down, he brings his shoe to my ribs.

I collapse to the floor and gasp for air. I hear another mutter coming from the distance. “Fucking bastard.”

Through blurry vision, I see Alex finally get out of the man’s hold. He turns around and hits the guy so hard that it knocks him out. Alex doesn’t waste a second; he races over to the priest, who is still standing over me, whose face is lit up with satisfaction at the pain he caused me.

That is, until he is met with Alex’s fist.

With one punch, the priest is stumbling back.

“I fucking,” Alex seethes as he throws a second punch, and the man hits the floor, “told you,” with the third punch, Alex tightly grips the man’s shirt, lifting his upper half off the floor, “not to,” the fourth punch is the final blow, and the man’s head hangs, “touch her!”

Alex screams at the unconscious priest’s face before dropping his limp body to the ground. He doesn’t take a breath before he turns to me. When I look into his eyes, I see a flash of anger mixed with regret and sadness that he didn’t get to me in time.

He kneels, wrapping his arm underneath my shoulders and gently lifts me up. I hiss through the pain; my ribs surely broken from the impact of the guy’s boot.

When I stand, my vision and hearing fully return. Chaos surrounds us in every direction, but I frantically look around the room for Esther. The two men are trying to push her to the steps that descend into the water, but she hasn’t given up. She fights with every muscle in her body, and so do I.

I pull out of Alex’s hold, knowing he’ll be right behind me as I run down the aisle towards the pool. Esther manages to get out of their clutches, spins around, and uses her nails to scratch at their faces.

Hope flares in my chest seeing her fight back, but it quickly deflates when I see Father Keaton reach for her hair, wrapping it around his wrist. With a hard tug, she falls back, the water splashing over the edge.

“Esther!” I roar and keep pushing past the other women who are fighting for their lives. Ignoring the ache in my body, I find every ounce of energy I have to get to her.

I need to save her.

She can’t die.

She breaks the surface, gasping for air as Father Keaton places a hand on her chest. She looks at me, fear in her eyes, and before she is thrust under the water, she yells, “Run!”

From here, I can see her body flail, and a guttural scream leaves me. Alex wraps his arms around my waist, holding me back.

“Alex, let me go!”

“I can’t, Celine. I can’t. I can’t let you go.” He sounds like he is crying, and when I look back at him, I see tears rolling down his face. “I won’t lose you, too. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“But Esther—” I whisper.

Tears slowly drop to my cheeks as he shakes his head again. I’m unable to tell if I’m still breathing right now as I look back at the water, seeing her still thrashing around.

Don’t give up, Esther.