Elder McKinley was in his room when he heard the shots. They were loud and booming, echoing in his eardrums. They were followed by screams and people yelling for help. Yet he didn't budge. He knew exactly what was going on.
The General was back. And he apparently wasn't happy.
Elder McKinley knew he should go out to see what the current situation was. But something held him back. Fear. He was scared that he would be the next person to be added to the long list his victims. I wonder who got it this time, he thought darkly. For the year and a half he had been in Uganda, many people had been affected by the General, including himself and the other missionaries. The District Leader looked out the window. He saw the group of missionaries gathering around someone on the ground. Panic ran through him. What if it's one of my Elders out there? he worried.Elder McKinley was just about to leave the security of the bedroom when his roommate, Elder Thomas came running in, yelling hysterically.
"Elder, Elder! It's Elder Price, oh Heavenly Father, there's so much blood-"
"Elder Thomas! Calm down, take a deep breath. Now, tell what's going on." Elder McKinley sat the man down on a nearby chair as he took a seat on his bed. The young man was shaking and his eyes were staring down at the ground.
"Well, the General's back in the villages, terrorizing the people again. He started saying that if they keep converting, he'll..." Elder Thomas trailed off, looking emotionally drained.
"Yes, Elder?" Thankfully, Elder McKinley was very patient.
"I'd rather not say," he whispered.
"Please tell me. I need to know the whole story, okay?"
Elder Thomas nodded. "He said that he would kill us all, one by one, starting with the children. That way, we'd all have to watch them die. Then he'd kill the women, then the men, and then us. But he said he'd burn our 'precious little books' first so we would die as sinners. Since he thought we were for stealing his people from him. He said it directly to me. He looked at me when he said it. I've never been more terrified in my life." The young man broke down and began sobbing silently. Elder McKinley was shocked. The General had never dared to make such a direct threat like this that he knew of. He softly cleared his throat.
"Then what?" he murmured to the other man.
Elder Thomas wiped his face. "Right, of course. Well, Elder Price got really mad. He ran to the front of the crowd and basically told him off. Told him the villagers were better off without him around and that he was the true sinner. He added some other things, but I'm not comfortable saying those kinds of words." He blushed a little. "Well, the General was really mad. He started yelling that he would pay for being so ignorant. Elder Price said that at least he wasn't going to Hell for helping people. That was the line for the General. Everything went so fast, I didn't even know what was happening but the next thing I knew, Elder Price was on the ground with a big red stain in his shirt and the General was running away. So I came to get you."
Elder McKinley grew more and more terrified as the young Elder told his story. He leaped from the bed and ran outside to the gathering crowd surrounding Elder Price.
"Excuse me! Out of the way please, I'm the District Leader!" He was practically shoving people out of his way, frantic to find the injured Elder. When he finally did, he almost stopped breathing. Elder Price's normally white shirt was drenched in deep red blood, which was staining the sand around him as well. His eyes were closed and his face was extremely pale in the African sun. He had his hand pressed to his stomach where the bullet had entered him. Elder McKinley dropped to his knees next to him.
"Elder Price? Elder Price, can you hear me?" His voice was a raspy whisper. He fought hard to choke back the tears that were threatening to spill onto his face. He felt a small sense of relief when Elder Price opened his eyes and looked at him.
"Yup. I'm still here, Connor. Not for long though," he whispered. Elder McKinley's breath hitched. It was extremely rare that Elder Price would call him by his first name, but when he did, it sent shivers up his spine.
"No, Kevin. You're going to be fine. We're going to get you to a hospital and-"
"You really think you can get me there in time? No. Connor, I'll be long gone by the time the doctor gets here. Just... please just stay with me?" Kevin looked at him through his soft, beautiful brown eyes. Elder McKinley just looked at him and gave him a sad smile.
"Of course, Kevin," he said quietly. He looked at the other Elders gathered around him. "Can you guys help me carry him into the mission building? We should just make him as comfortable as possible so we can help him as best we can."
Nobody moved. Everyone was suddenly very interested in the ground. Elder McKinley stood up.
"Well? Come on guys, help me! He's not going to move himself and I can't carry him alone!" he cried. A few men shuffled forward and each took a section of Elder Price's body. They hoisted him up and began to walk towards the mission hut. Elder McKinley stayed next to him and gave him words of encouragement. When the Elder reached down and grabbed the redhead's hand, he grabbed it eagerly. He'd been in love with Kevin ever since he joined their district a few months before. His perfect smile, his kind eyes, his incredible devotion to his mission. Everything – Connor loved everything about him, even the minor flaws he had.
The missionaries lay Elder Price on the bed in Elder McKinley's room. He shut his eyes, but kept a firm grip on the redhead's hand.
"Guys, go get water and towels. We can start trying to stop the bleeding before Gotswana gets here," Elder McKinley ordered. They nodded and went to run back into town, leaving the two alone in the room.
"You're going to be okay, Kevin. I promise you're going to get through this. We're going to do this together, okay?" Elder Price laughed softly then coughed violently, gasping from the amount of pain in his abdomen.
"Don't lie to me Connor. I'm going to die, I'm not stupid. Well, I guess I am, after what I did today. That was-" Elder McKinley cut him off.
"Elder Price. That was the most courageous thing anyone has or ever could do for these people. Do you have any idea how many lives you could have saved just by doing that? No, that was not stupid, do you hear me? That was something incredible." Kevin just smiled.
"Connor. I need to tell you something." Elder McKinley's heart skipped a beat.
"Umm, yes, Elder Price?" he stammered. He could feel his face turning red. Kevin giggled. He squeezed Connor's hand.
"You're cute when you blush." Which of course, made him blush even more.
"Come sit here with me," Kevin murmured to him. Elder McKinley sat next to him, still grasping his hand tight.
"Now. Before I die, I wanted you to know this. Know that... I love you, Elder Connor McKinley. Ever since I got here, I've wanted to tell you, but it's always been against the rules or something stupid like that. I love everything about you – your smile, your hair, your eyes, the way you can cheer me up just by looking at me. I thought that maybe it was because I was so far away from home, I tried to turn it off like you said when I got here, but... I can't. I know now that I really, really care about you and I... I don't want to die. I don't want to leave you." His eyes were filled with tears, as were Connor's.
"Oh, Kevin. I feel the exactly the same way. I love you, I love you so much." He collapsed onto Kevin's chest and began heaving large, violent sobs. They held onto each other, whispering 'I love you' over and over, making up for lost time. Elder Price began coughing again, so Elder McKinley sat up and massaged his shoulders. Elder Price smiled at the man he loved tenderly and whispered, "Thank you." The red haired man nodded and lay down next to him.
"You know, I never thought that this would actually happen. I always thought you were the super perfect Mormon who would never, ever do something like this." He squeezed Kevin's hand. "I'm glad I was wrong."
Elder Price turned his head and smiled at him. "Me too." Elder McKinley decided this was the perfect time to make a move. He slowly leaned in and pressed his lips against the other man's. He felt Elder Price smile into it as he placed a hand on his neck to pull him closer. They stayed like that for a while, kissing and touching and smiling and just being happy. Just when Elder McKinley thought he was finally going to be with Kevin, the brunette grabbed his chest with wide eyes. Terror ran through both of them. Elder Price looked at Elder McKinley with a sad expression.
"It's time. This is it," he whispered. Elder McKinley began sobbing hysterically.
"No, no it's not. You can't die, we've only just-"
"Connor, we both knew this was going to happen. I knew this was going to happen."
"But Kevin... I love you." Elder McKinley placed his head on the brunette's chest.
"I love you too, Connor. I love you so much, and..." he trailed off.
Elder McKinley felt his chest stop moving. He felt his heart rip in two. The Elder began weeping, wanting Elder Price to just wake up and wrap his arms around him again.
He heard shuffling by the door of his room. He knew he should pull himself together for the others, but he couldn't. They stood by the door just looking, a few of them sniffling. Elder McKinley sat up and wiped his face.
"Oh, umm, hello everyone. Umm, Kevin's, well he's..." His voice trailed off. He didn't want to say it. He didn't want to have to accept that he was gone.
"We know, Elder." Elder Thomas moved through the crowd and walked over to his mission companion. He put a hand on Elder McKinley's back and the older man gladly hugged him. Elder Thomas whispered words of comfort in his ear. They pulled away and Elder McKinley smiled at him. The other Elders all gathered around him and hugged him and patted him on the back. All of the missionaries were crying by the time Elder McKinley had hugged everyone. He looked at everyone.
"Thank you, everyone. Thanks for just being so... accepting of me. Because I'm... I'm gay."
They all nodded and smiled sympathetically.
"And... I was in love with Elder Price."
Elder Davis blushed. "We know." When Elder McKinley looked at him quizzically, he said, "You talk in your sleep sometimes and you used to fall asleep on the couch in the living room, so you know... we all heard." It was Elder McKinley's turn to blush.
"So, you all knew? Why didn't you just talk to me?"
"We weren't sure if you'dwant to talk. We thought you'd be mad," Elder Smith said with a sad smile.
"Well. I guess we should move Elder Price out of here." Elder McKinley looked down at the man still lying on the bed. He looked like he was sleeping.
"Do you need a moment with him?" Elder Thomas murmured. The redhead nodded. The others slowly shuffled out the door and shut it with a soft click. He went over to the bed and sat down again. He took a deep breath and looked at the dead Elder next to him.
"Kevin, I... I don't know what to say, honestly. I mean, I did love you, with all of my heart. I thought, no I think, you're absolutely perfect. You were the best missionary we had in the district and nobody's going to ever top that. You had the best dedication to the church and I've always admired that since I always doubted the church for being so unaccepting of people like me. But you changed my logic, Kev. You changed me. I know it's cheesy but it's true. So, thank you for that. I feel so much more... I don't even know. Comfortable? For the first time in my life, I actually like myself. Before you, I didn't know what to do. I thought... after I got home, I'd just end it all. But then you came along and I had this weird feeling of hope. Hope that maybe you'd be like me and we could maybe be together. When there was a chance that you may be leaving our mission, oh boy, I cried that night. I needed you in my life to cope with these feelings. And now you're gone. I don't know what I'm going to do. But I do know this – I love you, Kevin Price and nothing will ever change that."
The older Elder looked down at the man he loved. He leaned in and gently placed a kiss on his lips. Then he walked and didn't look back, tears blurring his vision.
It was the first night in years that he didn't go to Hell. But in a way, he did.
Life was now his own personal Hell.