;A/N-Back in the Bible times, they had strict rules for "unclean" people, they had to live outside the city, what I am going to write in this chapter may or may not have happened this way but...it's my story!
Terah sat at her kitchen table with her head in her hands and wondering for the 1000th time, 'Why is Jehovah having her go through this?' Then she heard a knock at the door and the sound startled her since she was "shunned." She got up at started to go slowly for the door but then she heard a male voice telling her, "Do not come any closer Terah."
The voice also startled her for the only voices she heard now was the faraway voices from the streets, mostly children playing and the sound of vendors selling their food. She stopped in her steps and she listened with each beat of her heart getting louder. "This is priest Joram and I have come to bring you news of importance from the temple. Terah, we have waited 7 years, we know you have tried everything to get better and gone to many doctors and tried many ways to cure yourself, that's why we have been lenient but it is time. Time for you to go outside the city, we cannot have you within these walls and bring uncleanness to the other people of this town."
Tears flow down her cheeks and she sniffs then says, "I understand priest Joram." A few minutes of uncomfortable silence comes then he said, "Wait until the sun goes down then gather your clothes together and go to the area outside of town beyond the hills." "Y-Yes Joram. I will."
She heard his footsteps turn and leave and fade away as he gets closer to the temple, she leans against the wall and cries some more.
A few hours later, Terah gathers up the strength to get her small bag and put some clothes and rags in it and she looked around then she saw her crude pencil and paper and she thought then gathered them up and stuffed them in the bag, she made sure they were at the bottom of the rag-bag so nobody could see them and take them away. She looked around her home for the last time and looked at the meager furniture and kitchen implements and she thought of her son laughing in the room and her husband walking around but then she sighed and went to the door, opened it and she saw the beautiful last rays of the sun going down.
She walks out into the streets that were nearly devoid of people and when one woman saw her, she looked in horror and yelled , "Unclean!" Then she ran into the dark ally to escape, Terah cried at the thought of the woman running into the darkness facing possible unknown crimes and not be seen with her.
Terah could only go a few steps at a time, she had to stop and gather her breath and she felt the blood trickle out of her private parts. The tears didn't stop flowing and she walked throughout the night, that's how long it took her to reach the "unclean" place where she would now live.
She turned and looked at the new day sun coming up on her back as she stood in front of the cave like entrance. She wondered if that would be the last time she would ever see the new day sun so she reveled in the sun coming on her body like a blanket, she loved the golden rays on her. And her tears momentarily stopped, she even heard the morning sounds of animals, something that she never hears in the city. She actually smiled.
She then turned and went inside and then she saw her ..."roommates". Lepers, other people of varying diseases, some blind people and some people who had their bodies bent and sticking out like knotted trees in the forest. She heard water dripping in the back and she knew that's where she wanted to be, near water; she knew she needed water to live and...to remind her of her husband.
She moved around until she found a spot in the back and by a miricle, there wasn't many other poor souls around. She opened her bag and pulled out the biggest rag and put it down on the cave floor and settled in her place. She laid down and looked up the roof of the cave and saw sparkles in the walls and roof, imagined them as diamonds and she went to sleep clutching her bag.
A/N-Reviews please!