My heart leaps into my throat. "Trinity, what the hell is happening to me?"
"Listen to me Em. Are you ready?"
"Ready?" I say slowly.
"Ready to give up everything for the truth?" Trinity answers.
I'm about to reply with a yes. A yes that will take away all the pain and confusion of this life…when Sherin comes into my mind. She's the one thing that has made this worthless world worth anything…and she's made it worth everything.
"Everything?" I whisper.
"This world is a lie Em. Everything you've ever known here has been a lie."
"What about…Love?" I breathe.
"Love?" says Trinity slowly.
"Do I have to give that up? Is love a lie?"
Trinity says nothing. Fear writhes in my stomach like a thousand snakes. Is the truth worth giving up the only happiness I've ever known?
"Love…and truth." Trinity begins. "They walk hand in hand, Em."
"So…what about Sherin? I love her Trinity. I can't keep the truth from her."
"Bring her to us."
"When?" I say. "Where?"
"There's an old warehouse downtown." Trinity says.
She explains its location, and tells me when to meet her there, and when I do, to bring Sherin.
Suddenly I hear a phone ring from the other side of the booth. Trinity answers.
"Here?" I hear Trinity say, after a pause,
"Shit."
I hear movement and then Trinity throws open the door of my booth. A dim gleam from the confessional booth candle alights on a leather jumpsuit that grips her curved female form. She has short black hair, slicked down on her neck. I gape.
"You're a girl." I say, in awe. Her voice had not given her away. But this definitely did.
"You have to go. Now." She says. "Have you had any weird dreams lately? Nightmares?" she asks feverishly, as we run down a set of stairs behind a closed door.
"Actually," I say, recalling last night's dental dream, "I did. The dentist's office. They drilled without novicane. It was awful."
We reach the end of the stairs and she curses again under her breath. She opens a door that exits onto the scraggly grass of the church's back yard and a small unused gravel lot.
"They've probably bugged you, but I don't have time now." She says, more to herself than me.
"Who's they? Time for what?" I press, thousands of questions in my head aching to escape.
"There's no time Em. Go home as quickly as you can, but don't draw attention to yourself. With any luck they'll think you were just at church. Now go!"
"But Trinity-" I begin.
"GO!" she says, jumping on a motorcycle that was in the lot and speeding off in the opposite direction of my house.
I take up a brisk pace, hurrying down the street and wrap myself in my coat, as though I'm walking quickly to get out of the cold. I get home without any disturbance, glancing over my shoulder as I go. I run upstairs, and close the door, praying my parents don't come snooping about where I was.
As soon as I'm there I pick up the phone. I'm about to dial Sherin's number, when I remember Trinity saying something about bugging. I drop the receiver and put my coat back on, and slip on my shoes. I creep out of my room. My parents are sitting in the living room discussing…me. Probably better I stay out of this. I go back to my room and slide open the window. I scrabble out onto the porch roof and then crawl around to the back of the house and slide down to the gutter and then drop. I make a beeline for Sherin's.
