August 2000

The social worker drove Jessica further and further into the country. Beautiful country, sure, but nowhere near as exciting as her environment back in Copenhagen. It wasn't her fault that her parents randomly decided to go to a wild party and get themselves drugged up to the point of near death, but hey.

She had a handful of close friends and they were all close by, but none of them had room for her. The rest of her family were in London and didn't really want to be involved in fear of their elitist friends finding out about her situation.

'Well, who knows how long I'll be stuck out here, so better get used to it. Maybe this will be a good thing,' she monologued.

The car started to coast to a stop.

"Why are we stopping?," Jessica asked.

"We're meeting someone along the road here to take you the rest of the way," the social worker said.

"You can't take me the last twenty minutes of the drive...?," she asked sceptically.

"Unfortunately I have other cases to attend to. If it makes you feel any better, the guy who will be picking you up is extremely nice. ALWAYS chipper," the social worker explained.

"Swell... And just what kind of place is this again?," Jessica asked.

"It's a religious institution, and you're the first girl he's taken in. He's very well thought of in town, so we knew you'd be safe in his keeping for the time being," she said.

The car finally stopped and they sat in awkward silence for a few minutes before another car stopped in front of them. Out hopped a somewhat lanky dark-haired man with very chiseled facial features... High cheekbones, a strong jawline, and lips with a perfect cupid's bow in the middle along with a beard and moustache. He was good-looking for a man of the cloth.

"Hi! My name is Ivan. You must be Ms. Larsen; pleased to meet you," he said, sticking out his hand.

Jessica placed her hand in his slightly taken aback... She wasn't used to someone being so outgoing with her. Her friends and she were all very introverted and reserved, even with each other.

"Let me get your bags," he offered, picking up her suitcase.

She grabbed her backpack and closed the car door behind her.

"If there's any issues, just give me a call and we'll figure something out. Otherwise, Jessica, good luck. And we'll give you an update on your parents as soon as we

find anything out", the social worker told them.

After thanking her, Jessica hopped into Ivan's car when he opened the door for her. Ivan got into the driver's seat and the cars parted ways. The ride to the church was fairly quiet until Ivan broke the silence.

"So how was part one of the ride out here?"

"It was quiet," Jessica said, lightly exaggerating the word "quiet".

"Ah, sounds peaceful. You'll find that we're a bit far out from town, but what we lack in entertainment we make up for with lovely scenery."

Jessica just hummed in agreement. Maybe she can write to her friends and it would make the isolation slightly more tolerable.

"I promise I'll do all I can to make your stay as pleasant as I can. I'm not sure if you're spiritual, but it's a requirement to attend services on Sunday. The group is very small and it doesn't take long. After that, the rest of the day is yours to do as you please."

"Okay. What exactly is there to do around here? You're fairly distant from civilization it seems."

Ivan let out a small laugh, "You couldn't be more right. We have a garden that everyone helps tend as part of their stay. Other than that it's a lot of nature- centered activities. Walks, hikes, camping, swimming in the lake, things like that. I usually try to get the whole group to do at least one thing together a day, but they usually prefer alone time."

"I can certainly understand that."

"It's an adjustment for everyone at first living in a religious atmosphere coming from the city... Or as for some of the others, jail."

This immediately caught her attention... No one said anything about living with criminals...

"And what were some of these people in jail for?," she asked.

"Well one of them tried to assault a girl while he was drunk, but seeing as there's no alcohol allowed on the property, he's never attempted anything with any women who show up. And he deeply regrets what happened. The other one robbed a gas station. They've both done very well with their rehabilitation though. I know it's

off-putting, but we were the only place that had a spot open for you right away."

'Well... This is going to be interesting...', Jessica thought skeptically as she concentrated her view out the window as they drove.

Fifteen minutes later they arrived

at the church. It was a small and modest building, nothing like the ornate massive churches in the city. She also spied the garden he referred to earlier, and noticed it was perched just high enough on a hill to have a marvelous view. He was definitely right about one thing: a view like this couldn't be beat by any amount of night life.

Ivan exited the car, and opened her door for her. He then grabbed her suitcase again and led her inside. She took in the crisp cleanness of the interior and the white and blue colors that adorned everything; from the carpet, to the ceiling, to the altar. He then led her to her room, which was likewise modest and clean. It consisted only of a bed, dresser, and nightstand. He set her suitcase on the bed.

"I'll leave you to unpack. I'll be back to check on you in a bit. If you need anything, I'll be in the atrium,"

"Okay, will do. And thank you," she said.

He gave her a nod and a cheerful smile and gently closed the door behind him. She let out a sigh and plopped onto the bed. She stared at the ceiling for a moment, daydreaming about nothing in particular. After a few minutes she began to empty her bags into drawers.

She didn't bring much with her, being that she had to leave home abruptly. Jeans, a few shirts, some sun dresses, sneakers, a pair of heels, and some flip flops. Her backpack was comprised of a couple books, her mp3 player, and her laptop.

She put her mp3 player on shuffle while she unpacked, humming along to "I Was Made for Loving You" by Tori Kelly.

About an hour later she heard a knock at the door. It was Ivan seeing how she was doing.

"Come in," she yelled out, completely forgetting she was holding one of her bras to be put away.

Ivan opened the door with a grin getting ready to greet her, but stopped and slightly widened his eyes when he saw her pink lacy bra. He immediately averted his gaze to the floor trying very hard not to make eye contact. She immediately stuffed the bra in a drawer and apologized for him having to see it.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," she said while trying to hide the fact her face becoming furiously heated.

"It's quite alright", Ivan said with a tint of pink reaching his cheeks,"I just wanted to let you know we're all set up for dinner."

"Great, I'll be right down."

He nodded and ducked out of the room.

'Well, that was a slightly awkward exchange.'

She hurried down the stairs and into the small dining room, where Ivan and the other two men were waiting.

"Jessica, this is Gunnar," he said motioning to a heavyset man on his left, "and this is Khalid," he said nodding his head to the middle-eastern man on the right.

"Nice to meet you both," she said courteously.

They simply nodded and turned their attention back to their plates. Ivan gestured for her to take a seat at the other end of the table. She sat down and was about to take a bite of spaghetti when Ivan put up his hand up to stop her. She looked confused until the others bowed their heads.

'Ah yes: grace,' she mused to herself as she bowed her head as well.

"Dear lord, we thank you for this meal and for the time we get to spend together this evening. Please help Jessica to adjust well to her new surroundings and be with us all as we work hard to obtain repentance. We leave the rest of this evening in your care, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen."

A collective "Amen" was said

by the other three after he was finished. As dinner went on, she noticed that Khalid was quiet unless something irked him, which would lead to him cursing quite

a bit, and Gunnar was a very simple man with a boyish-like mentality. After a couple minutes of light arguing between the two men, Ivan turned their attention to

Jessica and introduced her. Khalid didn't seem too interested, but Gunnar was trying to be friendly.

"Why are you here?", he asked bluntly.

She gave Ivan a look, which he returned with an apologetic one.

"Well, long story short, my parents went to a party in Copenhagen and decided for some reason to do hard drugs for the first time in years. They ended up having a fruit cocktail of them, and now they're in the hospital after severely OD-ing. They're not sure if they'll make it or not," she explained to them, her voice raising in volume as she told her story.

Ivan gave her a sympathetic look, while Gunnar had a curious look on his face.

"Don't you have any other family?"

"I do, but they're rich idiots and don't want a family tragedy tied to them, so they pretty much just told me I'm on my own."

Gunnar just made an "oh" with his mouth and dropped the subject.

"Well, I hope you enjoy your time being part of our little family here," Ivan said with a quirk.

"I'm sure I will," she said with a smile, though it didn't reach her eyes.

After dinner she bid them all goodnight and went back to her room. She immediately changed into pajamas and laid in bed anxiously thinking about what could happen.

What if her parents didn't make it? Where would she go? Would her family be willing to take her in then, if she was helpless? What was to become of her? Being only fifteen she had a lot of growing up and maturing to do yet.

At the moment she didn't want to think about that. She would think about it tomorrow.