Chapter 81

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Eve liked Nadia, and Amy. But these two seemed awkward around each other. They didn't agree on much on politics or religion. On Friday September 23rd these three girls ate lunch together. Eve hoped they could all get along.

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Amy: So Eve, Nadia got you to become muslim.

Eve: Yeah, she saved my life. I did some stupid things after my mom died. Truth is, I almost killed myself. Nadia risked her life to save me.

Nadia: I'm just glad Eve changed her mind, most didn't, and I moun for them.

Eve: That's why I began attending mosque, and why I work as a sidewalk counselor. If Allah didn't send Nadia there, I'd be in Hell right now.

Amy: How do you figure you'd be in Hell?

Nadia: Suicides are damned.

Amy: No offense, but it seems like the height of arrogance to think we know the will of God.

Nadia: I agree. Fortunately God gave us his plans in the Koran.

Amy: Assuming that was actually written by God.

Nadia: And what are your religious beliefs?

Amy: I believe in God, not religion. I figure God is forgiving of those who do certain things.

Eve: Including suicide?

Amy: With ELE only 1031 days away, yeah probably.

Nadia: It sounds like you're trying to substitute your desires for Allah's will.

Eve: Maybe she is. But my mother killed herself. I like to think that Allah forgave her. But I will also continue to help others. In case I'm wrong, I want to help others the way Nadia helped me.

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Over the next week Eve stuck to her busy schedule. She went to school, worked at Ravenwood,acted as sidewalk counselor. She savored those last days of late summer. She knew that if ELE hit the next ice age would come, making people look back on these days with sweet fondness. Eve also tried to remain friends with both Amy and Nadia. They clearly couldn't be in the same room with each other, but Eve liked both of them. Nadia helped lead her away from suicide, saved her from Hell. Now, Eve saw some of the other secretaries did on the internet. Websites where married people could hook up up with other married people. The woman who ran this site, Janice, had married her boyfriend at 16 because she was pregnant. He abused her, she had an affair and ran off with her new lover, bringing her daughter with her. That actually seemed somewhat romantic, except she had a child with another man while married to her second husband. Janice said she and her husband accepter each other's faults. The pornagrapher Ricky Jenkins had claimed to be "selling smut for God" but soon returned to secular filth. Shortly after that he'd been murdered, probably by a religious or secular fanatic, the police hadn't yet solved his murder. Eve feared that without Nadia's help she might've fallen into this sin, or worse. But Eve still sinned. She feared Nadia was silently judging her for smoking or not spending more time at the clinic. But perhap it wasn't Nadia judging her, just her own guilt. And Eve liked Amy's ideas too. She hoped that God might forgive Kendall for ending it all. But a part of Eve feared that Amy's free-spirited ways might get her sent to Hell. After talking to both Nadia and Amy it became clear to Eve how little she was certain of.