Outlaw Star Fan Fiction ❯ Crystal Gems ❯ Vol 2: Chap 13. The Holy Shrine ( Chapter 13 )

The Holy Shrine

China Town. A recently popular place in Sentinal. It seemed so pure to the naked eye. But, it had some dirt to it. That's not the point for this story. This week is Prayer Week. The town owner's wife started it two years ago. It was slowly growing. Not many people were religious in Sentinal. It was more of a curiosity thing. Jim, Ruthie, and Lizzie were no exception.

“Why are we here again?” Jim asked.

“To check things out, dummy!” Ruthie hissed.

“But why?” the boy asked. Lizzie shrugged.

“Just cause,” she said. The leader looked uncertain. This was the third day they had been here. It still looked the same as the first day. Why were they so bent on checking this temple out?

They came to the East Temple. The red paint could be seen from miles away. Jim looked at the entrance. Charms hung from the doorway. The kids felt like they had stepped back in time. “The design is nice,” Jim thought. “I'll give them that.” The trio walked through the gate. They came to the offering booth. The monk held out his red bucket.

“Offerings for the dead,” he chanted. “Offerings for the dead.” Jim sneered at him.

“Yeah right,” the boy thought. “More like offerings for himself at the whore house!” He said nothing, of course. Would fall on deaf ears anyway, right?

Ruthie reached into her jeans pocket and dropped five coins into the bucket. Lizzie did the same. The girls and the monk turned to Jim. He looked at them with a sneer.

“What?” he asked.

“Offerings?” the monk asked. Jim frowned at him.

“Why?” he questioned. Ruthie tried to keep smiling. (More like gritting her teeth at him.)

“Give the nice man the offering,” she hissed sweetly. Jim rolled his eyes.

“Whatever,” he mumbled. The body gave up some offerings. He didn't feel like fighting with her today. Took too much energy, anyway. They wouldn't listen either. The monk smiled at him.

“Thank yo,” he said with a bow. The trio went into the temple.

“This way,” Ruthie whispered as she went to the right. Jim and Lizzie followed her down the hallway to the back way. They came up the stairs to a set of doors. Ruthie slowly pushed them open. Jim looked around as they walked through.

Dark silence. Only a small candle lit in the back corner of the room helped them see. This was their space. Ruthie discovered it by accident on Wednesday while exploring. Since then, it became their space.

The children crawled to the front pew and looked down.

“Why are we up here?” Lizzie whispered.

“I told you,” Ruthie said back, softly. “It's a movie.” Jim breathed heavily to himself.

“Every fucking time,” he said under his breath. “It's not even funny anymore.”

“Shhh!” Lizzie whispered. “They're starting.”

“Get down and get over here,” the brain whispered. Jim puffed out his breath. He sank down next to Ruthie and looked over the ledge.

Below, a priest rang a bell. The chatter died away. All eyes were on a man in his sixties. He was dressed in black with peppered grey hair. He cleared his throat to the masses.

“Let us pray!” he said. The people began to pray. This lasted for ten minutes. Then came the prayer requests. So many poured over. The priest held up his hands.

“Shhh!” he said. “One at a time! One at a time!” A monk wrote down all of the prayer requests. Jim listened on skeptical.

“Do these people really believe `god' can help them alone?” he thought. Smelt like a scam.

Next came the offerings. Four monks came with big, red buckets. The money became piled up to the brim. The trio kept quiet to keep from drawing attention to them. (“We don't need to give away any more money to these people,” Jim whispered on the first day. “I don't trust these guys.” This was the only time the girls listened to him since Prayer Week started.)

Once the money was collected, the priest began the lecture. The people below listened intently. The body, brain, and heart zoned out halfway through. Ruthie turned to the other two.

“Ready to go?” she whispered.

“Yeah,” the other two nodded without words.

“Follow me,” Ruthie said with her eyes. Then they crawled over to the other door. Down the stairs, through the back hall and into the artificial garden. They were back in the city again. The girls still wanted to learn more about this temple. Jim only sneered as they talked. Great, more trips to the money trap. And it's only Friday. Four more days of this crap to go!

Later…