Imagine you have a friend. A female friend who is incredibly special to you, but strictly as a friend. You care about her deeply, but only in a platonic way. Then, out of nowhere and for no reason at all, she completely distances herself from you. That is exactly how I felt. in the moment
WELCOMING THE SABBATH
"Who would have thought that a boy with the face of an angel could lie like that? How wicked," Peter remarked.
"For the first time, I actually agree with you," I replied. "That cousin is so spoiled. How could he make my mom and grandmother beg him not to go through with those adult legal matters, or whatever they are?"
"It's a lawsuit, a demand to claim something from someone," Peter explained.
After talking about what had happened, my mother sent us to prepare for worship.
"Children, come downstairs to welcome the Sabbath," our mother called out.
After welcoming the Sabbath and reciting our Bible verses, they asked me to offer a prayer.
"Thank you, God, for helping us face the evil that was done to my mother yesterday, and for helping us keep our composure without resorting to violence. Thank you also for helping us throughout the week and at every moment. In Jesus' name, Amen."
"Alright, let's have supper and go to bed. Tomorrow is Sabbath, and we need to be there early," my mother said.
"But Mom, the other church members go at 10:00 AM. Why do we have to go so early?" my siblings complained.
"Because you are not like the other members, and—"
"Oh, my dear grandchildren," our grandmother interrupted gently. "We must go to church out of love for God, not to please others or so people will say how punctual we are. No... we do it out of love for the God who created us and owns everything."
"Yes, Grandma," we replied in unison.
"Ah, before I forget," Grandma added, turning to our mother. "Daughter, don't yell at your children. Just speak to them calmly; they understand and listen to you."
After eating bread with avocado and oatmeal, we were sent to bed. Meanwhile, the adults—my parents, grandparents, and older sister—stayed up talking about the incident.
SABBATH
"Angel... Angel... Angel!"
"Huh? Yes, what happened?" I muttered groggily.
"Angel, wake up and come have breakfast," my mother said.
"Yes, Mom, I'm coming."
A few moments later...
"You finally came down! Why does it take you so long to put on a shirt and trousers?"
"Don't forget the shoes and socks," I joked.
"Oh, you better close your mouth and just eat. We're running out of time!"
"But if I close my mouth, how am I supposed to eat?"
"Be quiet and eat!"
"Alright, alright."
After breakfast, we headed to church, which was only five blocks away.
"We made it on time, thank goodness. Today it's my turn to present the missionary story," my mother said. "Alright children, go to your classrooms. If your teachers haven't arrived yet, wait inside the temple."
"Yes, Mom."
Since only my siblings' teachers had arrived, I sat outside on a bench. I began thinking about everything that had happened to me recently. I thought about how I had stopped talking to Kaori, and then to Sayuri—though we eventually reconciled. I thought about Dina, Melany, and my accident. I still couldn't remember the blow to my forehead clearly because everyone kept the details from me, thinking it would traumatize me. I recalled the injury I got while under my brother's care, and how my mother chose to believe my younger brother over me, simply because he was her favorite. Analyzing it all, I realized that if I did something wrong, things went badly for me.
I started to get a strange, heavy feeling inside, but I brushed it aside when the pastor's car pulled up. He was Briana's father. As he parked, I pretended to be deeply focused on reading my Bible. He walked past and greeted me.
"Hello, Angel! How have you been? Happy Sabbath, brother," a church member said, greeting me as well.
"I'm doing well, happy Sabbath!" I replied.
Someone called out to him. "See you later, Angel!"
"Whew, what a scare. I barely knew what to do," I muttered to myself. "How strange, this feeling..."
Just then, Briana approached me.
"Angel, what are you doing?"
"Ah, I'm just reading."
"Oh, wow! I didn't know you could read upside down," Briana giggled. "Hahaha!"
"Oh, man... I didn't even notice. Hahaha, I looked so silly!"
"Nah, don't say that. You weren't silly, just distracted."
An older, rather grumpy church sister noticed us laughing and scolded us.
"Children, quiet down! We are in church. Your teacher has already arrived."
"Ah..."
Right at that moment, we saw our teacher parking her car.
"Yes, she's right there," we said.
"You got lucky," the grumpy sister warned. "Don't you dare laugh that loudly in here again."
We went to our class, where the teacher told us the story of Queen Esther. Out of nowhere, Briana leaned over and whispered to me.
"I am Esther, and you are my King Ahasuerus."
"What?!" I gasped.
After the Sabbath school ended, we went into the main service. When the morning service concluded, we went home, returned later for the afternoon youth program, and finally closed the Sabbath. My parents mentioned that there would be social games at night to help different churches mingle. I asked if we could go, and they agreed. Since I was taller now—measuring 1.66 meters—I was allowed to play with the older group. Briana was also old enough, so we went together.
We had an amazing time that night. Briana shared some bread and chicha with me, even though I told her I had already eaten. We played traditional games like 'Cat and Mouse', 'Catch the Handkerchief', 'Long Live the Queen', and several others. Most of the time, Briana chose me as her partner.
In the weeks that followed, a series of evening prayer meetings began. This time, my brother Peter was strictly ordered to come along and keep an eye on me so that the previous incident wouldn't happen again. One evening, after the meetings ended, the girls wanted to play house—playing 'mommy and daddy.' We were playing with Melany and Kaori, which surprised me. But then Briana asked me if I wanted to be the dad, with her playing the mom. I think that really angered the other two girls, especially because I accepted her invitation so quickly.
"Angel, do you want to be the dad and I'll be the mom?" Briana asked.
"Sure, let's do it," I replied.
"Let's begin then, my love, my dear husband," Briana said playfully.
"Yes, dear."
At that moment, I noticed Kaori and Melany glaring at me with absolute fury. They probably hated how quickly I agreed, but from my perspective, Briana was my only close friend at church, and I felt I had to indulge her whims. She was the only true friend I had left there. Still, I noticed the other two acting very strange.
"Daughter Kaori, eat your food," I said, staying in character.
"I don't want to! I'm running away with my friend," Kaori snapped.
"Hey, come back here, young lady!"
As I played, I felt a sense of peace. Ever since Rubi left, everything felt much better.
Later on, the girls spotted some stray kittens and began playing with them (as girls always do, no offense). Briana and I were left alone sitting on a bench, and she looked at me seriously.
"Angel, did you see those men who were lurking around the doors last Sunday?"
"No, I think I was in my Bible class at that time," I replied. "Why? What happened?"
"According to what my mom told me—she's the club director—some strange men saw a bunch of kids running around. They called one over, Diego, and asked him: 'Kid, are there any adults here?' Diego replied, 'I don't know, let me check.' Then they alerted my mom. When she went out to check on them, the men ran away. My mom says they were kidnappers. Seeing more than thirty children running around, they assumed we were unsupervised."
"My mom told me to be very careful around strangers," I added, shivering slightly. "She heard on the news that a child had been kidnapped for organ trafficking."
"Yeah, you're right," Briana agreed.
Just then, the other girls called out to us. "Wow, hurry up! Let's keep playing! Oh, and the kitten got dirty."
"Oh, poor thing," Briana said. "Let's bathe it with some water."
"Briana, don't do that," I warned her. "They are still too small."
"What do you know? You've never even had pets," she scoffed.
Just as we were about to start playing again, the adults called us over, announcing that the activity was finished for the night.
After that week of prayer, on the following Sabbath, I overheard some of the other children calling Briana a "cat killer." It turned out she had bathed the kitten despite my warning, and apparently, it hadn't survived. My mother also mentioned that Briana had been telling people she wanted to marry me.
After the church service, late in the afternoon, about five minutes before 6:00 PM, we went outside to play. Out of nowhere, Briana walked up to me with a completely serious expression. To make matters stranger, I was wearing a black formal suit and she was in a white dress.
Right then and there, she confessed her feelings to me.
"Angel, I want to tell you that I like you, and I would like to be your wife."
"Briana, I'm sorry," I replied, taking a step back. "We are still too young. When we grow up, we can think about it. Maybe it will work out then, but right now, it's not the time."
As I was still speaking, she suddenly leaned in, trying to kiss me. I instinctively pulled away. Furious and hurt, she shoved me hard, sending me crashing to the ground. She turned around and ran away, crying.
As I sat on the floor, I looked up and saw Kaori and Melany watching the whole scene. They looked at each other and high-fived. In that moment, I had no idea what that high-five actually meant.
Time passed, and Briana stopped coming to church. Her older sister confronted and blamed me for what happened. Within the next two weeks, her parents moved to a different Adventist church. To be honest, I felt a deep sense of regret. However, I think they also left because of the cruel "cat killer" rumors, or perhaps because her father, being a pastor, was reassigned to another district.
After that day, Angel felt a deep bitterness, believing that women would always treat him this way. He made two firm resolutions. First, he would stop trying to make female friends altogether—unless a girl explicitly approached him first to initiate a friendship, he would never seek one out. Second, he would strictly obey his parents and siblings to avoid conflicts and injustices like the one his mother had put him through.
Something fundamental shifted inside Angel. Something broke. After losing a four-year friendship so abruptly, he was never quite the same again.
THANK YOU FOR READING! I WILL TRY TO BRING THE NEXT CHAPTER FASTER. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE VIEWS, EVEN THOUGH I DIDN'T SET A VIEW GOAL THIS TIME!