Criss Cross Read Online Free

seeping into her mouth.
    The reverend was taken aback by the venom-tinged words: “I have to get rid of this baby.” Evelyn sounded like a stranger.
    He didn’t condone this pregnancy. But considering the girl was alone he would have expected a different reaction. Her vehement rejection of the child growing in her womb was quite disturbing.
    He placed a soothing hand over Evelyn’s. Her hands were ice cold and rock hard. They were trembling with the force of an earthquake.
    He said, “I can’t give this my blessing. I can’t advise the termination of a pregnancy. It just can’t be done under any circumstances. God has a way of working things out, my child. Let Him do it. In His time and in His way.”
    Risking a glance at the figurine Evelyn found it had righted itself. Once again it was glowing with a rainbow beauty of colors. There was no tail of a reptile choking its neck. The neck of the figurine was flawless in its slender elegance. The screeching and growling had stopped.
    Evelyn pulled her hand away. She was unable to control the trembling that robbed her of her agility. She wanted to pick up her coffee cup but found that her thought processes had disconnected from her limbs. She lacked the ability to complete such an innocent task.
    Willing her mental processes back into control over the physical, she smoothed her skirt and felt relieved at the simple movement.
    She wished she could believe the reverend’s words. She wished she could remember all she had been taught. But lately it seemed as though whatever knowledge she once possessed had deserted her. It was as if thieves had broken in and stolen it.
    Reverend Jackson’s God, who used to be her God as well, suddenly held no comfort for her. She desperately wanted to believe. She couldn’t. She had found she was sorely lacking the ability to see anything except the darkness that had shrouded and invaded her life.
    â€œReverend Jackson, there must be some exception.” She stumbled over the words, almost gagging on them.
    The reverend gave her his most comforting look. When he spoke his words were tinged with a hint of authority. “I’m sorry. There aren’t any exceptions, Evelyn.”
    Evelyn sighed. She was deeply disappointed, abandoned and scared. She didn’t argue or dispute the reverend. She had expected exactly this.
    A sense of pure desolation washed over her at the reverend’s words. She knew somewhere in her religion there was a cornerstone, a rock, but she didn’t know how to get to it. Those thoughts seemed to belong to someone she used to know, like a best friend she had lost contact with.
    Her face crumbled for a fraction of a second. The reverend watched her war with herself to win back her composure. He sighed deeply.
    Finally, drawing on sheer willpower, Evelyn arranged her posture to reflect a strength she didn’t feel. “If I am left with no choice, then there is something I need to share with you. Something that must not ever be revealed outside of this room.”
    Evelyn could taste the bitterness, rising like bile in her throat. She was about to subject herself to a scrutiny she wasn’t sure she could handle.
    Quentin was the outward visible sign of her worst fear, manifested in the flesh. He was the ultimate culmination of every fear she had ever known. He was a full-blown breathing nightmare.
    Reverend Jackson was one of the most solid people she knew. Yet, even he would be hard-pressed to believe her story. It didn’t matter. There was no way she could carry the weight of this alone. So she decided to cast her line out onto spiritual waters.
    Evelyn looked around the room. She lowered her voice to a whisper. She said, “Never, Reverend, never can my words leave this room.”
    An involuntary tremor passed through the reverend as her words were spoken. As though the very finger of God were touching his soul. He was drawn as if by a magnet to stare