Will sat behind the rock, he made no noise except for his panting. The terrain he was in could only be crossed by foot, even if the reverend could drive his truck, he would have to get out and climb the mountain to catch Will.
Sitting by the mountain stream, Will thought about what might happen to Maggie.

“It’s all my fault.” He thought to himself, “If anything happens to her…it will be all my fault…”


(a few hours earlier)

Maggie quickly slammed the window shut as she watched Will hop the fence to freedom. She sighed with relief, but then remembered the four officers sprinting up the stairs to catch her younger cousin. She ran for the door to his room to run downstairs and tell the officers to leave, but as she walked for the door, the first officer with the knight-stick kicked the white-wood door open, and stormed inside.

“Where the hell is he?” The officer asked angrily.

“I-uh-I don’t know”

“Look!” Another officer said, pointing out the window. All four of them ran to the windowsill and forced the window open. They saw the young Will running at top speed out to the desert.

“He ran” One officer stated.

“Yep. And the Reverend will be ready to deal with that problem when it get’s there”

“What!” Maggie said in surprise.

“Yeah, that son of yours is wanted by the reverend for some reason or another. And he’s waiting out there for him”

Maggie had a feeling of dread come over her, she ran for the window to yell after Will to run somewhere else, but the officers knew of her plan as they each stood in front of Maggie, glaring at her.

“Look. Don’t worry, your son is saved now, he can be freed from his sin”

“Shut the fuck up! My cousin did nothing wrong! You bastards are just crazy zealots who think they know everything!” Maggie shouted. She pried open the window and screamed after Will, who was now a dot on the horizon.
“RUN AWAY WILL!! RUN AWAY!!”

The officers restrained her, cuffing her, they pulled her back into the house. After warning her not to make an outburst again. They un-cuffed her hands and left the house, but before they did, one of the officers turned to speak to Maggie.

“He’ll be in the Farm, he’ll be fine, just LET it go”


Maggie sat at the table crying, her blanket wrapped around her, a cup of chai tea was in her hands.

“Dammit…” she thought to herself, “…Goddamnit”
She felt confused now.