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As my throat numbed, I wondered if I’d ever enjoyed frozen water as much as I did at this moment.
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I didn’t try to stop the tears. They were my wordless appeal to my husband, my unspoken request for support.
Father Gabriel often says that this arrangement is a blessing for wives. As a wife you don’t question. By doing as you’re told, you’re relieved of the responsibility of decisions.
Once the correction is complete, you no longer need to feel guilty. It’s as if it never happened. It’s a blessing. Don’t you agree?”
his explanation ricocheted around my brain. I didn’t agree. I wasn’t a child or a pet.
In many ways sight blinded people to the truth, and in my current condition I wasn’t preoccupied by appearances or visual distractions.
this rule teaches that patience is a virtue. God’s word instructs men to marry virtuous women. Therefore all women of The Light, such as yourself, are forbidden from questioning men, including your husband. This teaches you, and all the women, patience. Answers will be revealed in God’s time, not yours.”
At last census the Northern Light had over 450 followers who all lived, worshipped, and worked for Father Gabriel and The Light.
The Western Light had nearly three hundred, and the Eastern Light, the first campus, had over one hundred. The Eastern Light purposely remained small due to its urban location.
The Eastern Light served primarily as the point of entry for ma...
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Believe in yourself. You are stronger than this. Always stay true.
she reminded me that as women we aren’t owed men’s words, and thinking I was owed them made me prideful.”
“Sara, you need to count. Next time I won’t remind you.” Next time? No freakin’ way! I am stronger than this.
I had held the leather belt in my hand and sensed the vibration as it crashed down upon her fragile body. Each strike had marred not only her but also me.
Her only objective was to embrace Sara and become Sara. Her conformity to The Light was the only means of saving her.
The word incident filled me with dread.
she was my friend and my nurse. She’d seen my injuries from the accident and should understand that I didn’t need more. Instead she squeezed my hand, told me she understood, and reminded me that when I prayed, I should thank God for a husband who loved me enough to correct me.
Not only didn’t we have a choice, we couldn’t ask why.
Judging from the height of the vehicle as he’d helped me into my seat, we were in a truck. I wanted to ask if it belonged to him. After all, didn’t I wreck his truck?
Because we were so far away from everything, with so many people, I understood why he needed to transport a lot of supplies; what I didn’t understand was how or why he had unexpected passengers, but I didn’t ask.
“Hair,” Brother Timothy explained in a tone that reminded me of Jacob’s eerie calm, “is a woman’s crowning glory. The reminder you’ll receive today will help you to remember to be truthful.
Jacob might have said I had choices, even Brother Timothy had said the choice was mine, but it wasn’t. Like everything since I’d awoken, my fate would be determined by Jacob.
This will not beat . . . us. It wasn’t the same vow; this time one word was different.
Shouldn’t some of this be familiar? February? What month is it?
I picked up a crispy piece, put it in my mouth, and bit off the end. Ambrosia exploded in my mouth. “How do you do that? When I fry bacon it’s either black and sets off the fire alarm or is limp and gross.” Dylan’s eyes twinkled. “Yeah, no one likes limp.”
The last sentence warned people to recognize that even in this day and age, cults still existed.
The definition I’d seen earlier had said that a cult was a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object.
“it’s a derogatory term associated with deviant or unusual beliefs.”
While my mind continued its struggle, my body willingly submitted. With a touch, a glance, or one word, his expectations were made clear. Though some small part of me resisted, the sensible part of me wanted to be the best wife an Assemblyman could have.
this isn’t about correction. It’s about learning. Thoughts come and go; it’s dwelling on them that’s detrimental. The way you let them go is to release them to me.
No matter how hard I tried, there were times when my mouth spoke before my brain could tell it to stop.
He made it clear that it was as he’d explained: discipline, not abuse,
and even though each time my transgressions outnumbered one, he never gave me more than five lashes. That was more than enough to help me remember to try harder.
as Raquel had reminded me after my first correction—in my new memory or new past, as I liked to think of it—to thank God and Father Gabriel for a husband who loved enough to correct.
Once a month, all followers pressed the pads of their fingers onto a special prayer sponge. Symbolically it removed our individuality, making us all equal parts of Father Gabriel’s family.
