Church

Nate was buttoning up his nice shirt when his mother called for him from downstairs. He takes one more look in the mirror before joining his family at the front door. His father, his mother, and his older sister were all dressed in their Sunday best as they got in the car. As they drove Nate stared out the window daydreaming, a mischievous smile plastered on his face.

When he set the stage for his little “adventures” he liked to use his powers as little as possible. He wanted everything to feel real. He got a sick satisfaction out of knowing that people would so easily humiliate him and engage in perverted acts, sometimes against his will, with just a little nudge. Deep down, every one of them was messed up, and that was coming from a guy who derives pleasure from showing his naked body to others. The situations where he had to do the least were the organizations. The ones with the rules and the authority figures and the stigma and shame of being in the out-crowd. When one seeks such a place they need not look any further than a modern religion. The Christian church his family occasionally attended was one such opportunity. One one hand they all bowed down and listen led to a common voice of “reason” and on the other hand they compromise on almost everything to make their outdated philosophy fit in the modern age. They rarely question anything while pretending they are questioning everything. Their vulnerability and unwillingness to consciously change always left them gullible. This was only reinforced by the keeping-up-with-the-Joneses attitude of suburban life. Nate had to take advantage.

When his family arrived they parked and got out of their car, all of them miserable to have gotten up so early on the weekend. Nate made his way to the youth group as his parents and older sister made their way to the sanctuary. The youth group was comprised of all the late high school and early college students who were deemed too old to stay in Sunday school but not quite mature enough to join everyone else during the main sermon. All the adults who attended the church were brainwashed at an early age to fear sexual temptation and as a result became awkward and lacked the proper social and sexual capabilities to find a suitable mate. When they did manage to find a mate, they usually couldn’t afford to have a child as they were consistently pressured into giving up money to the church, not wanting to be known as the one’s who don’t give offering. This left an age gap in he church members meaning that the youth group is was unusually large and all members were at least eighteen. It would be several years before it got any new members and by that time the remaining ones will have graduated to the sanctuary.

Nate walked down the hall to his room and opened the door, ready to greet whoever bothered to show up today.