She hears him out

Sarah meets his gaze and allows the old man to continue. After all, she came all of this way - what more does she have to lose at this point.

"Okay.. I'll stay." Sarah said meekly, caving in to the old man. As Sarah walked back to her seat, she felt the entire room looking at her. She didn't feel directly pressured, yet at the same time felt like the entire room was unified in subtly pressuring her with their eager eyes.

"Yay! I'm so glad. I was so worried you were leaving!" Gemma said as soon as Sarah got back. "I don't want you to miss out!"

As Sarah went to sit down, the old man spoke up loudly.

"Not just yet, little lady. We're a family here. And when you meet family - it's important to introduce yourself to everybody." The old man said, almost as if he has done this before. "Here, I'll start: My name is David. I've had many jobs and titles in this life - many loves found and many loves lost. My mountains climbed and many dreams failed."

As the old man spoke, Sarah could feel almost a sense of calm in her stomach - which shocked her. Just a few minutes ago she was feeling extremely anxious.

"The greatest thing I've ever done with my life though, is this. This family. This place. I don't believe in churches but if I did, it would be this place." David explained. "We all came here when we needed something in our lives, and through the plans of our leader, we've all found eachother."

Applause fills the room. Sarah looks around and sees many of the members comforting eachother, almost like what you'd expect of a real family. Suddenly, Sarah's voice cuts through the applause.

"Gemma had mentioned something about you being a Beacon for the Prophets message. That sounds pretty church-like to me.."

Instantly, it felt like the room turned on her. Those same people who were comforting eachother we're now staring daggers through Sarah, who was trying to find somewhere to look - naturally, she fell back into the gaze of the old man, who seemed to be the only person still smiling.