Winning Story for Writer’s Quill

Welcome back to The Writer’s Quill everyone! Thank you to everyone who submitted stories, they were all great! The votes have been counted and the results are in! The winning story is (drum-roll please) A Religious Mission by Angela Gibilisco, grade 10! Congratulations Angela!

Angela Theresa Marianne Gibilisco

10^th Grade

A Religious Mission

I still wasn’t sure why I was doing this. Granted, the family I was attempting to “save” was not in very good spiritual condition, but was it right to break and enter? I didn’t care about it. If there was one way to get Amelia and Amia back, it had to be this way.

I jumped over the fence to the Heinlez mansion, my ear-sized walkie-talkie communicator almost falling out, and walked up to the backdoor, hoping against hope that the code to the alarm was given to me correctly. One, two, three, I counted the stairs. Four, five, six, I dodged the squeaky seventh step by jumping to eight, then ten. The darkness consumed the near black house, though I was able to see fine after the walk to get here. I walked over to the security panel on the house. It was disguised as the house number, even though it was on the back side of the house. Three, four, three, eight, ring on top. The numbers lit up green and I heard a click from the door. I put my hand to my ear, activating the communicator. “I’m in. Beginning phase 2,” I said.

“Good,” came the deep voice of the Commander—which is what my friend-since-kindergarten, Keith, demanded to be called—from the other end. “Now be careful. It’s dark, obviously, and one loud sound and the butler will wake up.”

“I know,” was my whispered reply.

“From this point on, listen to my directions. And for heaven’s sake, please don’t reply to any of my comments. Remember we can see where you are by your button camera.” It was true. My black leather coat was not only made to keep me warm on the cold October night, but to also spy on what I was doing.

“Now, walk a few steps forward and turn right, through the door,” the voice said. As I started walking into the house I let the door close silently behind me and the Heinlez’s cat rubbed against my leg.

“I’m a cat bugler, and the cats love meh!” I quietly replied.

“Your puns are terrible.” I was able to hear Keith frown from the other side. “Through the door should be the family room. Keep walking straight and turn left . . . now!” I followed the directions and found myself looking up a large, fancy staircase. “I assume you’re not blind and see the staircase? Walk up it, avoiding the railing!” I walked to it, obeying the instructions that were given by the Commander.

Why am I doing this? I thought to myself. If only I knew; was doing this was the right thing. I tripped on a step and fell onto the ground with my hands on the next step and shins that were hurting.

“Colette! Be careful! You CANNOT be distracted under ANY circumstances!” I regained my balance, ready to say I was alright to the Commander. Before I could he said, “And don’t you think about responding to my outburst!” I shut my mouth and continued walking, making sure I was completely and utterly concentrated this time. When I reached the top, that deep voice came back into the Communicator.

“I’ve decided to hide it under their beds. I understand this gives you a much harder time, but it’s the only place they’re at during most to all of the day. You know this Colette, and you also know that putting it in their car would be useless because they have ten.” I groaned inwardly and continued walking. I knew that he would want me to go to Amelia and Amia’s room first because they were the closest. Now that I was upstairs, I at least had a feel of where I was going.

“You’ll go to the twins room first, alright? Don’t answer, that’s what you’re doing.” I followed his instructions, praying that I wouldn’t get caught. When I reached the door, I looked at the knob. Lord, is this right? I thought. Something inside me said I wasn’t going to be invited to another of the Heinlez’s party anytime within the next year of school and in all honesty I don’t think I would go. Both the Commander and I have tried over and over again to let them take it, though they never did. And the Commander was right in every—

“Earth to Colette! Come in Colette! Don’t answer, just shake or something so I know you’ve heard me screaming at you for the past two minutes!” I snapped out of my trance and walked stiffly in a circle to show him that I was alive and able to hear him. “Good! Now, open the door very, very quietly and slowly.” Yeah, you think I don’t know that? I wouldn’t blow the mission by opening the door too loudly because that would be the worst mistake in history! I wished so bad to touch the communicator and say the sarcastic remark out loud, but fought the urge to do so.

I reached for the knob, praying one last time, then opening the door. The dark room was filled with only one, small nightlight, which shown from in between the two beds. The bratty, fifteen-year-old girls were afraid of the dark . . . and afraid to admit it.

“Wow, they use a nightlight?” the Commander asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever thought of them having a fear of anything. Then again, maybe they just need light to sleep and don’t want to waist energy.” Yeah, right, I thought. “Okay, I’m going to stop talking because you know what to do from here on in. Remember where to hide them.” Silently, I walked into the room. Thankfully it was carpeted and there was no noise as I walked across to their beds. I knelt down beside the bed on the left, which I thought to be Amia’s by the looks of the face from the dim nightlight. Thank goodness this bed is so high! I pulled the item from my pocked and wedged it in the crack of the leg and body of the bed. I slowly crawled to Amelia’s bed and did the same with another. I stood and slowly backed out of the room, gently closing the door behind me.

“Perfect Colette. Now all you need to do is Mr. and Mrs. Heinlez and hightail it out of there!” I sighed and walked to the adult’s room. I opened the door, if anything slower than before, and walked into the large master bedroom. Quickly and quietly I entered, places two of the items between the leg and the bed, and got out. Without listening to the voice in my ear I retraced my steps and got to the door. I put my hand over the button of the communicator that lets me speak and whispered, “Phase 2 completed, phase 3—getting out of here—is next. How do I get out?”

“Come on Colette! I just told you!”

“Maybe I was too busy paying attention to what I was doing to listen! Now get me out of here, I want to go to sleep before Mass tomorrow.”

“Okay, step onto the carpet, grab and hold the knob firmly for exactly five seconds, and let go. You should hear a click, which means you can open the door.”

“Weird security systems . . .”
“Just open the stupid door already!”

“Okay!” I stood on the carpet in front of the door like the Commander said and held the doorknob as tight as I could. One, two, three, four, five. I let go, and click. I opened the door, slowly closed it, and ran down the stairs ignoring the squeaky step.

“What are you doing Colette?” came the voice from home.

“I’m running, can’t you see? I don’t want to be apart of this anymore!” As I ran to the edge of their yard I jumped the fence, made a left, and ran to the sidewalk. I ran all the way home, wiping my feet at the backdoor, and sneaking in so as to not wake my parents.

“Colette, do you want to talk?”

“Yes.” I went up to my room and stationed my computer at my desk. 3:00 A.M., and I had 10:30 Mass to sing at the next day. I logged onto my G+ account and called Keith. His face showed up in his dark room as I pulled the wireless walkie-talkie out of my ear.

“What’s up?” he asked me.

“I just don’t feel like I should’ve done that. Couldn’t I just put it in their backpacks Monday at school?”

“You know they spend as little time as possible with their backpacks. It says that the Green Scapular should be in or on something they use often, and you know that even during meals and parties they’re always on their beds.” The lights went on in Keith’s room as he started walking back to his desk with the computer. I looked into his green eyes, even though he couldn’t tell I was doing so.

“I know, but who’s going to pray the rosary for them everyday now? I know that they’re your cousins, but are you really going to do that?” I was so confused. The Green Scapular was supposed to convert people if someone prays for the person with the scapular every single day. On the paper the scapulars came with, it explained that we should try to give it to them to wear all the time, and when they physically refused it said to hide it in or on something they use often. Obviously, because they’re rich, they don’t use one specific thing over and over again. And to be honest, Keith was right. He wasn’t going to be invited back to the house until Christmas Dinner, which obviously isn’t until December and February had just started, and I wasn’t good enough friends to be with them.

“For as long as I’ve known I’ve prayed a rosary everyday of my life. I’ll say the rosary. I love my family, and I really can’t stand not seeing them at Mass and making fun of the Catholics, or anyone with a religion to believe, in our class.” Keith ran his hands through his brown hair.

“I know Keith, I know. I’m sick of them bullying me too, but is this really going to work? I mean, we’ve been praying for years, and they still haven’t come back.” I leaned far back in my chair, pushing my feet against my wall to make me go farther. Placing my head in my hands I said, “Isn’t breaking and entering a sin anyway?”

“I know they haven’t come back yet, but remember the story about the girl who prayed on the Green Scapular at Mass? I know these items don’t possess any special power, but maybe Mary will work in really awesome ways this time! And besides, God never said, ‘Thou shalt not break and enter,’ He merely said, ‘Thou shalt not steal,’ which normally goes under breaking and entering. I feel like this doesn’t count though. I mean, we never stole anything, we just put something—an extremely powerful Green Scapular to be exact—in their rooms to bring them back to God.” Keith looked at his watch before continuing. “It’s almost three thirty. We should go to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow at ten thirty Mass Colette.” He smiled weakly.

“Yeah, goodnight. Pray that I wake up in time so that my parents don’t murder me.” Of course I was joking, but I thought that it might be true this time. It would’ve been the third time in four weeks. We hung up and I got into pajamas. I would’ve slept in my black clothes, though I knew my parents would wonder about my night.

I crawled into my bed, exhausted beyond measure. Though exhausted, I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about what I had done, not sure if I was doing the right thing. Did the right thing. Whatever tense it was. I tossed and turned until almost four, then finally fell asleep.

It’s been three weeks since the whole break-and-enter incident, and I still wasn’t forgiving myself. Keith was at my side, eating lunch at the lunch table at the school cafeteria with me. We weren’t in any of the same classes this year, and after the Green Scapular act I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Amelia and Amia on the other hand, were in half of my classes. They only got worse after that night.

“I really don’t think it’s been helping at all Keith,” I said. “Have you seen any improvement in their faith? Any small trace of something?”

“Not particularly in any way. I think something’s going to happen soon though. I can feel it,” he replied.

“Yeah, sure.”

It’s the last week before Easter break. While the twin Heinlez girls hadn’t bothered me or Keith in a while, they still made me uncomfortable. Right now it was recess/free time, and I was talking to Keith under the large weeping willow in the school yard. I still don’t know how it was possible to have it there, though it was nice to relax under it in the soft, April breeze.

“So have you seen any progress at all?” Keith was the one to ask this time around.

“Well, they haven’t been as bad to me—or anyone majorly for that matter—in a few weeks. At least, from what I’ve seen or heard.” I was extremely confused by it, though I was happy for the break in moods.

“That’s great news! They’re getting there!”

“Who’s getting where?” Both Keith and I jumped and looked to see Amelia and Amia staring down at us.

“A family friend in college,” Keith lied.

“That’s nice,” Amia said. “Hey, can we talk to you? Privately?” Keith and I looked at each other. How could this be? I thought, seeing the same thoughts going through his mind.

“Sure?” I said looking at the twins.

“Thank you,” Amelia said, looking at her feet. We all walked over to the farthest side of the fence and sat down. “First, we’d like to apologize for how awful we’ve been treating you.”

My mouth dropped and I looked to my right to see Keith doing the same. After probably twenty seconds I finally snapped out of it. “Um. We—I forgive you both. I can’t speak for Keith—”

“I forgive you too!” he quickly replied.

“Uh, thank you so much. Since Easter is coming up, we, um, had a few questions.” Amia looked at her twin, probably for encouragement. “Uh, well, we . . . Maybe I should start from the beginning?”

“Yeah, uh, that would be good,” Keith said.

“Well, one day probably three or four weeks ago at this point,we were walking home because our butler was sick and couldn’t pick us up. I’m sorry if we’re rubbing it in your face. . . .” What happened to these two? “Anyway, we saw an older man walking out, so we made a cruel joke to him. I don’t even want to say what it was.” Amia shook.

“We didn’t know it was the pastor of the church until he invited us to talk for a bit.” This was Amelia, who was taking up the story now. “He showed us the Bible. We talked with him for almost two hours about it, and we had a true conversion. We tried to tell our parents, but they only grounded us. We really want to celebrate this Easter with them after that large faith change, but we’re not sure how to get them back to the Catholic Faith. Do you guys have any idea how to converse them? We’ve tried showing them our Bibles, see?” Amelia took out her Bible and showed us. I couldn’t believe my senses.

“Um . . . Uh . . .” I just couldn’t understand. Did they know that’s practically illegal?

“Well, have you been praying for them?” Keith to the rescue . . . again.

“Everyday! Almost every minute of every hour of every day!” Amia rested her head on her twin’s shoulder.

“Have you prayed a rosary?” I asked. I couldn’t believe my ears. I had suggested to the school bullies to pray a rosary. I was in utter shock.

“What’s that?” They said in sync.

“It’s a form a prayer to the Blessed Mother for intercession,” Keith started explaining. “Basically, because she’s the mother of God, Jesus will do almost whatever she asks because He’s obedient to her. Obviously, not every want will be granted, though every want will be eased. Here, you can take mine!” He dug deep into his pocket and pulled out a rosary.

“Isn’t it illegal to have one of those at school?” Amia had an extremely scared look on her face.

“It is. But really, it shouldn’t be. It’s praising God through honoring His mother. Do you know how to pray the Hail Mary, Our Father, and Glory Be?”

“Yes, Pastor Witler showed us those prayers, and even wrote them down for us.” Amelia smiled. “They’re amazing prayers.”

“Make the sign of the cross, say the Apostle’s Creed on it, then an Our Father. Then say three Hail Mary’s for faith, hope, and charity, then a Glory Be. . . .” As Keith continued explaining the rosary, I thought back to only a month ago. I woke up late and didn’t have time to brush my hair. I made the best of it, but Amelia and Amia both made such a large fuss about it they were both sent to detention. I still couldn’t believe these were the same people.

“That does make sense,” Amia said as the bell rang.

“Please, could we meet after school? I still have questions,” Amelia said as we got up and started walking the long walk back to the building.

“It’s very simple. Say a rosary, or at least a decade of one, everyday for your parents,” he dropped his voice to a whisper, fearing the teachers or someone else would hear. “Ask them again to go to Mass on Friday, and if they say no, then put your best dresses on and go to St. Catherine’s Roman Catholic Church for eight o’clock Mass. Tell them you’re going to a friend’s house, because really you will be, and meet us there. We could give you a ride back if you wanted?”

“Thank you both!”

“So much!” Both Amelia and Amia grabbed us in a tight hug, then ran off to their next class. I looked at Keith, skeptical.

“See?” he asked smiling. “I told you so!”

“How did you know?” I asked.

“The Green Scapular is powerful. The rosary is more so. Only God can work miracles like this. What you’ve just witnessed, Colette, is the power and grace of God.”

I smiled. “Well, looks like we had an Easter Miracle!”

Keith frowned. “Your puns are terrible.” And he walked to his next class.

Please note: There is no new prompt this week, please check in next Wednesday for the new challenge!