My eyes drank in the room. And on the white linens covering the floor were bloodstains. A mixture of blood and semen from the union of young girls and men. “What have I done! What have I fucking done!” I roared, and stormed at my twin, thrusting my hands toward his chest. “What have you fucking done?”
Brother Luke closed in behind me. Spinning round, I slammed my hands on his chest and screamed, “Get the fuck out! Get the fuck out, before I snap your fucking neck!” Brother Luke blanched and ran from the room.
I turned to see Judah watching me. And I saw real fear in his face. “Cain?” he tried to calm, palms high.
I cut him off. “You think this is okay? You think raping little kids while they scream, being ripped apart by fucking old men, is okay?”
Judah eyes scanned the floor, staring absently at the burning incense and discarded devices, which kept the young girls’ legs apart. “It is the Lord’s way. It is one of our most fundamental beliefs. The men, the men need this. It is part of our faith.”
As I regarded Judah, my jaw clenched and, sweeping an arm over the scene, I proclaimed, "I am the prophet. And as such, I will be changing our practices. Starting with this.”
I turned, intending to leave, when Judah reached out and grabbed my arm. I whipped back round. With a hard face, Judah asserted, “The brothers will not accept such a change. Not even from you.”
With genuine incredulity, I stared at my twin brother and pointedly asked, “Are all the men here fucking pedophiles? Are they here in our commune for God and their souls’ salvation, or to fuck young girls?”
Judah staggered back. He shook his head. “Those men. The evil men you lived with for five years. They have corrupted your beliefs. Look at how you are acting. Hear how you are speaking! Hear the sinful words slipping from your lips!”
“I am nothing like them. But hear this; as fucked up as they are, as evil as their actions may be, they do not fuck innocent children!” I stepped back, and said quietly, “How am I alone in seeing this?”
“They infected your soul,” Judah snapped.
Laughing without humor, I pointed at his face, and said, “No, brother. What you don’t understand is that I fucking hate those men. I want them destroyed as much as you. They sin, they whore, and they disregard God’s laws day in and day out. But what living with them did give me is fucking context. You never left our childhood home, Judah, not once. It was me. It was me who lived in the outside world for five years, and as much as I hated every fucking second of being in that hell, it has convinced me that these fucked up sessions are wrong. Maybe if you had been the one sent on that mission, you would not be standing here like a pedophilic fool, defending the indefensible!”
Needing to get the hell out of this stifling place, I made for the door, when Judah announced, “You have lost our faith, Cain. You have been corrupted. You do not deserve the prestigious mantle of leading our people, not acting like this.”
I stopped dead, and turned round to warn, “Careful, brother, that sounds dangerously like treason. And treason against the prophet is punishable by imprisonment.”
Judah’s face turned ashen and, face tight, he fled from the room. I raced back to my mansion, and into my office. I began poring over the scriptures, set on creating my own version.
I worked for hours, deciphering and burning old, often unintelligible, revelations by my Uncle David from his later life. I purged the practices that so offended, and I put pen to paper, creating new laws and practices that wouldn’t jeopardize the innocence of our children.
I work so hard that the moon fell, giving way to the lightening sky of a new day. I worked so hard that I fell asleep at my desk, pen still in hand…