The Potter and His Clay.

A "Normal" School Night.

"Didn't I look cool?" Ethan smirked chuckling proudly, Eliza frowned at her cousin "wow your head just got bigger", Ethan let out a dry laugh. He pulls up into the drive way and they both get out

"hey guys" 

they looked at Hunter Bates who was a youth leader at their church, he approached them with a box and a grin, Eliza looked at the box "what's in the box?" 

"kitchen and eating utensils" he replied, shaking the box around to reveal the sound of silver clatter on each other

"what for?" Ethan asked 

"it's Wednesday" he noted, they nodded in realization. Pastor Thompson came out from the house, jogging down the concrete steps "right, let's go Hunter" 

he looked at his grandkids and smiles "ah, right on time, hurry up and go change, both of you"

"it's a school night Grandpa" Ethan answered reluctantly, "and I have a -"

"that can wait, this is an hour feeding the homeless and we need more volunteers" he snapped, cutting him off. Eliza chuckled at Ethan's dumbfounded look  "I'll be back in five" 

Ethan let out a deep sigh and followed his cousin into the house. 

***

Eliza gripped onto the serving spoon and looked around Venice Hall, it was a community hall that they used quite often for homeless outreach, fundraisers, counselling and so on.  She looked at her Grandfather who was talking to a few homeless people who were taking bites from their food, he looked happy and talked enthusiastically about God. She turned her gaze to her cousin who was mopping the floor from a coffee spill, he had an annoyed look on his face but he continued to clean up. 

"He'd rather be at home" 

she looked at Hunter who came to her side and began refilling coffee cups, Eliza took a bowl from a man with a smile and refilled his bowl with chicken broth. She gave a plate of bread and handed it over with a warm smile "enjoy" she says, he returns a small smile and walks away thankful.

"He wanted to work on a song he wrote last week" she finally answers, he nodded and looked at Pastor Thompson "your Grandfather is seriously who I want to be in five years" 

she followed his gaze and smiled at her Grandfather's contagious smile, he loved everyone. He made time to help those who needed help, he organized outreaches such like as these and preached every single day out on the streets. He was devoted to God as if He was his closest friend

"me too" she whispers. 

A piercing scream shot through the air, everyone turn their heads towards a woman who was bent over, grabbing onto her hair. Her breathing heavy and hoarse , she fell to the ground and let out another spine chilling scream, she scratched her body and began hitting herself. Everyone moved away from her in shock and fear, Pastor Thompson rushed to her and kneeled beside her, she began foaming at the mouth and began snarling at him, he watched at her sadly as he began to pray. Hunter and some other volunteers made a circle around  the woman, Pastor Thompson pressed his palm on her forehead and began praying, her screams got louder and horrifying,

"stop it!" she screamed painfully, he ignored her and continued praying, she started laughing and began to sing a tune, Hunter and the rest of the volunteers had already joined hands and broke into choruses of prayer. Eliza stared in fear, her feet glued to the ground, Ethan ran to her side and held her tight as they watched. The guests were asked to stay back from the scene and to pray for her, only a few prayed while the rest watched on. 

"In the name of Jesus, get out of this woman right now!" he says in authority

the woman's voice went deeper as she yelled no, "In the name of Jesus!" Pastor Thompson continued, she started crying, asking for mercy, "In the name of Jesus!" he repeated. Her eyes rolled back as her body fell into stillness, the hall fell into an eerie silence as people waited in suspense, looking at the woman, 

"Cassandra?" Pastor Thompson called softly as he touched her shoulder, she didn't respond after a second, she suddenly groaned in and opened her eyes slowly

 "are you okay?" Pastor Thompson  asked "how do you feel?" 

he backed away from her and asked her to stand on her own, one of the volunteer offered to help 

"no" Pastor Thompson said shaking his head "let her stand on her own"

the volunteer nodded and stepped back again, the woman weakly sat up and asked for help as she was weak, Pastor Thompson held his hands behind his back "who saved you?" he asked sternly 

the woman stared at him "huh?" 

"who saved you?" he asked again 

she frowned confusingly at him, she scratched her head and thought for a moment, she sighed and smiled widely at him "you did Pastor" 

Pastor Thompson smiled back and knelt by her side, he grabbed her arm and pulled her close, pressing his palm once again onto her forehead, earning another spine chilling shriek. 

***

He stares down at the happy couple in the photo, his hand gripping onto the paper, as his eyes stick at the couple's happy faces. He looked at the letter behind the photo, and began to read.

"Dear son, we are currently at Bhutan, visiting friends who have agreed for partnership, we won't be back for another week. Love from your Mother and Father"

he crumbled the paper and threw it over his shoulder, he looked at the photo once more and then folded it up, placing it beside him on his bed. He got up and grabbed his jacket, making his way out of off his bedroom. He went downstairs and went straight to the front door, 

"Jonathan?"

he stopped and turned to see Rose as she approached him from the dinning room, "where are you going?" she asks concerned

"out" he says sternly, he turns back to the door and pulls the door open 

"I made dinner" she adds, hoping it'd stop him from leaving, "I'm not hungry" he shot back, stepping out and slamming the door behind him. He got into his car and drove off.  He went into town and pulled up in front of Ernie's Bar, he got out and made his way to the entrance, massive biker men stood at the entrance laughing and conversed loudly about a woman named Loris. One of them stopped him with his hand on his chest 

"no kids allowed" he says, Jonathan pulled out a hundred dollar bill from his back pocket and handed it over, the bikers look at the bill and chuckled, 

"in that case, welcome to Ernie's" the other biker grinned smugly. Jonathan frowned at him with disgust and pushed his way past them, he walked into the bar with all sorts of people all over the place, country rock music played in the background as people laughed and drank happily. He walked over to the main bar, gaining glances from everyone around, he sat on a stool and took out his wallet and phone, placing it in front of him. 

"How old are you?" 

he looked up and sees a beautiful bartender, her blue eyes frown fiercely at him, he grins "what's a guy gotta do to get a drink around here?" he asked looking around 

"an ID" she snapped folding her arms , he smirked at her as he lets out an amused chuckle and pulled out his fake ID from his wallet and handed it over with it wedged tightly in between his index and middle fingers. She snatched it from him and scanned it, she looked at the picture on the ID and back at him

"Peter Jones?" she asked suspiciously 

"yes ma'am" he says with a sly smile, she studied his face and finally lets out a deep exhale, "what will it be Mr. Jones?" 

"please" he urges suddenly yet in a gentle tone "Call me Peter" he adds with a smile, as he gazes deep into her deep blue eyes.

***

Eliza stared out the window with her head up against the glass, her Grandfather, Pastor Thompson drove them back home after the night's events, she hadn't spoken a word since the incident and she felt a core gripping fear that had her heart not sitting well. 

"I've never seen one in person before" Ethan says almost in a whisper "that was scary"

Pastor Thompson sighed "we have nothing to fear kids, the only one we should be afraid of is God, demons need to be reminded of, whose Boss" he says boldly 

Ethan looks at him and gives a small smile "right". Pastor Thompson looked into the rear mirror and looks at his Granddaughter, 

"Eliza?" he called concerned, as he looks back to the road ahead of him

Eliza hauled herself out of her thoughts and looked at her Grandfather "hmm?" 

"you okay?" he asked gently, glancing at her once more,  she sat up and lets out a shaky breathe "just a bit shaken" she answered as she wrapped her arms around her, he nodded and paused for a second before responding with  "perfect love casts out fear hon".  Eliza wrenched her chest in realization, she began repeating the verse within her head, after a minute of repeating it over and over again, she finally felt a sense of peace rise up within her. She had nothing to fear, not even the devil himself.

They drive through town, stopping at a red light, "how about a sundae?" Pastor Thompson asked smiling at the both of them, Ethan drummed the dashboard "that's what I'm talking about!"

Pastor Thompson chuckled and looked at Eliza, "Eliza?"

she lets out a small chuckle and shrugged "sure, why not". Pastor Thompson grinned and made a left after the light turned green, they drove to Ollie's Diner and made their way into the restaurant. Eliza reached into her pockets and stopped in her tracks "my phone", Ethan looked over his shoulder "what's wrong?" 

"my phone"  she answered. Pastor Thompson walked back out of the diner "what's keeping you guys?" 

"I think I dropped my phone in the car-" 

"you're not going to die without that thing" he deadpanned slightly frowning at the excuse, she sighed and stretched out her hand "keys please, I need to be sure, I dropped it in there or back at the shelter"

"you kids and your gadgets" he pulled out his keys from his coat and threw it to her, she caught it midair, and told them to go in and order. 

"Call my phone in three minutes" she instructed Ethan, "yeah yeah" he replied annoyed and followed his Grandfather in. Eliza jogged to the car and pressed the unlock button, she pulled the door open and jumped in, she turned the car light on and began scouring the seats, she got on her knees and looked under the seats. After three minutes, her ringtone filled the car, she turned around and found it on the side of the passenger seat, she grabbed it and smiled triumphantly. 

"Looking for something?" 

she gasped as she turned around abruptly in shock, she looked at the rugged man before her, he had dirty brown hair that looked like he had not combed it since Christmas, a face that had not touched a razor and he reeked of alcohol . He looked into the car and whistled impressed "nice ride" 

she stared at him with wide eyes, fear gripping her again. He stepped into the car "mind if I just" he hauled himself into the BMW and made himself comfortable, "this is really nice" he says again excitedly, her hearts leaps into her lungs "s-sir, p-please l-eave" she stuttered. He laughed at her, "you're a cutie, aren't you?" he says, moving closer to her, she moved away slowly, reaching for the door behind her. She suddenly screamed when he was surprisingly pulled back by his neck out of the car, the man flew backwards and landed square on his back thud, Eliza stared at the man who stood above the intruder and gasped 

"Jonathan?" 

the man turned and looked at Eliza "You?" 

She frowned at his response, her eyes suddenly drift off behind him as the intruder got back up and lunged at him, Jonathan side stepped, allowing the man to fly towards Eliza, he grabbed the man's collar swiftly before darting into the car and tugged him back to the ground with great force, choking him in the process. Eliza stared in awe, "Eliza!" 

Ethan comes running out, he stopped and looks down at the man on the ground and then at the one standing above him "Jonathan?"

Jonathan looked at Ethan passively, "call the police" he says sternly

"why? what happened?" he asked, he looked into the car and sees his cousin still in shock "Eliza?", he gets closer, jumping into the car, grabbing her shoulders 

"what happened?!" Pastor Thompson cried jogging to the scene 

"this man intruded into the car and tried to assault that girl" Jonathan informed emotionlessly. "Eliza!" Ethan snapped aggressively "her name is Eliza!"

Jonathan rolled his eyes and grabbed the man's collar, pulling him closer and suddenly punches him across the face, knocking him out instantly.