Celestial's Prayer

Shell-shock

While Mina and Samuel were fighting, the boy back at the tree finally got a grasp of reality. Slowly he started heading back towards the water.

He wasn’t sure what he had just witnessed, but he knew there were not supposed to be jaguars, of all the great cats, around this area.

Wolves? Sure.

Cougars? Sometimes.

Panthers? Well, aren’t they the same?

He wasn’t sure.

But Jaguars of those colors surely didn’t exist.

He waded back into the water, not consciously aware of the cold and how the slight scratches from the white jaguar’s claws were almost closed completely on contact with the water. Deep in thought, he began the short swim back across the pool, letting his muscles burn with the constant bunching and release of exercise.

Having reached the edge of the pool, he threw on his shirt and jeans. His mind was preoccupied as he walked up to where he had parked his motorcycle. His mind now set on the girl in the water with her strange eyes, hair and markings that had just peered above the water.

The image permanently impressed on his mind now and he couldn’t shake it.

Could she have been real?

Is there really such a thing as mermaids, like that one movie his sister loved so much?

Is the water even deep enough for that kind of creature?

Can it even sustain a population of those beings?

He didn’t think so, his parents may believe in that stuff, worshiping these beings called the Celestials, but he didn’t.

However, after experiencing the jaguars and the strange girl in the water, he wondered.

Could they be right?

Could those stories about the strange people in the forest called the Celestial Beasts that his parents told him about since he was little, have some truth to them?

He chewed on these thoughts all the way home. Driving automatically, not even noticing the chill of the wind drying off his wet body as he was ushered down the highway. He parked his bike. Grabbed his traveling badly. Then began the walk to his door. He lived on the outskirts of the city in a town home. However, the parking was always terrible. Often, when he came back from a work trip from the northern part of the city, he wouldn’t have a parking spot.

Distracted, his mind back in the water, he was ready to unlock the door, when a familiar voice broke from the darkness freezing his hand in place. “Hey Lathaniel! Bro! What’s up?”

“Kay!! What are you doing here so late?” Lathaniel was startled and disturbed to see his boyhood friend Kay.

They had a huge falling out awhile back. He never dreamed of seeing Kay standing outside his apartment at twelve in the morning. Lathaniel just stood there staring in disbelief. Suspicion was raised as the silence dragged on. He shook his head and smiled. Opening the door, he threw his keys and helmet on the kitchen counter.

“Oh, dude you know it’s been so long, and I just thought I’d stop by and ummm... say hi.”

Lathaniel turned around and stared at Kay, his eyes slanting in suspicion. Where Lathaniel lived was secret. Nobody one knew where he lived, especially no one from their hometown. Lathaniel wanted nothing to do with that obsessive cult and their straightforward thinking.

“Uh-huh at midnight. Sure, Kay, what do you need man?” Lathaniel crossed his arms and casually leaned against the counter, his eyes icy. His friend now seemed awfully interested in his shoes. This was a characteristic Kay had since they were kids, when he would be called out but didn’t have anything to cover it up with. After a long pause, Kay swallowed and looked up.

“Typical you, being able to read people without them saying much.”

“Nah man I just know you.” Lathaniel left many unresolved issues hanging in the air between them.

“Aw well... I know you don’t follow or believe in our beliefs, but umm.... Yea... I was going to be initiated into the priesthood tomorrow. I-I-I don’t want to do it but my parents', they insist. I mean all of the men in my family are priests! I... I just can’t do it.” Lathaniel stared coyly at Kay. He could easily tell that Kay was hiding something. Something big.

“Well, what do you want me to do about it, Kay? I mean I removed myself from all of that stuff after the blow up with my parents. I’m not a part of that anymore. Hell, my parents don’t even talk to me at all. I’d be surprised if they even knew where I lived.”

“Dude, that’s exactly why I came to you! I don’t want to be a part of that s**t anymore, and I was wondering if I could maybe... stow away here for a while, until I can afford a place of my own?” The expression in Kay’s eyes Lathaniel could tell that he was telling the truth, but reluctantly. This made Lathaniel speechless. Ever since he had met Kay when they were toddlers, he always had the impression he fully embraced their parents’ fanatical religious views. In fact, when he went off, leaving his entire family and their views behind, Kay had pretty much thrown their entire 14-year friendship out of the window.

“Why the sudden change of heart, Kay? I thought you wanted a major role in their society. I thought you liked and wanted to be a part of the priesthood?” Snidely Lathaniel watched Kay squirm under his icy stare, now made bitter by time because of unhealed wounds.

Red in the face, Kay gave an embarrassed smile, “Yea well... You remember in class when our teacher emphasized that our priests before and during their time of service must be pure and untainted by lust, love, gluttony, and such?”

Startled at the implications, Lathaniel gave a cheesy smile and relaxed a little. “Yea I ‘member that. They made that decision because at the end of their service they must make a special sacrifice that’ll help them live a prosperous life afterwards. That’s why your family is so well off and you have 3 brothers and 2 sisters. If they don’t come in pure, then the gods and goddesses won’t accept his sacrifice.”

“Yea exactly but well ummm.....”