*FLASH*
The light from the camera obliterates the studio’s mundane appearance. The lens focuses in on a gorgeous woman, a woman with a beauty that, until now, has only been read about in Greek mythology. Her blonde hair falls like silk in front of two beautiful blue eyes. Her delicacy is undeniable, but something is wrong, something that turns the heart if not the head. It’s her smile that says "I'm-such-trash-that-I-have-to-take-off-my-clothes-and-let-perverted-old-men-oggle-over-me." "OK, that’s a wrap!" the photographer declares.
The young woman slowly slides her clothes back on. Her heart is beating a thousand miles a minute for this is the first time she has exposed herself in such a manner. "What a rush!" she thinks to herself. She feels liberated, the chains have been broken. She feels like a star. She opens the door to the studio and steps out onto the cold, damp street. Her confidence, however, is kept in check when a man with a stubbly face and tattered clothes hobbles by without even giving her a glance. She quickly realizes she is not a star, yet. "Oh, but wait until next month’s publication, then everybody will know who I am."
Her keys softly rattle as she unlocks the door to her quaint, one-bedroom apartment. She flicks on the light to her bedroom, throws down her coat, and sits on her bed. She does her best to keep it in, every muscle in her face tenses, the knot grows larger in her throat. She doesn't even know why, but the tears begin to well, they roll down her cheeks like raindrops on a rosebush. Her mind drifts back to the scent of freshly cut grass on the lawn that dwelt amongst an old, wooden church. She remembers her mother dressing her in an adorable yellow cotton dress. She remembers how her mother held her hand as they knelt down at the pew. She set her pink Precious Memories Bible aside and repeated after her mother.
"Our Father which art in heaven
hallowed be thy name
thy kingdom come
thy will be done
on Earth as it is in Heaven
give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us of our debts
as we forgive our debtors
and lead us not into temptation..."
"Oh, Mama, what have I done? What kind of person have I become?" she laments to herself. She suddenly realizes the rush she had felt, not of something Godly, but of something worldly, a rush of guilt.
"but deliver us from evil..."
The chains she had been liberated from were not chains at all, but strings of righteousness that dwelt in her conscience and kept her on track.
She eventually cries herself to sleep, and her sobs quietly fade. She slips into a dream. She is taken back to the old country church. She sees her mother, smiling at her, standing next to the very pew where they sat so faithfully every week. Her mother takes her hand and they kneel.
"for thine is the kingdom
power and glory forever, amen."
By Corey Carroll
