Desmond slid in beside Shaun, noticing the finger to the lips his only pal made at the pastor. The man continued with his sermon flawlessly, preaching to the other teens there as they sat in the back row. He halfheartedly listened, moreover frustrated at everything happening. He was out of options now, having tried shrinks, medicines, mediums, and anything else that he could afford. He was on his last legs, tired of not sleeping, of having this bad luck curse. Shaun had almost crashed his car swerving to avoid a deer, almost gotten plowed over by a semi that had barreled through the intersection, and busted a tire rolling into the parking lot. Of course, this was on top of having lost his brand new phone. And shit like this happened daily.

He had been abused by his mother, taken away from his father, sent to some of the worst foster care homes, been attacked multiple times at the bar, almost got busted for being only eighteen, and had multiple glasses explode on him. He had gotten blamed for missing alcohol, broken toys, even the apartment fire he had gotten trapped in.

At this point, an omnipotent ruler of the cosmos seemed to be his last chance.

He was amazed that Shaun had kept quiet the whole time, and when the pastor asked for prayer requests, his pal stood up at the end. The pastor had been looking at him, as if he knew he was going to rise.

"I have one."

"Why don't you come up here, then, Shaun?"

He shrunk back as his friend rose and paced to the front of the sanctuary, almost looking nervous as he stood beside the pastor.

"I-I know that I haven't spoken much, if at all, in the course of this year—"

"No way, Limey's gotta voice!" one of the kids called out, and Shaun glared at him.

"—but I have been listening. And… I heard that you lot all struggle with your faith."

Shaun was quiet for just a moment, pursing his lips and thinking through whatever he was going to say next. Desmond was still trying to get over the fact that Shaun had been quiet.

"And, I know that God will probably be a little mad, but I got to thinking, and I think that this would be, undoubtedly, the best way to resolve this issue of so little faith."

"And that is…" one of the girls began.

Shaun gestured for him to come up, and he pulled his hood over his head to cover himself as he shook his head. After a little bit of coaxing, he was lured up to the front. He pulled his hood down and flinched at the gasps and the whispers. He slunk behind Shaun when one of them hollered at him.

"If…" Shaun seemed to hesitate for a minute before continuing. "If God is truly powerful, then surely he can do something like lift the curse off Desmond."

There was silence for a moment.

"I be down wit dat," he heard a black kid say.

"Yeah, I'll agree to that," he heard a young girl say. "Anyone who can lift that curse off him has got to be worth believing in."

A murmur of agreement spread through the crowd, and he couldn't help but stare at them in wide-eyed wonder.

"But, that means you'll have to pray for him."

"I think we can do that," the older man said, stepping forward again and smiling warmly at him before turning to the crowd. "Why don't all of you extend a hand toward him?"

Desmond watched as he saw a group of hands reach toward him, and a hand slip into his own as the pastor placed his hands on his shoulders. Shaun offered him a small smile, looking almost happy that he had finally caved into the boy's requests to try faith in God.

And as he closed his eyes to pray, his heart beating quick as he listened for a moment before his thoughts when off on a tangent, he found himself wondering silently if he was even worth God's time, and if the "big man upstairs" would actually be kind enough to help him. He was nervous that he wasn't going to meet up to the Christian standards that Shaun had talked about once. Still, he could feel something inside of him be calmed, almost as if he had no choice, and he couldn't help but exhale gently, allowing himself to smile as he fidgeted.

And as the pastor finished praying, Desmond winced when the lights went out for a moment. He expected to be blamed for that, too, but nothing was ever said as the kids watched curiously. He shrunk down, pulling Shaun back to their pew in the sanctuary as the pastor wrapped up with some announcements. He jumped when he accidentally sat on a Bible and frowned as he picked it up.

The first verse he saw would be burned into his mind, and it reaffirmed that, yes, God was real and Shaun was right, and that he officially was on the right team:

"Isaiah thirty-five four," he murmured, his head tilted as he read it quietly to himself. He didn't feel the pastor's eyes watching him, or Shaun staring at him as if he had lost his mind. He didn't notice the lighter aura that seemed to wrap him up, or the weight that seemed to be lifted from his shoulders. "Say to those with fearful hearts, 'Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you."

And for the first time in years, he felt a huge grin creep onto his face.