Disclaimer: I do not own Back to the Future.

Author's Notes: This chapter is not meant to be - in any way, shape, or form - a slam on Evangelical Christians or Republicans. I am aware that there are plenty of people who hold Evangelical Christian and/or Republican views who do not behave like Paula Lewis in this chapter. Paula Lewis is just simply someone who happens to hold extremist views. Furthermore, this story is a little more angsty than my usual preference.

Seventeen year old Amanda Martini was sitting in her bedroom, and she was feeling very depressed. For the last two months, she had lived with Gordon and Paula Lewis. Ever since she was twelve years old, she had been tossed around through various foster homes.

Certainly, those last five years hadn't been all too bad. Before having moved in with the Lewises, she lived with Mark and Gwen Johnson, who have been very nice to her. Unfortunately, when Gwen had fallen ill with lung cancer - the Department of Social Services had decided that Johnsons were no longer in any condition to do foster care - so Amanda, along with everyone else, had been transferred to new homes.

Twelve children, including Amanda, had been in the care of Gordon and Paula Lewis. Five of the children have been adopted, while the others were foster children. Gordy and Paula were both devoutly Christian, and only Christian music was allowed to be played in the home. Furthermore, as with the other children that were in the home, Amanda was homeschooled - so, as a result, she felt smothered by the family.

Amanda so desperately missed her eighties rock and roll music - and she was also missing her favourite movie trilogy, Back to the Future. She had been a fan of the trilogy for a little over a year, and she had a real fondness for Marty McFly - and, by extension, Michael J Fox. She also loved the Doc Brown character a lot. However, the movie trilogy had been forbidden in the home - as it had contained swearing, sexual indecency, and a few other things that the Lewises had a moral objection to.

Amanda had no objections to the Christian faith, as a whole. However, her beliefs had leaned more towards Esoteric Christianity - which, as far as the Lewises were concerned, was the same thing as being a 'filthy heathen'. She had a great fondness for Jesus Christ, and she did talk to Him regularly. However, unlike the Lewises, she didn't believe that God would condemn people to hell just for believing in the 'wrong' religion. Considering that the Lewises were Christians of the 'hellfire and brimstone' variety, however, Amanda's beliefs were not considered acceptable to them.

She was very much alone in her beliefs in this family. All the other children shared the same beliefs as Gordy and Paula, thus making them 'good little Christian boys and girls' - while Amanda was considered the 'filthy heathen'. She was considered the black sheep of the family, who needed the fear of God to be preached into her.

One question Paula would routinely ask her, would be, 'If Jesus was to come back tonight, where would you go?' If Amanda responded by saying 'heaven', Paula would give her this long lecture on what she needed to do in order to be saved - and what behaviours she would need to change. Paula would make it clear that hell was indeed real - and that Amanda would end up going there, unless she changed her ways.

Amanda had so desperately wanted to leave this hellhole. She had even spoken with her social worker about it, but her social worker had told her that she might have to wait a little while to move elsewhere. She resented the fact that the state had ruled that she couldn't live with her mother, because her mother had schitzophrenia. She happened to very much love her mother, and she wished that she could at least write her mother a little letter. It's not like her mother was abusive or anything.

'Amanda!' called out Paula. 'Dinner is ready! It's time to come downstairs and eat.'

'Yes, Paula!' Amanda called back, as she made her way towards the steps. She was feeling very apprehensive, as she braced herself for another lecture.

'Look, Amanda, we need to talk,' Paula said, as soon as Amanda arrived at the table.

'Okay, what about?' Amanda asked, swallowing. She wondered what she possibly did wrong this time.

'I just got through reading your essay that you wrote for social services,' Paula said, a bit sternly. 'I must say that I am deeply distressed that you had the gall to show disrespect for President Bush. You know, the Bible commands us to show respect for our authority figures. God did appoint Bush to be the ruler of our country.'

'So what about Clinton?' Amanda asked, annoyed with such double standards.

'Bill Clinton?' Paula asked, with disgust. 'Oh, well, that's different! For a while, God did decide to step back - and this was when all the wicked people in our country had put Clinton into office. You see, if God hadn't intervened in the 2000 elections - Al Gore would have ended up being the leader for this country, and then our country would have gone even more downhill. It was by the grace of God's mercy that we now have a Godly man to lead this country.'

Amanda felt like throwing up. She deperately wanted to argue that George W Bush was elected, because he cheated his way into office. However, she knew that is she was to dare even suggest such a thing - it would just land her in hot water.

'Furthermore,' Paula continued, as she furrowed her forehead, 'how can you say that you're not proud to be an American? Do you have any idea how many soldiers have fought and died for this country so that we can be free? So that you can be free, Amanda! By even daring to say that you're not proud to be an American is a slap in the face to all the solders who have fought and died for us.'

'Hey, I never said that I wasn't thankful to be an American,' Amanda said, somewhat defensively. 'I just said that I wasn't proud of it. After all, it's not like I chose to be born in this country.'

'That's right, you didn't,' Paula said, sternly. 'It was God's decision to place you in this country. By disrespecting America, you are not only insulting our soldiers - but you are also disrespecting God. You are, in essense, telling God that you have no appreciation for the country that He chose to place you in.'

'I never said I wasn't thankful to be an American!' Amanda repeated, huffily. 'I just said that I'm not proud of it. It doesn't mean that I'm ashamed of it, either. It just means that I'd rather be humble about being an American, than to be arrogant about it. Besides, isn't pride considered to be one of the seven deadly sins?'

'All right, Amanda!' Paula snapped, as she raised her voice. 'It's obvious that all you want to do is argue with me! You are obviously in rebellion against God! I'm through talking with you! As for your punishment, you will not be allowed to go to the potluck with the rest of us this evening. You are to stay home and bed and feed all the cows, and I expect to see you finished when we come back. Do you understand?'

'Yes, Paula,' Amanda said, sighing.

She then turned to her dinner and ate. She had to admit that Paula was an excellent cook, but it was one of the very few things she liked about this place. Her depression than turned to triumph, as she realized that she had won of the arguement - though Paula would never admit to it. After all, she did point out that pride was considered to be one of the deadly sins - and Paula didn't even try refuting her arguement. She just resorted to the argumentum ad hominem fallacy by accusing Amanda of having a rebellious attitude.

'Go figure,' Amanda thought, to herself. She was determined right then and there to run away. Fuck all of you! Amanda thought, bitterly. I refuse to live with you assholes any longer! I am running away, and there is nothing you can do about it!