Free Seed by Ania Ahlborn

need of saving. It was no surprise when all eyes went to Jack and Aimee as they stepped out of Arnold’s Oldsmobile.
    “This is a bad idea,” Jack muttered under his breath. Aimee, on the other hand, had decided to play it cool, to just walk in like they owned the place. Jack didn’t think that was exactly the best plan. Strutting into the wrong church with your nose in the air could get you crucified.
    Jack pulled Charlotte out of her car seat and met Aimee and Abigail on the other side of the Olds.
    “What’s the point of this again?” he asked in a whisper.
    “We need guidance,” Aimee said, her voice low.
    “Can’t we get that somewhere else? You know, like therapy or something?”
    “Therapy?” She raised an eyebrow at his suggestion. “What’re you saying?”
    “What? Nothing. I’m not saying anything,” he backpedaled. “What I’m saying is… it’s a little weird ask God for help because our dog ate some popcorn. That’s what I’m saying.”
    Aimee slowed her steps, her children’s hands firmly held in her own. She leveled her gaze on her husband and narrowed her eyes.
    “What are you saying , Jack?” she asked again. “It was Nubs? Nubs scattered the popcorn all over the living room floor when I wasn’t looking? I know what I saw. Next you’ll blame the table on Nubs, too.”
    “Nubs made the leg wobbly?” Charlie asked.
    “He probably ran into one of them with his face,” Abigail chimed in. “You know how he runs and can’t stop on the floor.”
    “Like ice skates,” Charlie said with a bounce.
    “I just think this is weird,” Jack said. “What are we going to do here, tell the priest that weird shit is—”
    Aimee cut him off with a glare. Jack glanced at the girls – they had heard, of course they’d heard – then rerouted.
    “—stuff is going on?”
    “I don’t know what we’re going to do here,” Aimee admitted, releasing the girls from her grasp as soon as she spotted Patricia close to the front doors. The girls ran to their grandmother and Aimee turned her full attention to Jack. “I don’t know why I suddenly needed to come to church. I don’t know anything. I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what’s going on, and I don’t know what to think or what to expect. So what do you want me to do?”
    “I don’t know,” Jack said after a moment.
    “Well then you know as much as I do.”
    “Aimee.” Patricia’s voice cut through their conversation. She bridged the distance between them and Aimee gave her a kiss on the cheek.
    “And Jack?” Pat raised an eyebrow, making it clear that Jack’s presence was truly unexpected. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”
    “The girls wanted to see you,” Aimee lied. “We figured it was a good time.”

    Sitting in a pew toward the front of the church, Patricia kept her arms around both girls’ shoulders, Aimee kept her eyes on her hands, and Jack couldn’t help but imagine the worst. When it came to dark forces, Hollywood had its typical formula—a cliché that had him searching for the signs he’d seen on the silver screen. Everyone knew demons didn’t like the house of God. They couldn’t stand the sight of holy relics, couldn’t stomach being in the presence of a priest or a crucifix.
    Jack sat beside his wife, listening to the dull hum of the sermon that eventually became little more than background noise to his thoughts. He half expected to hear Patricia’s scream cut through the church as Charlie fell victim to a fit of convulsions, all before the priest uttered the word Amen . He imagined his youngest daughter running down the center aisle toward the pulpit, her eyes black and her hair whipping behind her like Medusa’s snakes; the priest splashing holy water in front of him, protecting himself, creating a barrier blessed by God and His Angels; pictured him tearing the crucifix from around his neck and pressing it to Charlotte’s forehead only to have her exhale a hiss of pain.
    None of it