A Prayer
By: Michelle Elizabeth
Tags: Novel, Fiction, Writing, Hidden Lake, Creativity

It was four weeks into the summer before the names of the three girls found in the lake were released. Katie had almost forgotten about it when Laurel announced that they were going to the neighborhood church that Sunday because there was going to be a special service for the girls and Mrs. Taylor.

The first girl they identified because she had on a medical alert bracelet. She had diabetes and they hadn’t ruled that out as a cause of death because there wasn’t a lot to work with. Her name was Lara Fryburg, she was eighteen and lived two counties over. Her family was blue-collar as most were around here. Her father even worked for Lindy, but that wasn’t anything significant.

Most people in the area who had a job worked for him. He owned a manufacturing plant that made pieces of things and then sold those pieces to other companies who put them together to make the items they sold. It was an enormous building with thousands of employees working shifts so that the plant never closed.

Not even on Christmas.

The second girl was known only as Tina because they hadn’t figured out her last name yet. She was in her early 20’s, lived in the trailer park, and was a meth addict. One of the people who slept on her couch on occasion identified her based on facial reconstruction, but he didn’t know her last name. He didn’t know if Tina was even her real name, that was just what she liked to be called. The Sherriff’s office assumed she probably overdosed because they couldn’t find anything else amiss with the body.

The third girl had a loving family, people who had missed her. Gerri Peterson’s story was a sad one. She was only fourteen years old. She had had leukemia as a child but had been cancer-free for five years. Her mother said on the news that she had her whole life ahead of her. She would have never used drugs. And if it hadn’t been for Gerri’s crushed throat, the Sheriff might not have labeled all three of the girls’ deaths a homicide. There was a chance that all three of their deaths were unrelated, but that was slim. They might not have known each other in life, but in death, they were all connected by the same person, their killer.

Katie sat in church with her family. It wasn’t a large church in the way that she was accustomed. It was a moderately sized building off a strip mall. The room where they held services was no bigger than her school’s auditorium. Filled with the same uncomfortable benches that are sold to churches on discount.

The preacher took the podium and cleared his throat.

“I don’t feel much like singing today. And I’m sure you don’t as well. There is evil in our midst and the only way to drive out evil is to pray. So that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to pray to Jesus to help our community in its hour of need. We’re going to pray that he removes that evil individual who is snatching away the young girls in our community. The vulnerable lambs of your flock.”

Katie watched as they all bowed their heads and murmured, “Amen.”

The preacher continued, “Lord, we all know where this evil comes from. We can call it by its name. We pray for guidance and strength, Lord. Help us do what needs to be done to get rid of this evil in our community once and for all.”

A few of the men in the back yelled out to Jesus for help and the preacher continued as low murmuring went through the congregation. Katie could hear men whispering to one another about Teegan.

“If we don’t do something, no one will. You know the Sheriff ain’t gonna do nothing,” one man said to a younger man sitting next to him.

“Pastor Liam says we gotta get rid of the evilness, then we gotta do it.”