Lowering her hands, then gripping the iron bars, I frantically pulled at the gate. Lilah joined me. Even working together, it did not move an inch.

“Bella, I shall get you out—” I assured her as we shook the gate harder, but to no avail.

“Stop… stop… I am dying, Mae…”

“No!” I cried in despair as I slumped down to the ground once more, Lilah this time following suit.

Stretching out her boney hand, I grasped my sister’s fingers once more and kissed the broken skin on her palm.

“I want to go, Mae. I want to be with our Lord. I cannot keep living like this,” she confessed.

“No, Bella, please… I need you.”

“I think she has been in this cell, kept like this, for a long time. Maddie and I heard a guard say it has been weeks. Too long, Mae. Bella is badly injured… badly… hurt,” Lilah whispered.

“Where is Maddie?” I suddenly asked, fear seizing my body at the thought of my younger sister being taken too.

Lilah ran her shaky hands down her face. “Brother Moses took her for his Lord’s sharing.”

I winced. She would come back even more of an introvert. Every time Moses took her away for his release, he did things to her. Maddie was a shell: never speaking, barely living. She was a walking ghost.

“Please…” I cried out in frustration to no one, but Bella’s weak squeeze of my hand in hers showed me how far gone she truly was… that she was fading away.

“Please… please stay with me, just while I—”

She coughed up blood; streaks of red dripped down her chin. Squeezing my eyes shut, I stroked her head in comfort.

With a sigh, she forced out, “I must go now, Mae. I must rest. I am so tired…” Her eyes cracked open a fraction and with renewed determination, Bella urged, “When the last breath leaves my body, you run, my sister, you run… and keep running…”

Tears flowed freely down my cheeks, and I whispered, “I love you, Bella. I am so sorry…”

That small, sweet smile of hers returned to her bruised lips but for a moment, and she hushed out, “And I you, my beloved sister. More than you know… tell Maddie… good-bye…”

I do not know how much time passed as I watched her chest slowly rise and fall, but I knew the moment my sister left me. Her hand fell limp in my hand and an eerie stillness seeped into her tiny, broken frame.

A tear slipped down my cheek, and I felt Delilah wrap her arms around me from behind, rubbing at my back, trying to be a comfort.

My throat became so clogged that I scraped at the skin of my neck with frantic fingers just searching for relief. “Delilah, I cannot lose her. She is my family, my best friend, besides you and Maddie. She is my everything.”

“I know, sister, I know. But it is God’s plan.”

“Salome, where are you going?”

I had not even realized I had stood up and started running, that is until Delilah’s hand grabbed my shoulder and stopped me in my tracks—her fingers firmly gripping the material of my bridal gown.

“Wait!” she commanded.

In reply, I gripped her hand and pulled hard, demanding, “Come with me. We will find Maddie, then go.”

“Where?”

“Outside.”

Her blue eyes widened. “Outside where?”

“Outside the fence. I cannot stay.”

“But you are meant to marry Prophet David within the hour! Salome, do not disobey or you too shall be punished. I can take no more. Maddie can take no more!”

“Gabriel and Prophet David have killed my sister! How can I marry the prophet now? How can I stay here a moment longer when he sanctions such punishments?”

“But… but… the revelation. You are twenty-three today. You must marry for all our sakes. We will all be damned if not!”

My boiling blood cooled rapidly and my previously unshakable faith cracked like ice on a winter lake. “May God strike Prophet David down and may he burn in hell for all eternity! I believe in good, not sacrifice. I believe in forgiveness, not revenge. The Lord I believe in is compassionate and good. I see none of that in the prophet or the disciples. Where was forgiveness with my sister? Where was compassion with the sisters all of our lives? I am through with this miserable life! This cannot be God’s way; I refuse to believe it any longer. Prophet David has bastardized a pure faith. I no longer believe in anything he and his loyal disciples say!”

Delilah gasped and backed away. “You blaspheme, Salome.”

“I DO NOT CARE!” I screamed, my eyes darting around to check I had not been heard. Delilah was watching me with tears falling down her cheeks, the rise and fall of her chest betraying her fear.

Pushing my hands out in surrender, I begged, “Please, Delilah, escape, come with me. There must be more to life than this. For us all.”

Her head shook back and forth. “No, outside is evil. Evil stalks. It waits for us to be weak—you know the teachings, the warnings. You will be in danger outside. You will be swayed from the righteous path. And Maddie… Maddie will not go with you either. She does not even like to leave our quarters, never mind go out there!”

She was plain wrong about outside. Had to be. There was no righteous path to be found here. I will take my chances out there, outside the fence.

“I must go. Do not tell anyone you saw me, please.”

“Salome, I cannot lie. It is a sin. I will be punished.”

She was right, of course.

“Then disappear for a while. Give me time to get free, anything.”

“The fence is too high. They will not allow you to leave. You will have to pass over miles of harsh land, and then where will you go? We have never been outside, Salome. We do not know what is out there. The disciples will find you. They always find those who try to break free.” Her breath hitched. “You know how they treat deserters, Mae. I… I cannot lose you too…”

“That may all be true, but I will try regardless. Go back to your room and stay hidden. If they find you, do not lie about what I have done. Protect yourself first. Protect Maddie.” I moved toward my closest friend and held her tightly in my arms, memorizing her comforting embrace, then whispered sadly, “I will pray for you every day. You will see me again, Lilah… Tell Maddie… Someday, I you will see you both again…”