Choices

As Nicolas walked down the street of the hillside town where he lived, he was greeted with the same sight he had seen since he was old enough to walk.

The mountain terrain made for a rocky road with many houses stacked next to each other on one side of it. On the other side of the road was a vast meadow.

Plants of every kind could be seen everywhere he looked and the Carpathian Mountains up ahead offered the small town a much welcomed shade from the scorching sun.

Beautiful villa's surrounded Nicolas as he made his way toward a small church, where he knew most of the people would be.  Within a few moments he knew his struggle over the rolling hills had paid off, as he reached his desired location. The church was small with white stone as its only protective layer. It only had one window and a chimney that kept the religious people inside it warm during the harsh winter
months.

The window could be easily avoided, not that anyone would notice with the amount of singing going on inside. As Nicolas made his way to the back of the church, he was greeted by five teenage boys. A high pitched voice greeted him as he approached the group. "Hey what took you so long?" his friend Eddy asked. "None of your business" he answered as he lit a cigarette. "These people are never gonna leave" another boy chimed in. "Well then we're just gonna have to make them" the always overconfident Russell answered.

Each boy grabbed his bat and they all looked toward Russell for the signal. Russell was the leader of their group and obviously the strongest; next to him was Nicolas, the brains of the operation. "Ok guys lets see if their religion can save them now" Russell said with a laugh. In a few moments the boys had started running around the church screaming and beating on the doors, walls and window. The people inside ran out frantically, and the boys put their bats to use. They attacked the small crowd aiming to leave a mark. The crowd disappeared in a few moments, everyone running home for safety. "Run bastards, run" Nicolas shouted as he ran after two young boys. "Nick wait, where are you going?" Russell yelled as he caught up with him. "C'mon lets go find something else to do" Eddy shouted out of breath as he ran up to them. "They won't be coming back to church any time soon" another boy chimed in as the group went to find another activity.

Three weeks had passed and the boys were outraged with the church going people. They had been there three times and each time they had chased the frightened crowd off. Each time they had been certain the crowd wouldn't come to church again; each time they had been wrong. Nicolas was curious to find out why the people kept coming back to church. He came earlier and went in while they were praying. The pastor prayed for all poor people and for everyone in the church. The thing that struck a chord with Nicolas was that at the end of the prayer they had prayed for them.

"And God please bless those who come to hurt us and lead them to your path", as the pastor finished up the prayer Nicolas found it impossible to breathe. How could they pray for us, he wondered. His thoughts soon ended as he noticed his friends coming toward him. "Hey you're early for once" Eddy tried to joke. Nicolas slapped him over the head and headed for town. "Where are you going?" Russell ran after him. "I just don't feel like doing this anymore, It's getting old" and with that said he headed away from the church. The boys followed him and went to a bar; but the rest of the afternoon and much of the night he couldn't stop thinking about the people in that church.

Two weeks had gone by and Nicolas still couldn't stop thinking about that prayer. One day he decided that he would go and see what it was like, just out of curiosity. All eyes were on him as he entered the modest building; they were afraid of him and he could feel the tension. He turned back and as he headed for the door he bumped into a boy about his age. "Sorry" the boy murmured. Nicolas couldn't look him in the eyes and tried to make his escape as quickly as possible. The boy seemed to notice this and started making conversation with him. "Hey don't you go to my school?" he asked.

Nicolas looked him over and remembered seeing him somewhere; it must have been school. "Yeah", he answered. Aren't you going to ask me if I'm here to beat you up, Nicolas wondered. The boy as it turned out didn't seem to know this fact at all; he treated him as if they were the best of friends. "Come sit with me" he pulled Nicolas into a chair. Nicolas sat down reluctantly and tried to focus on the sermon, he could feel eyes of everyone on him. He knew that people were afraid of him by the sideways looks they gave him; but no one confronted him about it. The boy, Paul, had turned into a good friend and he found he could associate better with him then he ever could with his other friends.

Nicolas soon found out that he enjoyed going here and meeting with these people on a regular basis; he didn't anticipate that it all came with a price. One afternoon as he was coming from church he met his friends. "Where have you been these past two weeks", Russell asked in a low serious tone. "I've been busy", Nicolas tried to put on a strong show. Out of nowhere Russell jabbed him in the stomach and Nicolas buckled to the ground as all the boys surrounded him. They thrashed his body with kicks and punches until he lost conciseness. As he walked home that evening with many bruises and blood dripping down his forehead, he understood exactly how it felt to suffer for his beliefs. The real trouble awaited him at home.

Slowly, he entered his pathetic excuse for a home, noticing the stains and trash all around both the inside and outside the house. "Where have you been all night?" His father asked in a slurred voice. Nicolas could smell the alcohol on his breath from where he stood at the door and didn't want to go any further. "Nowhere", he answered. "You wouldn't believe what your friends have been saying about you" his father said as he came closer. "They say you're going to some church at the end of town", he was only a few feet away now and the smell of his breath was nauseating. "What do you care?" Nicolas answered back as he tried to make an escape to his room. "You think you're so much better than us, don't you?" Nicolas was too slow as his fathers' fist made contact with his jaw.

Already suffering from bruises Nicolas fell back against the wall behind him. He couldn't take this again and did the only thing he could. He gathered all his strength and pushed the drunken man into a recliner, and then he made a quick escape to his room. He locked the door as quickly as he could and grabbed a backpack and stuffed some clothes in it. His father was busy trying to knock down his door, as Nicolas slipped out the window of his mess of a room.

Nicolas ran as far as his legs could carry him, and realized he had nowhere to go. He knew that his father would get sober and in a few days he would forget all about the matter. The only problem he had now was where to wait out the days. His friends were no longer his friends and wouldn't take him in. He walked half the night and somehow managed to end up at Paul's house; with no other choices he entered through the gate and knocked on the door.

Paul's father answered the door with a sleepy look on his face; Nicolas had forgotten how late it was. Surprisingly Paul's father didn't shut the door in his face; he only opened it wider to let Nicolas in. Nicolas reluctantly stepped into the light and he could see a surprised look in Paul's father's eyes, the man said nothing, but turned to another room. Paul and his father returned a few moments later and Paul led Nicolas to the guest room; no one asked any questions. The next morning as Nicolas looked in the mirror he was shocked at what seemed to be his face. At that point he realized that his life had to change.