Chapter 11:

Chapter 11: Reunion with Yudia

Theoterra: Emuna's Summer Story


Emuna stopped moving, turned around and looked Lazarus and Zaboulon in the eye. "Hey, guys. I think I found Yudia." She made a U turn and pointed her finger at Yudia. "Look!"

Lazarus and Zaboulon examined Yudia and agreed with Emuna.

"Let's go get her!" Lazarus added.

"Yeah!" Zaboulon agreed as he and his friends chased after Yudia.

"Hey, Yudia!" Lazarus yelled, waving his hand at Yudia.

"Shooo!" Emuna said, fearfully turned to and stared at Yudia. Realizing Yudia didn't notice her and her friends, she turned back to Lazarus. "Don't yell!"

"Why not?" Lazarus asked.

"'Cause you'll scare her away if you do that, bro," Emuna responded, returning her attention to Yudia. "Besides, we can't have her run away from us."

"Alright, whatever you say," Lazarus said.

"Okay, so how 'bout this? I'll call her parents and tell 'em we found Yudia and we're gonna go get her. What do you say?" Zaboulon suggested, pulling out his phone from his pocket.

Emuna turned to Zaboulon. "Yeah, go ahead." Then she returned her attention towards Yudia. "At least Yudia's parents will know 'bout our situation, even if we fail to catch her."

"Got it!" Zaboulon said, dialing his phone, calling Yudia's parents.

Emuna smiled when she gazed at Yudia and the sky back and forth.

-Oh, thank You, Elohim. You lead us towards Yudia, and we'll sing praise for You because of that.

"Okay, I got that shit done," Zaboulon said, hanging up his phone, putting it back into his pocket.

"Good." Emuna said while she and her friends continuously rushed their way towards their friend.

When Emuna and her friends were halfway there towards Yudia, they saw her turned right and walk through the crowd. She didn't even notice them coming after her. Emuna grinned at her.

-Alright, we're almost there! Now if the walkin' traffic lights would turn white, we should be able to get to Yudia in no time.

Once the walking traffic lights turned from orange to white, Emuna and her friends saw the waiting crowd finally walking across the street. Emuna grinned even more when looking up at the sky.

-Thank You, Elohim for turnin' the walkin' traffic lights white. Now me and my friends will definitely get to Yudia soon enough.

Emuna and her friends successfully made it to the walking traffic lights and crossed the street before those lights turned back to orange. Emuna sighed out of relief while she and her friends fought through the crowd, trying to get to their lost friend.

-Phew! We made it jus' in time! Now we're gonna make it for sure!

As soon as Emuna and her friends get to Yudia, Emuna shook her head at Zaboulon a little, signaling him to grab Yudia. Once he grabbed Yudia, she frightenedly jumped a little and turned around. She recognized her friends and tried to break free from Zaboulon's hands, yet Zaboulon proved to be too strong for her. Zaboulon pulled her into the dead end away from the crowd.

"Wh-What are you guys doin' here?! And why is Zaboulon grabbin' me like I'm some sorta criminal?! I'm innocent, y'know!" Yudia nerviously cried.

Emuna glared at Yudia. "Ya ran away from home a week ago! If we jus' ran to ya, ya would've ran away from us! Why did ya even do that?! My friends and I miss ya. I especially miss you so much that I jus' got a break from workin' on an art project and cried my heart out yesterday morning! That's how badly I missed ya, Yudia!"

"Yeah, Emuna's right!" Lazarus and Zaboulon agreed. "We all missed ya!"

"Well, I'm sorry, you guys. But I have to do that for my own safety reasons," Yudia replied, still resisting Zaboulon.

"'Safety reasons?!' What do ya mean 'safety reasons?!' You were safe at home before you ran away! Do you not realize how dangerous it is for you to run all over the city especially at night?!" Emuna confusedly asked.

"I don't wanna go back home! It's a lot more dangerous there than it is out here as long as he's still 'round. I don't want him findin' me at all," Yudia answered. "Now let me go, Zaboulon!"

"No!" Emuna roared. She stomped on the ground, clenched her fists and tightly closed her eyes. She opened her hands and glared at her, nearly closing her eyes. "What do you mean you don't want him to find him?! Who exactly?! I want to know the truth, Yudia!"

Yudia didn't answer and still resisted Zaboulon.

"Well, if you don't answer me, You're gonna end up all alone once you return home. You'll no longer hang out with us, perform ministry work with us, and be kicked out of Harashim," Emuna said.

"Fine, kick me out then. I don't wanna be with you guys anyway," Yudia roared, "Now let me go!"

-Oh, so she wants to be a badass loner, huh?! Time for plan B.

"But Yudia, did you forgot about what happens when you break up with us?" Emuna asked. "'Cause once you do that, you'll have a very hard time findin' new friends, especially among the locals. You know how slow each person in Xenopolis is when it comes to gaining trust among new people.

"Sure, sure, you can befriend a foreigner here. I mean, afterall, Xenopolis is the most popular city among foreigners and travellers than everywhere else in Theoterra. But they mostly speak Akkadian and you suck at it." Emuna and her friends noticed Yudia stopped resisting Zaboulon;Yudia panted and expressed her sad look on her face. "Well, are you gonna tell us or what?!"

"Alright, alright, alright. I'll say it…" Yudia responded, putting her head down for a while, before she returned her attention to Emuna.

"Well?" Emuna questioned.

"The reason I ran away was…my step…'dad'…he sexually abused me and he got me pregnant for a week," Yudia replied.

Emuna, Lazarus and Zaboulon widened her eyes out of shock when they heard what came out of Yudia's mouth.

"Yudia…I'm so sorry to hear that, bruh…" Emuna said, then she glared at Yudia once more. "Why the hell didn't you tell us after all this time?! You really think we wouldn't believe ya or somethin'?!"

"No…it's somethin' else…" Yudia answered.

"What?" Emuna asked.

"He tracked my phone wherever I went and recorded my every word. That prevented me from tellin' you guys or even my mom about his abuse, and he expected me to lie to you guys whenever he called me," Yudia replied.

"If I didn't, he will lie to my mom about me losin' my virginity to one of classmates. He's such a good liar that my mom would always believe anything he says, even if it isn't true," Yudia added.

"You mean you lied to us last weekend about havin' to do extra work?" Lazarus asked

"Yes…" Yudia answered.

"I see…" Lazarus said.

"So when you guys found me, did you call my parents?" Yudia asked.

"Oh, shot! I did!" Zaboulon cried when Yudia nervously looked up at him.

"It's alright, Zaboulon. It's my fault, not yours," Emuna said. "I gave him permission to call you. So you didn't take your phone with you, did you?"

"Nope, I sure didn't. I didn't even bother in the first place," Yudia responded with her eyes closed.

"Good," Emuna said, looking up at Lazarus and Yudia back and forth. "How 'bout this? We'll look out for your parents and you hide by the trash can here, got it?" Emuna pointed at the green trash can near Lazarus. Yudia shook her head.

"We'll lie to your parents about you managin' to get away from us. Once we did that, we reunite again and discuss about gatherin' evidence for ya, as well as sleepin' at one of our friends house," Emuna continued.

"Got it," Yudia said as Zaboulon let her go from his hands. She hid at the trash can's side, placing her fingers on her nose, squeezing it. She couldn't stand its stinky smell near her. "I wish I could find a different hiding place, because this area stinks." She looked around one last time and couldn't find any.

Emuna, Lazarus and Zaboulon exited the dead end. They surveyed their surroundings and chatted with one another, until Yudia's parents arrived.

"Hi, Mr and Mrs Valmont," Emuna exclaimed as she, Lazarus and Zaboulon waved at Yudia's parents.

"Hey, there, you guys!" Mr and Mrs Valmont exclaimed, waving back at Yudia's friends. "Where's Yudia? You guys said you found her."

"Yeah, we did see her on this street, but she saw us and managed to ride the bus on time away from us over there," Emuna said, pointing at the blue bus stop sign far away from her. Then she expressed her sad face and looked down below her.

Yudia's parents looked at where Emuna was pointing at. "It's alright, Emuna. Thanks again, you guys. And may Elohim bless y'all." They dashed their way towards the bus stop through the crowd and waved at Yudia's friends.

"May Elohim bless y'all too!" Emuna and her friends waved back at Yudia's parents.

Once Yudia's parents took a picture of the bus stop sign and headed back home, Emuna and her friends returned to Yudia, discussing their plans.