big girls don't cry (Liam)

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The rain drummed on her skin. The teenager pulled her jacket tighter around her as she made her way through the busy street. She paid no attention to her surroundings. She knew she should. She was on the run, for a month now. The seventeen year old had met a friend, but she was gone, and Alice had no idea where Hayleigh had gone to. The rain was relentless, and she had been soaked the second she stepped out of the store, where she had managed to steal a bag of apples. Her hand gripped the bag as she sped with all of her might. Her jeans were weighed down with the water, and her shoes were flooded. She walked past the police station, where Daddy was inside, making a police report. When he saw her, he pointed her out and the police opened the door "Alice?"

She ran. It was hard to do, as hard as it was, but the teenager ran. She didn't know if she was being followed or what, but she cut into an alley before she finally stopped. She was crying, but nobody would know it as hard as it was raining. "God, please help me, God, please help me!" Alice had always prayed. Even though she was never religious. When times got rough, she always prayed. Even if they were never answered.

Today, though, they were. As she came to another street, she saw a big church. She walked up the steps. She heard a yell. She thought it was the policeman from before. So she didn't stop when she entered. She sped past the pews, right to the confession booth. Once she was sitting inside it, resting her head against the wood,she felt safe. She did forget the minor detail that the priests would be expecting her to confess her sins. Heaving a sigh with relief, the dark-haired teen pulled an apple out of the bag and bit into it. She hadn't had anything decent to eat in three days, and so the taste of the fruit was met with a pleased moan.

[Liam Sullivan]

The church was quiet. When he entered the confessional earlier, there had been a few people in the pews, simply praying. One had entered the booth about 15 minutes prior and was already gone again. Liam sighed, glancing down at the bible in his lap, idly reading. He would be there if anyone needed him to be. And often, people did. He looked down at the Latin words on the page, brushing up on Latin as well as God's word. He had been learning Latin since he was eleven. It was engrained into him, but being a dead language, it wasn't spoken in every day conversation often. He listened to sermons in Latin, ready texts in Latin, and said plenty of prayer in the language, but it wasn't his first language and not one that he used with every day people. Within the church, it was still highly used. And some of the older priests only liked to quote biblical texts in Latin. At least to others in the clergy. When he heard the other side of the booth open and someone enter, he slowly put the mark back in the book and closed it, glancing to the grating. He waited for the person to speak, but frowned a little when they didn't. That wasn't the first time someone had gone in and said nothing. Usually it was the people who didn't know what they were doing though. Before he said anything, he heard the crunch of an apple and sat there for a moment, tapping his fingers on the bible.

"How long since your last confession?" Liam asked out loud, to get the person's attention, to remind them they were in a confessional. He wasn't sure what they were trying to do, except.. eat. And it was hardly appropriate to be eating in there. But, he wasn't going to say a word on it. Maybe they ate when they were nervous? Liam didn't know. Priests didn't go around sharing stories of the confessional with one another. It was against their code. Though, he supposed saying that someone walked in eating an apple wasn't violating anything. She wasn't confessing to him, unless eating was a new language. He shook his head, waiting for her to answer him. He wasn't going to be pushy. This was a safe place, and he would be there as long as she needed. If, she needed anything at all.

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Alice's heart skipped a beat when she heard his voice. She froze, staring at the wall that she knew he was on the other side of. Slowly, she swallowed the food down and looked down. "I-" she shivered as she fought for words. What could she say? She thought about her question. "Oh." She finally remembered what was expected of her. Confession of her sins. Like in the movies. The whole forgive me father for I have sinned it's been blank years since my last confession. But there was just one small problem.

"Uhm. seven-seventeen years?" She had honestly never done this before. She had been looking for a place to hide. But she supposed she probably should. She knew there were things she did. Sneaking into her father's room. Running away. Stealing food. It would be enough to get her in trouble if he ever found her. "I'm sorry" she whispered, clinging to the bag of apples. "I'm not--I'm not one of you"

[Liam Sullivan]

Never. Unless the woman on the other side was around older than twenty-seven, then she couldn't have possibly been to confession before. The general starting age was around 10-12. There were cases of being a little younger, and of course much older, but if the child could not understand then it made no sense for them to go into the booth. And that kind of reconciliation was not wholly understood at that age. They waited until they were older, around the age of reason. Before that point, they were not morally responsible for anything that they did. And the girl didn't sound older than twenty-seven, but he realized that was difficult to tell, especially with women. She could be in her early thirties and Liam wouldn't be able to deduct that from her voice and he could not see her. But, her behaviour and her voice led him to figure she was probably only seventeen. And when she said she wasn't one of them, he realized he was correct and nodded slowly. "That's okay. It's not exclusive." He assured her. Non-Catholics could confess. There were no rules that said that they couldn't. All people could seek out a priest for absolution. But, this didn't seem like she was there for that.

"Do you have sins you would like to confess?" He posed gently. If she didn't, he wasn't positive what to do other than to ask her to leave the booth. He wouldn't kick her out of the church. That was public and open for all that wanted to be there. But, she couldn't sit in there while there might be others that were actually seeking him for confession. Patient, he looked down at the bible in his hands, running his fingers over the imprint of the title while he waited for an answer from her. He wanted it to feel as welcoming and opening as possible. The last thing he wanted was to sound like she wasn't allowed to be there or as if her being there was annoying. While he'd like it if no one ran in and started snacking, Liam wasn't going to be harsh in how he handled the situation. He didn't generally react harsh at all and it wasn't exactly in the right behaviour of a clergyman to act that way.

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Alice put her hand on the window between her and the priest. "I guess I should" her whisper answered him with a shaky tone. But what if the priest called the cops? What if they took her back? She didn't want to make any more movies. The pictures, the magazine stills, they were different. All she had to do was pose without any clothes on. But the movies required sex. She had it, once, when he was teaching her how. She didn't like it. It was nothing like she knew it was supposed to be from movies and books that she read. But she was getting too old for the pictures, he said. The buyers wouldn't buy them anymore. She would have to do a movie.

She exhaled, thinking about all the consequences that could come from telling this priest what she was supposed to tell him. She ran her fingers along the window before gazing in it to catch some glimpse of the man. "Will you tell?" she asked, terrified by his answer. "I'm-I'm in trouble. Will you tell on me? Have me sent back?" she didn't want to go back. She was ready to get on her knees and beg him to not tell. She would do anything he wanted, so long as he didn't send her back. She didn't say that part. Not yet. She needed to hear his answer first

[Liam Sullivan]

Liam was bound to keep her confession secret. There were exceptions to it, of course. There weren't supposed to be and in a perfect world under the strict code, he shouldn't. But, they took several courses on those scenarios. Sometimes, it had to be told, especially if it saved someone else. If it was criminal, Liam could suggest that the person go to the police before he offered absolution, but for most crimes, he would keep to it. But, if the crime involved a minor, then there was a difference in what he could and couldn't tell. There were certain crimes that he had to tell, for the sake of his own conscience. The church had its share of cover ups and scandals in the past and frankly, he didn't want to think about those. And there were ways he could tell. He could give details, specifics and lead the cops to someone, but he didn't have to tell his source or where he got it from. He answered to God above the law, but the two had to work hand in hand sometimes.

"I can't tell anyone, the confession stays between us and God." He assured her. "Anything you say here, stays." He promised. He could give her suggestions, though he had no idea what she was going to tell him. Sometimes people came in, especially teenagers thinking they had done some horrible thing, when really it wasn't so bad. And petty crime, he thought nothing of. He wasn't there to judge them.

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Alice bit her lip and looked down. "Ok," she said softly. "ok." she had to tell. God would never forgive her if she didn't. The seventeen year old swallowed and scooted, looking through the graded window. Trying to get a glimpse of him. But she couldn't see him. Finally, she sat back. "I-I haven't been very appreciative lately. Of everything that my dad has done for me. He pulled me off the streets when I was little. He-he gave me a roof to sleep under, and food to eat and clothes to wear. I should be grateful. And I should cooperate. But I haven't been"

She pushed her hair behind her ear and took a deep breathe. "I ran away. I was being a brat, I-" she swallowed. "I wanted to just do the pictures. That's what I'm used to. I'm ok with the pictures. But good, appreciative daughters obey their fathers. I didn't want to obey. I didn't want to do it with that man. I know it was just pretend, and I was just doing what the script told me to do. But I didn't want to do it. I stole my dad's money, all the money he had in the house. And I ran away."